Mangos are a good food to have in your weight loss diet due to their low calorie count and good nutritional profile. Additionally, mangos have a very complex taste and are able to be prepared in a lot of ways, meaning you’re not going to get bored of them in your diet too soon.
In the rest of the article, we’re going to explore the nutritional value of mangos and how it applies to weight loss, ways to prepare mangos, and how weight loss in general works.
Why Are Mangos Good for Weight Loss?
Mangos are a good fruit to include in your weight loss diet because their strong and sweet taste works with their superior nutritional profile to allow you to diet without feeling like you’re sacrificing anything. A good substitute for sugar-based treats, mangos are low in calories while also being high in fiber and a host of vitamins.
Mangos are Low in Calories
An entire mango fruit contains about 200 calories, less than a typical single serving bar of chocolate, even though the fruit is almost ten times the mass. If you need your sweetness fix but are counting calories, this is the perfect substitute. Sticking to foods that are low in calories is important since maintaining a calorie deficit is the most direct way to lose weight.
Mangos are High in Fiber
Although dietary fiber cannot be absorbed by the body, it is precisely this characteristic of it that helps you lose weight. Because fiber remains in your digestive tract until it is excreted, it takes up this physical space and allows you to feel full longer. More specifically, the more viscous fiber is, the longer it takes to pass through your stomach, increasing digestion time and decreasing hunger.
Mangos are High in Vitamin A
Having a balanced diet rich in vitamins is important for maintaining overall good health, which in turn aids in your body’s weight loss processes. Mangos are especially rich in vitamin A. Vitamin A brings with it a whole host of health benefits, including aiding your cells’ metabolic processes, strengthening your heart, clearing waste matter in your digestive tract, and keeping your skin and hair healthy.
How Do You Eat Mangos?
Mangos have been a part of the cuisines of many Asian countries for at least two millennia, and during this time, they’ve been prepared in many different ways, ranging from spreads to drinks and from desserts to salads. This diversity of recipes works well for incorporation into a diet since you can use the same ingredient many times without getting bored of the same meals.
As a Food
The most straightforward way to eat mangos is as a fruit. This can mean biting into it, slicing it up, or dicing it into chunks. If you want to be a bit more creative and enjoy baking, you can use it to make a mango chiffon cake, or if icebox cakes are more your style, a crema de mangga, both of which are Filipino recipes.
Mangos don’t only have to be used in desserts. If you want to incorporate the fruit into your main courses, it can be added as a spread in the form of chutney or pickled and spiced to be used as a savory snack or addition to your meal.
As a Drink
Mango juice is known for its unique taste, but that’s not the only way to drink the fruit. In Northern India, mango and mint are combined to create a drink that’s great for cooling down in the hot summers. Closer to home, mangos can be used to give your milkshakes an exotic twist or to make fresh smoothies out of, with or without dairy.
How Do You Lose Weight With a Calorie Deficit?
A calorie deficit means eating fewer calories than you burn. Mangos are a great way to lose weight, but a person can’t subsist off of mangos alone, and they aren’t even necessary to weight loss. Earlier we learned that one of the main ways in which the fruit is good for weight loss is that it has a very low calorie count by volume.
The significance of this is that it makes it easier to maintain a calorie deficit since you’ll feel sated without taking in too much energy from your meals. The other half of the equation is your calorie output, which can be increased by physical activity, thus allowing you to potentially maintain your calorie deficit while eating more.
Fewer Calories In
Reducing your calorie intake can be done in multiple ways, the most obvious of which is to eat less. Even this can be broken down into different approaches, including eating fewer meals throughout the day, eating smaller meals when you do eat, eliminating your snacking habits, and some combination of the three.
If you don’t want to change the timings or sizes of your meals, the other option is to pick foods that have fewer calories. We discussed earlier that mangos only have about 200 calories per fruit, which makes up about one tenth of a normal person’s calorie allowance, but you can find foods even less calorific, such as lettuce at only around 50 calories per head!
More Calories Out
Your body burns calories throughout the day, even while you’re sleeping, to keep itself alive, and this is why you need to consume calories in the first place. You can increase your calorie deficit by increasing this calorie output, and the most reliable way of doing this is through exercise and other physical activity.
Aerobic exercises are especially good at burning that fat away. You can decide how intensely you want to approach this. Activities like running and swimming will burn a lot of calories in a short period of time, but if you’re not looking for that strict a fitness regime, even walking is a good way to increase your calorie output.
Conclusion
We’ve learned about how you can prepare and use mangos for your weight loss diet, and we’ve also looked at how calorie deficits lead to weight loss with or without mangos, hopefully preparing you for the next step on your weight loss journey.
