Calorie Counts for Fruits and Vegetables

Vegetable JOY from Photographer Vicki Whicker 

There is A LOT more to fruit and vegetables than just calorie counts.  The two biggest factors are FIBER and VITAMINS.  Fruits and vegetables are packed with both.  Just imagine that you are giving yourself diamonds and rubies whenever you give yourself these healing foods that make you feel great and lose weight.

To ensure success on The Fiddle Diet you'll want to have a bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand to easily snack on.  I put the list of some of my favorites to give you some ideas for your grocery list.

As I've mentioned in other areas of The Fiddle Diet I'll have a 1 cup size bowl of grape tomatoes out on my counter so I can just reach for them when I want a snack.  I already have them remeasured and I may eat four at breakfast and another four as a snack and then eat the rest before dinner.  The same with radishes.  I'll snack on those and celery sticks all day long as well as through in handfuls of spinach whenever I can.  To make it easy for you and give you some ideas I've made a list of fruits and vegetables and their calorie counts by cup.  (If you decide to have 1/2 a cup of something just cut these amounts in half)  The sources and explanations of how I determined these calorie counts are at the end of this list.  (I alternated between a bold font and regular font so you could easily read across the lines)

FRUIT:
(Aim for about 180-200 calories a day in fruit)

APPLES (1 medium apple )   65 calories
APRICOT (1 average size)    17 calories
BLACKBERRIES (1 cup)  62 calories
BLUEBERRIES (1 cup)  83 calories
CANTALOUPE (1 cup) 60 calories
     (or 1/4 wedge of a whole melon 50 calories)
GRAPEFRUIT (1/2) 52 calories
GRAPES (20 grapes)  60 calories
PEARS  (1 average) 96 calories
PINEAPPLE (1 cup)  80 calories
POMEGRANATE SEEDS (1 cup) 70 calories
STRAWBERRIES (1 cup) 49 calories
TANGERINES (1 average size) 37 calories



VEGETABLES:
(Aim for 100-120 calories a day.  Some vegetables are so low you can easily eat them in a large variety.)

ASPARAGUS (1 cup) 27 calories
BROCCOLI (1 cup raw) 30 calories
        (1 cup cooked* 54 see note below on various sources)
BRUSSELS SPROUTS (1 cup) 38 calories
CABBAGE (1 cup) 17 calories
CARROTS (1 cup) 52 calories
CAULIFLOWER (1 cup) 25 calories 
CELERY (1 stalk)  6 calories
CUCUMBER (1 cup) 16 calories
GREEN BEANS (1 cup) 44 calories
KALE (1 cup) 33 calories
MUSHROOMS (1 cup) 4 calories
RADISH (1 radish) 1 calorie
ROMAINE LETTUCE (1 cup) 10 calories
SPINACH (1 cup) 7 calories 
TOMATOES (1 cup) 30 calories
ZUCCHINI (1 cup) 20 calories




























*I use a variety of sources to determine the calorie counts for vegetables.  In general, I try to find three different web sources.  Often they are identical or vary by 2 or 3 calories.  In the case of something that is a big difference I will check more sources and go with what makes the most logical sense to me.  For instance on broccoli I found some sources saying there are 54 calories in a cup of broccoli, but more sources saying there are only 30.  It seems some are saying cooked broccoli is 54 and raw is 30.  I've noted both below.)

I can't guarantee the accuracy of these amounts because I'm not a food scientist.  I'm a chef who just happens to know a lot about food an nutrition.

These are some of the sites I've used:

Agricultural Research Service from the United States Department of Agriculture
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/food-composition/usda-nutrient-data-laboratory

Calorie Count
www.caloriecount.com

My Fitness Pal
http://www.myfitnesspal.com

Google
(go to the google homepage and just type in "how many calories are in ___________?"