Adding fruit to your diet or increasing your fruit intake can help you lose weight while helping prevent serious, chronic diseases, such as hypertension and coronary heart disease. Fruit is naturally packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. It makes a perfect snack, because fruit is portable; it's easy to grab a piece of fruit on the go. Getting more fruit in your diet, whether fresh, frozen or canned, will help you to eat fewer calories and, ultimately, to lose weight.
Adding Fruit to Your Diet
Step 1
Record all of the foods you eat each day for three days straight, without adjusting your normal diet. Eat the foods you would normally eat and don’t force yourself to eat any foods you would not normally eat. Record what you ate, at what time and how much. Do your best to estimate portions when recording the foods you eat.
Step 2
Look back at your completed three-day food journal and count how many pieces of fruit you ate each day. Then determine the average number of fruits you ate per day by dividing the total number of fruits by three.
Step 3
When estimating servings of whole fruits, such as apples or pears, count each of them as one serving of whole fruit. For smaller fruits, such as blueberries and strawberries, count 1 cup as a serving. Count 1 cup of frozen fruit as a serving and ½ cup of canned fruits as a serving. Do not include fruit juices in this estimate.
Step 4
Once you have calculated the average servings of fruit that you eat each day, create a personal goal for increasing the number, such as eating two additional servings of fruit a day, or having a piece of fruit with breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.
Step 5
At the grocery store, stock up on the fruits you will need to help reach your goal. Buy any fresh fruits that you like along with any unsweetened frozen fruits. For canned fruits, avoid those packed in heavy or light syrup, as the sugar in the syrup contributes unneeded calories to your diet. Choose canned fruits packed in water or their own juices. Eat dried fruits sparingly, as they are more calorie dense than fresh, frozen or canned varieties.
Step 6
Aim to eat at least four servings of fruit every day. Fruit contains fiber that will help you feel full, which means you will eat less and lose weight.
Tips and Warnings
- It's important to eat breakfast every day. If you're on the go, eating a few pieces of fruit is the perfect breakfast, because it is quick and healthy.
Things You'll Need
- • Refrigerator
- • Fresh fruit
- • Frozen, unsweetened fruit
- • Canned, unsweetened fruit
- • Food diary
References
- Mayo Clinic: Energy Density and Weight Loss: Feel Full on Fewer Calories
- Krause's Food & Nutrition Therapy. Mahan, L, & Escott-Stump, S 280-281 (2007)
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