What Are Healthy Foods That Will Help You Gain Weight?

Plenty of high-calorie foods can help you gain weight, but many of them are high in unhealthy components such as added sugars or saturated or trans fats. Instead, choose foods that are nutrient-dense, which means they contain nutrients that may provide health benefits. If you need help gaining weight, talk to a nutritionist to develop a balanced meal plan that works for you.

Nuts and Peanuts

Nuts provide about 160 to 200 calories per ounce, so they can easily add extra calories to your diet to help you gain weight. Most of the fat in nuts is heart-healthy unsaturated fat. Examples of some popular nuts that are good for snacking include almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts and pecans; they provide dietary fiber, potassium and vitamin E. Peanuts are nutritionally like nuts, although are actually legumes, like beans and lentils, as they grow under the ground. Like tree nuts, peanuts and peanut butter are also high in calories and unsaturated fats. Choose full-fat peanut butter instead of reduced-fat because the reduced-fat version has more added sugar, and less healthy fat.

Sauces and Spreads

Eat healthy, high-calorie sauces or spreads to help you gain weight while eating your regular foods. Olive oil has 120 calories per tablespoon, mostly from heart-healthy monounsaturated fat; you can dip bread in it or add it to marinara sauce or plain pasta. Salad dressings with canola or sunflower oil are high in calories, unsaturated fat and vitamin E. Spread hummus with garbanzo beans and sesame seed paste on bread for a high-calorie sandwich. Creamy sauces or buttery spreads can also help you gain weight because they are high in calories; however, they are unhealthy because they contain saturated fats.

Dried Fruit

Dried fruit is a convenient source of extra calories that you can eat almost anywhere. Because it has less water, dried fruit is higher in calories and less filling than fresh fruit. For example, raw apples have about 65 calories, dried apples have 145 calories, grapes have 62 calories and raisins have over 400 calories per cup. Dried fruit is high in dietary fiber and potassium, and nearly sodium-free. Try prunes, dates or dried papaya, pineapple, pears or figs. Dried fruit with added sugars is higher in calories, but not more nutritious.

Smoothies

Smoothies can be healthy additions to your diet that can help you gain weight because liquid calories are less filling than calories from solid foods, according to MayoClinic.com. Use milk, soymilk or yogurt in your smoothie for protein, calcium, vitamin D and potassium. Add fruit, such as berries, peaches or higher-calorie bananas, for flavor, vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber. Increase the calories by adding ground flaxseed meal, which has 40 calories per tablespoon and is a source of heart-healthy omega-3 fats.