According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s estimated that more than 70 percent of adults in the United States are considered overweight, while 37.9 percent of the nation is classified as obese. Because of this, people are looking for many different ways to help get them back to a healthy weight, which has made the diet industry worth an estimated $60 billion per year. There are many different supplements and exercise programs that can help you lose weight, but changing the way you eat is the most effective tool you can use to drop the pounds.
There are plenty of healthy foods out there that can promote overall health benefits, but they might not be able to help you lose weight. The reason for that is because many of the foods that are packed with helpful vitamins and minerals also happen to contain a lot of calories, especially when you eat more than the recommended serving size. There are some foods that are both healthy and low in calories, which combine to help you lose weight fast. Let’s take a look at some of those foods that you can add to your diet and watch the pounds melt away.
Grapefruit
Grapefruit is one of the most recognizable weight loss foods around since there have been diets that are based solely on the grapefruit itself. While it’s not suggested that you replace multiple meals per day with one half of a grapefruit, it does make for a fine part of a balanced breakfast. One half of a grapefruit contains just 51 calories, delivering 64 percent of your daily vitamin C and 28 percent of your needed vitamin A.
There’s also two grams of fiber thrown in to make grapefruit a bit filling. Grapefruit is a great weight loss tool, but it doesn’t have many of the minerals that your body needs, so it’s important to combine grapefruit with other foods. The taste might not be to everybody’s liking, but grapefruit is undoubtedly a diet staple.
Venison
There are some debates about what the best meat is for a weight loss plan, but venison usually comes out on top. A 100 gram serving (3.5 ounces) of venison contains just 157 calories, making it incredibly easy to fit into your diet. Venison can also be eaten like steak (unlike other types of meat where you feel the need to put it on a sandwich and add carbs). Venison not only helps you lose weight by being low in calories, but also high in protein.
That same serving of venison contains nearly half of your daily recommendation for protein at 21.8 grams. That allows you to build muscle quickly (as well as repairing damaged muscle). As a result, you burn more calories while exercising and while at rest. As a nice little bonus, venison contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals.
Almonds
One of the reasons that some people tend to shy away from almonds when they’re trying to lose weight is because of the calorie count. It can be easy to get lost in how many almonds your eating, and wind up with hundreds of calories that you didn’t want. Thankfully, almonds can be found in smaller packs, even ones that reduce the calorie amount to 100 per serving. When you eat small servings of almonds, studies have shown that they’re fantastic for weight loss.
The studies showed that people were given a serving of 1.5 ounces of almonds that came out to 250 calories. These people replaced 250 calories from other parts of their diet, and found that they were able to lose weight. The high protein and fiber contents were able to help people feel more full throughout the day, which led to lower overall calorie counts and a reduction in belly fat!
Broccoli
You could eat all of the lettuce you want without bringing in many calories at all, but lettuce doesn’t tend to be very filling. The green vegetable you should really be focused on for a weight loss plan is broccoli. Extremely low in calories, broccoli has just 30 of them in a one cup serving. With 2.5 grams of fiber, broccoli is a lot more filling than many of the other low calorie green veggies, and is easy to incorporate into any diet.
Broccoli contains a solid range of nutrition, too, with more than an entire day’s worth of both vitamin C and vitamin K in each serving. Combining broccoli with high protein foods in a meal will be able to hit all of the nutritional needs that your body craves while also being lower in calories. Plus, the taste (for adults, at least) is great! Just leave the butter in the fridge.
Chili Peppers
Chili peppers (red hot ones) have been getting a lot of attention in recent years because of their ability to burn fat. A big reason for that is the amount of capsaicin found in peppers, which have been found to prevent fat from storing in the body. Not only that, but peppers are incredibly low in calories with just 40 in a 100 gram serving. Peppers will even help your immune system with 240 percent of your daily vitamin C.
Peppers will help you lose weight, but also reverse some of the damage to your body that can be done by being overweight. Peppers reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, and researchers are suggesting that peppers are more than just a food to challenge your taste buds.
Watermelon
One of the reasons that many of us struggle to lose weight is because of feelings of hunger. When he try to concentrate on eating more fruit, we might end up feeling hungry even though we’re still getting enough calories. Watermelon might be the fruit that you’re looking for, as the fruit is comprised almost entirely of water, helping you fill your stomach.
A serving of watermelon is also on the lower end in terms of calories, even for fruits. There are only 46 calories in a one cup serving of watermelon, making it a fantastic option. The only drawback is the fact that watermelon isn’t always available year round. When you find it, though, the taste is among favorites of all fruits. It’s sweet, but not too sweet.
Halibut
When they say there are plenty of fish in the sea, they might actually mean that many of them are great for helping you lose weight. In a 3.5 ounce serving of halibut cooked on dry heat contains just 140 calories with more than half of your daily recommendation for protein at 26.7 grams. Halibut has plenty of vitamins and minerals that include niacin, vitamin B12, phosphorus and much more to make it a well rounded food.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin isn’t just something that we put on our porches during the Halloween season and then put into a pie during Thanksgiving. This seasonal squash has tons of nutritional value, with one cup of mashed pumpkin bringing just 49 calories. Pumpkin is also high in fiber with 2.7 grams in each serving and nearly two and a half times your daily recommendation for vitamin A. You’ll find that pumpkin is actually quite filling, especially when considering how low the calorie count really is!
Carrots
Another orange food that can help you lose weight in a hurry is the carrot, which contains nearly twice as much vitamin A as pumpkin with 428 percent of your daily recommendation. Carrots are low in calories and high in fiber just like pumpkin, with only 52 calories per one cup serving and 14 percent of your daily fiber. For those that have troubles with mindless snacking, grabbing a bag of carrots instead of potato chips is going to be a great alternative as you can munch away on carrots almost completely guilt free.
Beef Jerky
For those that have ever been on a low carbohydrate diet, you know how much of a godsend beef jerky can be. The one thing you need to watch out for when eating beef jerky is the high sodium content, so combining jerky with something high in potassium will help tremendously. Beef jerky is a staple of the Paleo Diet since it contains just 82 calories per 20 grams, with only two grams of carbohydrates with a high protein content at 6.6 grams. There are also different flavors of beef jerky to help keep things different each time you snack on this great food!