Adding calories to your daily diet plan can help you gain weight. Carbohydrate-rich foods are a source of energy and calories. Choosing nutritious foods, rather than junk, promotes healthy weight gain and discourages chronic conditions that may arise from overeating saturated fats, trans fats and sugar. Adding 500 calories over your daily burn rate should result in a 1 lb. per week weight gain.
Raisins
A 1-cup serving of raisins provides 493 calories. Raisins also contain 131 g of carbohydrates and 6 g of fiber. In addition to the calories and carbs, you also get 1,236 mg of potassium and 3 mg of iron in a 1-cup serving. You do not have to consume a cup of raisins in one sitting to benefit from their calories and carbohydrates. Add ¼ cup to cereal in the morning, add ¼ cup to a cup of low-fat cottage cheese at snack time, sprinkle ¼ over your lunchtime salad and add ¼ cup to ¼ cup peanuts for a quick trail mix snack.
Dates
Dates are a naturally sweet fruit that are high in calories and carbohydrates. In five medjool dates, you consume 330 calories and 90 g of carbohydrates. The dates provide 10 g of fiber, essential to digestive health, 77 mg of calcium and 835 mg of potassium. Dates make a tasty, high-calorie snack on their own. You can also chop them into oatmeal or muesli, stuff them with light cream cheese or bake them and add to healthy bran muffins.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes provide a serving of vegetables with a significant dose of carbohydrates and calories. In 1 cup of baked sweet potato, you get 180 calories and 41 g of carbohydrates. This serving of sweet potatoes also provides more than a day's worth of vitamin A, essential to vision health. Sweet potatoes provide 7 g of fiber per cup. Have a large sweet potato with dinner, mash it into a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar for a pie-like breakfast or cube potatoes and toss with olive oil, salt and chili powder and bake in a hot oven to make healthy, high-calorie oven-fries.
Brown Rice
Brown rice is not as refined as white rice and thus retains more nutrients and fiber. One cup of medium-grain cooked brown rice provides 218 calories and 46 g of carbohydrates. Toss brown rice with olive oil to boost the calorie content or mix with 1 cup of black beans to add another 41 g of carbohydrates.
Whole Wheat Pasta
Whole wheat spaghetti provides 37 g of carbohydrates per cup along with 174 calories. Add the pasta to soups, top with olive oil, marinara and part skim mozzarella or use to make a pasta salad. For weight gain, try to consume at least 2 cups at your meal to increase the calorie and carbohydrate count.
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