4 Great Fruits for Weight Loss

Fruit and weight loss have always been paired, as they are generally seen as a healthy option. We seem to associate anything we find on the fruit aisle as a healthy option, and great on a diet. For the most part, this is not a vast misconception. Most fruits have good calorific values, are mostly lacking in any fat or cholesterol. Yet many fruits are not excellent for people who are looking to cut calories and this is often caused by the concept of 'natural' sugars. There is an idea within healthy eating that fruit sugars are better for you and that they have better effects on the body. This causes many dieters to take in a lot of fruit, thinking the sugar in them is good for them. The fact is that any carbohydrate, that includes glucose (sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar) all contain 4 calories per gram. The key therefore to weight loss and fruit is to find the fruits which limit the sugar content, and have good levels of vitamins and minerals. This will make them filling, but not calorific. This blog will look at which 4 fruits are best to eat to boost weight loss.

1. Grapefruit

Pink great-fruit?

Grapefruit is a common fruit in fruit salads across the country and it also happens to be a champion weight loss fruit. A hundred grams of grapefruit contains only 32 calories, a tiny amount of your daily calorie needs. Pink grapefruit has no fat, salt or cholesterol, and contains 8g of carbohydrates, with 6g of this coming from sugar. This means that grapefruit tastes good, while not giving you needless calories. As a body booster, it also contains excellent amount of vitamin C, an antioxidant that's great for your general health and immune system, as well as good amounts of vitamin A, another antioxidant which supports the formation of teeth and bones. To top it off, grapefruit is also particularly filling, meaning that you wont find yourself back in the fridge too quickly after you have your 100g of grapefruit.

2. Watermelon

Better for you than you think...

Watermelon gives away it's low calorie properties in its name. Watermelon is 92% water, meaning that it is really low in calories. In fact a 100g slice of watermelon will only add 30 calories to your diet, so it's almost like not eating at all! The calories come from the carbohydrates, with 8g in total, and 6g from sugar. This sugar is mostly fructose, the fruit sugar we mentioned earlier. This demonstrates that fruit still adds calories and cannot be ignored. To help your body out, watermelon contains extra vitamin C and A again, and of course, no salt, cholesterol or fat. Watermelon also happens to be filling, so you won't need a lot of it, and to really help out, it has a very low glycaemic load, so the sugar you do eat won't send your blood sugar through the roof (if you're a parent take note, the sugars in watermelon will not go straight to your kids heads!).

3. Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe is filled with good stuff! 

Cantaloupe is a type of melon that is more common in the USA than it is in the UK. If you visit your local supermarket though you are sure to find some, and by finding some, you find an excellent source of diet boosting food. Cantaloupes only have 34 calories per 100g, so you can almost gorge on it without adding too many calories. The sugar content is 8g per 100g, making cantaloupe a sweeter tasting fruit than watermelon and grapefruit, and yet you only give away 2 extra calories on the grapefruit. Cantaloupe is stuffed full of beta-carotene which is an important antioxidant, and is amazing for your body, as well as good levels of vitamin C. It also contains a good amount of potassium, important for muscle function. It's important that you wash cantaloupe properly, as it can have salmonella growing on its skin, so clean it thoroughly and don't keep it over 3 days.

4. Strawberries

Not just for the summer...

Strawberries are a very British food, synonymous with tennis, English summers and cream. But if you take away the cream, rainy summer days and rackets, you're left with a fruit that is high in taste, but low in calories. In 100g of strawberries you will find only 32 calories, with no fat, cholesterol or salt. The sugars that are contained in strawberries total only 5g, and you also get 2g of fibre in 100g of strawberry, so it aids your digestive transit. Strawberries, much like other fruits packs in a lot of vitamin C, but strawberries also have 19% if your daily manganese, an essential nutrient for energy production. Strawberries are a filling choice and have a good balance of vitamins and minerals, making them an excellent choice for the health conscious.

Are There Bad Fruits?

Fruits are never going to be as high in calories as the foods which are high in fat, as fat has higher calorific values than sugar. That means that if you choose fruit, you cannot go too wrong, but below are a number of fruits which (in 100g) have significantly more calories than our weight loss fruits above, and might be better to avoid when you want a low calorie snack...

• Prunes – 339 calories
• Raisins – 229 calories
• Plantains – 122 calories
• Passion Fruit – 97 calories
• Bananas – 89 calories
• Pomegranates – 83 calories

Now this doesn't mean that the fruits above are bad for you, just that they contain more calories, and as such are beneficial for many reasons, but are not too useful as a snack when you are looking to reduce calories. Try the low calorie fruits as your food of choice when you feel like you need to eat between meals, as they are filling, nutritious and low in additional calories.

You can find out more about fruits on our other blogs, including 4 fruits for athletic performance and 4 fruits for immune system boosting.

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Happy Eating!