What Are Healthy Foods to Eat to Lose Weight?

If you're looking for the best foods that you can eat when losing weight, you'll be glad to know that they can be found easily at your local grocery store. The best foods for dieters are those that include the important vitamins and minerals that your body needs. They should also be low in fat and have a low number of calories.

Fruit

Fruit plays a vital role in your weight-loss program. Fruits are high in fiber, which makes your stomach feel full and satisfied without eating a lot of calories. By keeping you full for several hours after eating them, fruit can prevent you from making unhealthy food choices because of hunger. Fruit is also naturally sweet, so snacking on fruit may provide relief for your cravings for sweets. The best fruits for weight loss include peaches, grapes, pineapple, apples, papaya, oranges, watermelon and limes.

Vegetables

Like fruit, vegetables are rich in fiber to keep you full and have many nutrients that help in reaching your weight-loss goals. Vegetables are best when eaten raw, because they lose some of their nutrients when they are cooked. Frozen vegetables are a good option as well. If you don't like raw vegetables, it is still better to eat them after they have been cooked than to not eat them at all. Good vegetable options include radishes, spinach, turnips, broccoli, corn, green peas, pumpkin, beans, cabbage, cucumbers, cauliflower, tomatoes and carrots.

Nuts

When it comes to nutrition, it is hard to find a single source that is better than nuts. Nuts are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and loads of healthy fats that help keep your blood sugar under control and prevent hunger from taking over. The best thing about nuts is that it doesn't matter what type of nut you choose. Eat a handful of cashews, pecans, macadamias, almonds or walnuts about 30 minutes before a meal to help you consume fewer calories while you eat and control you cravings for less healthy foods.

Fish

By eating fatty fish like sardines, tuna and salmon, you will be helping your body become sensitive to leptin. Leptin is a hormone that determines if the food that you consume will be stored as fat or if the calories will be burned for energy. Since fatty fish contain lots of protein, it will stabilize your blood sugar, stimulate your metabolism and help you feel full. Fish also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which is also beneficial for weight loss.

References

Article reviewed by Eric Lochridge Last updated on: Mar 14, 2011

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