“Volumizing”—Not Just for Your Hair!

One of the first things that I’m sure you think of when it comes to being healthy is that you should probably cut down on the amount of foods you eat.  Depending on the types of food you are consuming, this does not need to be true!  By adding volume to your diet, you can actually increase the amount of food that you eat, while also adding more vitamins and nutrients to your diet.

The term that is the key to portion control and balancing consumption of certain foods is “energy density.”  Energy density refers to whether the calories in one serving of a food is very high or very low.  The more calories per serving the more energy dense something is.  You would figure this out by dividing the number of calories per serving by the number of grams one serving is.  If something’s energy density falls between 0-1.5, it is low in energy density, if it is 1.5-4.0 it is medium, and 4.0-9.0 is high in energy density.

In order to maximize the amount you eat, you want to choose more foods from the low energy density group because you can eat more of them for less calories or “energy.”  If you wanted to eat one serving of plain, vanilla ice cream that would be ½ cup and roughly 150 calories.  Yet if you wanted to eat more, you could eat 2 cups of berries with whip cream for the same amount of calories.  That’s 4x the amount of food for an equal amount of calories plus a lot more fiber and nutrients.

Here are some easy ways to add volume to your meals:

Breakfast: If you like oatmeal, cereal or yogurt to start your day, add fruit, nuts and seeds to fill you up and start your day great.  If you have a little more time in the morning, add vegetables to your omelets.

Lunch: If you prefer to have a sandwich, instead of loading it up with cold cuts, use spinach, slice veggies, use spreads such as hummus or avocado instead of mayonnaise and cheese.  If you are making a salad, use beans and nuts to make it more filling instead of fried proteins or other energy dense toppings.

Dinner: Still want pasta?  Go for it! But instead of piling it on your plate, shred zucchini with your vegetables peeler into spaghetti like strands, or better yet, hollow out spaghetti squash which looks exactly like the pasta.  Sautée it in garlic and oil and toss with your pasta dish.  If you like mashed potatoes, use roasted or boiled cauliflower in place of half the potatoes.  Blend or mash them together and you will lower the calories and up the nutrient content!

Eating healthy does not need mean eating less!  Use energy density to help you understand portion control and you’ll be full and feeling great!  Let us know about any meals you volumize this week!