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Yes, you're right. Eating plenty of low-calorie foods when you want to lose weight is a no-brainer. However, low-cal is not enough. Your body also needs specific nutrients: vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and phytochemicals (the newly identified compounds in plants that seem to protect against heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, and who knows what else).
Water
You can live for weeks without food, drawing energy from stored body fat or even digesting your own muscles if you have to. But without water, it's good-bye Charlie in a matter of days. Water carries nutrients and other materials such as blood cells to every nook and cranny of your body. It moves food and waste through your intestines. It is the place where biological reactions occur and the medium through which cells transmit electrical messages that power your muscles and organs. It lubricates your moving parts and regulates your body temperature.
Water may provide minerals such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper, and others, acquired as it runs through the ground or pipes to your faucet. The exact mineral content of your tap water depends on what's in the ground or in the pipes. Ditto for most bottled water. The exception is distilled water, which is water that's been boiled to produce steam, which is collected and condensed, leaving all the mineral matter behind.
 | You get some water from food. For example, one medium apple has about 4 ounces of water; 1 cup of cooked pasta, about 3 ounces; one hard-boiled egg, about 1 ounce; and 3 ounces baked salmon, about 2 ounces. |
Skim milk
Many people take calcium supplements to prevent osteoporosis, but nutritionists say cow juice is the better bargain. In addition to calcium, it provides protein, B vitamins, bone-building phosphorous and magnesium, and vitamin D, the nutrient that enables your body to absorb calcium.
 | The best choice for dieters is clearly skim milk (also known as fat-free or no-fat milk). Less fat means fewer calories and more room for calcium. For example, 1 cup regular milk has 149 calories, 8 grams total fat, 5.1 grams saturated fat, and 290 mg calcium; 1 cup fat-free skim milk has only 85 calories, 1 gram total fat, 0.3 grams saturated fat, and 301 mg calcium. Three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk or three 8-ounce containers of yogurt made from skim milk provide 903 mg calcium, within a whisker of the RDA (1,000). |
Cantaloupe
At 24 calories per half cup, cantaloupe is a sweet treat that serves up 114 to 157 percent of the RDA for vitamin A, 80 to 100 percent of the RDA for vitamin C, and more than 15 percent of the RDA for that old heart-helper, folate. Cantaloupe also packs a plateful of antioxidant pigments, including beta carotene. The American Cancer Society says eating foods rich in beta carotene and other yellow pigments may lower your risk of cancer of the larynx, esophagus, and lungs.
Tomato
Nutritionally, tomatoes are top drawer, at 25 calories for a 2.5-inch fruit. Tomatoes have vitamin C (mostly in the jellied stuff around the seeds), folate, potassium, and vitamin A. The tomato's special contribution to your diet is lycopene, the red antioxidant pigment newly identified as a cancer fighter and heart protector.
| The redder the tomato and the longer it ripens on the vine, the higher its lycopene content. |
Lettuce
Lettuce is loaded with vitamin A drawn from cancer-fighting deep yellow carotene pigments hidden under its green chlorophyll. Second, lettuce is a great source of folate, a heart-protective B vitamin that also lowers the risk of birth defects. Third, lettuce serves up vitamin C, plus small amounts of iron, calcium, and copper. Fourth, you get all this goodness at a mere 3 to 5 calories per 1/2 cup shredded leaves.
While all lettuce is good, USDA nutrition stats show that romaine is better than most. Ounce for ounce, romaine has three times as much vitamin A as butterhead (a.k.a. Boston or Bibb) and a whopping eight times as much as iceberg — not to mention twice as much folate as iceberg or butterhead and six times as much vitamin C as iceberg.
 | Just about the only drawback to lettuce is its vitamin K, a blood-clotting nutrient made naturally by friendly residents living in your gut. The extra vitamin from the lettuce may make blood thinners such as warfarin (a.k.a. Coumadin) less effective. If you are taking this kind of medication, check with your doctor before digging into a salad. |
Grains
The Food Guide Pyramid (from the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services) is built on a base of up to 11 servings of lowfat whole-grain bread, cereal, rice, or pasta a day. It's easy to see why. Whole grains are high in dietary fiber, both the soluble kind that appears to lower cholesterol levels and the insoluble kind that prevents constipation. They are packed with B vitamins. Their proteins — labeled incomplete because they have limited amounts of some essential amino acids — can be made perfect just by serving the grain foods with beans (including peanut butter) or with a high-quality protein food such as milk, meat, chicken, or fish. And grains have bulk; they are filling.
Chicken breast
The skinless chicken breast is queen of the diet dinner table. Broil it, boil it, roast it, grill it, chill it, eat it whole, or slice it into a salad or sandwich. It's one great nutrition bargain with a mere 141 calories, 27 grams protein, 0.9 grams sat fat, and 73 mg cholesterol per naked roast chicken breast. By comparison, a 3-ounce serving of roast turkey breast is a close second with 133 calories, 26 grams protein, 3 grams fat, 0.9 grams sat fat, and 59 mg cholesterol per serving. The same size serving of lean roast beef has 204 calories, 23 grams protein, 12 grams fat, 5 grams sat fat, and 69 mg cholesterol.
Tuna
Tuna is low-cal, but plumb full of omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturates credited with lowering your risk of heart disease.
| When you shop for those handy little cans of white meat tuna, make sure that you reach for the spring water-packed —rather than oil-packed — product. You'll make out better in the fat and calories department. |
| Your body converts omega-3s to anti-inflammatory hormone-like substances called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The Arthritis Foundation says that omega-3s relieve joint inflammation in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Nutrition researchers at Purdue University say that they also prevent the natural breakdown of bone tissue and increase new bone formation in laboratory animals. |
Fish oils also contain calciferol, a naturally occurring form of vitamin D, the nutrient that enables your body to absorb bone-building calcium. Finally, the soft edible bones in omega-3 rich canned salmon (No, no, no! You can't eat the bones in cooked fresh salmon!) give you fluoride and calcium, two more bone builders. But tuna still holds the edge in calories, 19 calories less per 3-ounce serving than canned salmon.
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