Food and meals should be a matter of pleasure. We’ve evolved taste buds, after all, to help us find nutrients that help us grow, prosper and reproduce successfully. Too bad overabundance in modern life has screwed that up a bit. So now we have to watch what we eat, and for some that means counting calories.

The simplest rule of thumb is to eat less of processed foods. Apples instead of apple juice, oatmeal instead of sugary cereals, whole grain versus white bread. The unprocessed foods have more water and fiber in them to fill you up and keep you feeling full longer as they take more time to digest.

Still, if you are on a calorie-restricted regimen, you might also take into account the relative number of calories in fruit and vegetables.

For example, you may be indifferent as to whether a slice of watermelon or a peach would taste good to you. From a calorie standpoint, there is a big net difference: by the serving, watermelons have four times the calories of peaches (just remember that watermelons contain a good dose of lycopene, the cancer-preventing antioxidant also found in tomatoes and pink grapefruit).

For the most part, any fruit or vegetable added to a meal is a step in the right direction. Put it in this perspective: rare is the person who is overweight because they ate too many fruits and vegetables.

One hopes the takeaway message is to not worry about any of the produce items listed below – it would take an awful lot of beans and celery to achieve the caloric content of a burger-and-fries meal (600+ calories).

Food Calories

(all in 1/2 cup servings, which by volume is approximately the size of a tennis ball)

Best of the Bunch

Artichokes 40–60

Asparagus 20

Beets 29–60

Broccoli 45

Cabbage 10–20

Carrots 25–60

Cauliflower 14–30

Celery 6–25

Collard greens 9–45

Cucumbers 7–10

Eggplant 11–20

Green beans 17–30

Lettuce (all varieties) 2–20

Mushrooms 9–44

Onions 10–30

Peas in pods 35–50

Spinach 6–25

Sprouts 10–20

Turnips 14–30

Water chestnuts 10-35

Zucchini 9–15

Middle bunch

Apples 81

Apricots 40–50

Blueberries 40–90

Cantaloupe 30–90

Cherries 26–50

Corn 50–80

Grapefruit 34–50

Grapes 15–57

Kiwi 55–90

Mangoes 54–90

Oranges 38–70

Peaches 37

Pears 50–100

Peas 70

Pineapple 30–70

Strawberries 23–26

Still good for you

Canned beans:

-Black 100

-Garbanzos 100–130

-Kidney 90–130

-Navy 110

-Great Northern 100–50

-Chili beans 110–135

Bananas 105–130

Fruit juice blend 90–160

Fruit preserves 18–60

(one spoonful)

Peanuts 170

Potato 120–220

(Boiled, baked or microwaved, no topping(

Raisins 110–130

Sweet potato 118

Watermelon 150

Just for reference on calories

Big Mac 560

Supersize fries 540

Cola (full blast sugar) 360

Corn chips 140

(between 5 and 9 chips make a single one-ounce serving)