It's common knowledge that fruits and vegetables are healthful food choices, but it's not quite as widely known that they can be useful tools for weight loss. Because they are lower in calories per serving than many other foods, fruits can help curb your total calorie consumption and speed up the rate at which you lose weight.
Benefits
As is the case with many other natural foods that are low in calories, fruit has a host of health benefits. In addition to aiding with weight loss and healthy weight maintenance, MyPyramid.gov states that fruits can help lower the risks of kidney stones, bone loss, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. CDC.gov points out that the high amount of fiber in many fruits serves up dual benefits: it helps the digestive system run smoothly and helps people stay fuller for longer periods of time with fewer calories.
Strategy
Fitting more servings of fruit into a daily diet can be a challenge for people who don't frequently eat fresh, whole foods. MayoClinic.com recommends slicing fresh pieces of fruit to put in salads or on sandwiches and freezing fresh fruit to use for low-calorie smoothies. Whenever possible, limit add-ons to fresh or frozen fruit to keep the total calorie counts as low as possible and speed up the progression of weight loss.
Choices
To get the best and fastest weight loss results, choose fruits that are low in energy density, which means they provide few calories in large serving sizes. According to MayoClinic.com, most fruits have a high water content, a low fat content and a high fiber content, which makes them more satiating in the same amounts than foods with higher energy densities. Try fresh or frozen watermelon, honeydew melon, berries, apples and pineapple, all of which have very low energy densities.
Considerations
In order for fruits to healthfully accelerate weight loss, they must be combined with other nutritious foods in a diet that is balanced, nutritious and low in calories. Dried fruits and commercial fruit products aren't as likely to help people drop pounds as fresh or frozen fruits, since they're higher in calories and may contain sugars and fats that natural fruits do not.
Risks
Fruits are naturally high in sugar, and they are higher in calories than most fresh vegetable options. For those reasons, people who eat lots of fruit every day as part of an effort to lose weight may notice a "plateau" effect and struggle to eliminate extra pounds. People who notice that their progress is stalling may want to limit themselves to three 1/2-cup servings of fruit per day, recommends CNN.com's physician nutrition specialist, Dr. Melina Jampolis.
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