If you are underweight or simply in a growth spurt and not able to gain weight easily, you can safely add weight by eating a balanced diet. Use My Food Pyramid, designed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a sensible guide. It recommends eating widely from a diet of whole vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, legumes, whole grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy and non-saturated fats. If you want to gain weight safely and permanently, aim to eat several nutrient-dense smaller meals and snacks throughout the day. This is better than slurping down sugary sodas or greasy fast food high in salt or saturated fat. Sugar will deplete important vitamins, salt will increase blood pressure and saturated fat can clog your arteries.
Step 1
Eat breakfast every day. It can be a 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal with 2 tbsp. of low-fat yogurt, a small, sliced banana, 1/3 cup of 2 percent milk and cinnamon. This gives you about 300 calories, calcium and about 10g of protein.
Step 2
Snack between your mini-meals with fruit, roasted, unsalted nuts, low-salt crackers with almond or peanut butter or yogurt cups. Nuts of all kinds have non-saturated fat that will help you gain weight and will not clog your arteries. Fruit provides fiber, healthy fruit sugar that will not spike your blood sugar and drop you later, while crackers and nut butters provide complex carbs and protein.
Step 3
Eat lean proteins and non-saturated oils. Fish of all kinds (wild-caught, low-mercury is best) provide heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Use flax seed, olive, canola, hemp seed and olive oil. Avoid margarine or butter: limit saturated fat to no more than 10 percent of total daily calories, advises the USDA.
Step 4
Consume vegetables and low- or nonfat dairy foods every day. Steam broccoli, bake sweet potatoes, eat raw corn on the cob to enjoy vegetables at their best with vitamins and minerals still intact. Add low- or nonfat milk to milkshakes (add any kind of fruit and maple syrup or agave) and eat low-sugar or fruit juice-sweetened cookies and muffins with low-fat milk. Make hot cocoa with low-fat milk, cocoa powder and maple syrup.
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