Lose Weight With Fruits And Vegetables

Blueberries are good for your figure, potatoes make you gain weight in the long run – in a long-term study, Harvard researchers determined which types of fruit and vegetables are best suited for losing weight.

So far, it has been said that you can lose weight with fruit and vegetables. But is that really the case? Harvard researchers were skeptical.

The research team evaluated data from a total of 133,468 men and women recorded between 1986 and 2010. Every four years, study participants answered questions about the frequency with which they ate 131 different foods, including many fruits and vegetables. They were also weighed regularly and asked about aspects of their lifestyle such as physical activity and smoking status.

Losing weight with fruit and vegetables: what is allowed?

In general, it was found that the daily consumption of certain fruits and vegetables actually has a positive effect on body weight. For each extra portion of fruit per day, the subjects lost an average of around 0.2 kilograms in four years – each daily portion of vegetables resulted in around 0.1 kilograms of weight loss after four years.

This effect was stronger for some types of fruit and vegetables – the average weight loss over the four-year period was around 0.6 kilograms per daily portion. These included the following varieties:

1. blueberries
2. cauliflower
3. Green beans
4. plums
5. pears
6. apples

Regular consumption of other varieties, on the other hand, led to the subjects gaining moderate weight over the long term (0.3 to 0.9 kg weight gain in four years):

1. Corn
2. Peas
3. potatoes

“Although the magnitude of the weight change for each daily serving was small, the combination of one to two additional servings of vegetables and one to two additional servings of fruit per day can result in a significant weight change,” the study states.

Losing weight with fruits and vegetables: what are the effects on weight?

Whether a type of fruit or vegetable has a positive or negative effect on weight depends largely on its starch content. While starchy foods like corn, peas, and potatoes lead to long-term weight gain, non-starchy foods like cauliflower promote weight loss.

The reason probably lies in the effect of starch on blood sugar: starchy foods are more likely to raise blood sugar levels than starchless foods. The body reacts to this by releasing more insulin, with the result that the blood sugar level falls again quickly and the feeling of satiety subsides more quickly. So we’ll be hungry again sooner.