When you were young, your mom probably told you to eat fruit. Although she might have been more interested in keeping you healthy—fruit has zero cholesterol, serves as a good source of heart-healthy fiber and contains phytochemicals that reduce blood pressure and the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes—boosting your fruit intake may also help you lose weight. Add strawberries and grapefruit to your watermelon, and watch the scale inch to the left.

Eating to lose

Research shows that following positive weight-loss messages or diets that promote eating more of a certain food provides better results than following negative messages or diets that promote eating less of a certain food. 

Everybody wants a weight-loss plan that lets them eat as much as they want while satisfying hunger and reducing calorie intake. The trick is to choose foods with a lower energy density, or fewer calories per gram weight of the food. The more water and fiber in a food, the lower its energy density, and the more it helps you stay full while you reduce your calorie intake and lose weight.

One of the best ways to fill up on foods with low energy density is to eat more fruit. But not just any fruit will do. Canned fruit packed in heavy syrup has twice the energy density of canned fruit packed in light syrup. Dried fruit has four times the energy density of fresh fruit, because almost all the water has been removed. The best choice is fresh, whole fruit for the least amount of calories and the highest amount of fullness and satisfaction. The top fruits for weight loss include grapefruit, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew), berries (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries), papaya and peach.