Your best food choices

Changing lifestyle habits is never easy, and creating an eating plan using this concept is no exception. The first step is knowing which foods are best.

• Vegetables. Most vegetables — salad greens, asparagus, green beans, broccoli and zucchini, for example — are low in calories but high in volume. Each vegetable serving is about 25 calories, and typical serving sizes are 1 cup raw, a half-cup cooked or 2 cups leafy vegetables. Some vegetables are starchy — such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash — and contain more calories, about 70 calories in a half-cup serving.
• Fruits. Practically all types of fruit fit into a healthy diet. But some fruits are better choices than others are. Whole fresh, frozen and canned fruits without added sugar have about 60 calories a serving. Limit fruit juices and dried fruits, as they're concentrated sources of natural sugar and therefore have a higher calorie content.
• Carbohydrates. Most foods in this group are either grains or made from grains, such as cereal, rice, bread and pasta. The best type is whole grains because they're higher in fiber and other important nutrients. Examples include whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, brown rice and whole-grain cereal.
• Protein/dairy. This includes foods from both plant and animal sources. The best choices are those that are high in protein but low in fat and calories, such as legumes — beans, peas and lentils, which are also good sources of fiber — fish, skinned white-meat poultry, fat-free dairy products and egg whites.

Eat sweets and high-fat foods in moderation since many of these foods are high in calories but low in volume.