Slim-Down Effect
Soothes a sweet tooth naturally for few calories
Some dieters skip this low-calorie fare when they start watching the scale, thanks to once-popular diets that eliminated fruit in their most restrictive phases. But new research published in the journal Obesity Reviews looked at 16 different studies and found overwhelmingly that eating fruit is associated with weighing less. In one study from Brazil, women who added three small apples to their regular meals and snacks lost 2 pounds in 10 weeks without dieting. Although fruit does contain the natural sugar fructose, it doesn’t raise blood sugar levels like table sugar does; plus, it’s high in water and filling fiber and low in calories.
Aim to have three servings of fresh fruit daily–but skip the high-calorie juice. Great picks (with average calories per cup): fresh melon (50), grapes (60), berries (70), and citrus fruits (75).
