Studies have shown that weight loss is quicker if fruit or vegetables make up a third of the food consumed each day. This is because fruit helps fill the stomach faster but is low in calories and fat. It is also thought that eating plenty of fibre and eating a wide variety of food will help us burn more energy.
To live a healthy and energetic life our bodies must be fit for the job. This requires a balanced diet that incorporates plenty of fresh fruit.
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Five-a-Day
For fruit to have a positive impact on your weight loss you need to eat around five portions of it each day. This can be dried squeezed, bottled or fresh. Try sprinkling dried fruit over your breakfast cereal, eating an apple, banana or pear as a mid-morning snack, or feasting on a punnet of grapes or strawberries instead of heading for the chocolate.
Not only are fruits loaded with minerals, vitamins and antioxidants to keep the body healthy, but they also contain no fat, and very few calories. This means that you can fill your stomach with fruit, and help your body repair itself with all those nutrients, minerals and antioxidants. Because there is no fat involved, your body will start to lose weight naturally.
Water Weight
Fruit also contains no sodium, which is thought to increase what’s known as ‘water weight’. Sodium in the body is mainly found in the fluids around the body’s cells, including the lymph fluid and blood. When sodium intake is greater than what the body can deal with, it accumulates in the intestinal region. The kidneys then work harder to flush this excess sodium out of the body, and the body stores the extra fluids in the blood and around the cells. This leads to increased blood pressure and excess weight gain from water.
Western Diets
The average diet in the west is made up of convenient, packaged or fast food. These always consist of high levels of salt, or sodium, as well as fat, calories and artificial chemical preservatives. It is estimated that many people in the UK and USA may carry up to 2.5kg of extra weight due to the effects of a high sodium diet.
Energy
Our bodies need energy to function properly. Traditionally, this energy was absorbed from dietary fibre consumed, but in recent years, this has shifted, and now over 50% of the energy absorbed in the average western diet is taken from sugar, dairy products, alcohol and vegetable oils. None of these foods contains any dietary fibre. This can result in poor bowel movements, but also sluggish behaviour, a lack of concentration and motivation, and an increased risk in developing heart disease and cancer.
Fruit contains plenty of dietary fibre to wake you up and provide you with plenty of energy. This has the double benefit of giving you more energy with which to exercise and burn excess calories, which will help you loose weight even faster.
Fruit is a fantastic source of all things good for you. Vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and antioxidants are all important in our diets and should be consumed regularly. Eating plenty of fruit can help achieve the ideal weight, and make you feel more alert and energetic too. So what’s stopping you!
Look up 80/10/10 by Dr Douglas Graham.
@fruitfruitfruit – I love this diet. I’d just like to know where you can buy in-exepnsive fruit and veg, it’s all so pricey now. I’d just about be able to afford the banana diet!
Having not been brought up to eat fruit naturally I was lacking in this area, recently needing to lose an amount of weight I turned to fruit only 3 weeks after I now find myself eating a lot of fruit in one day I can consume 4 oranges, 2 pears, an apple, punnet of red grapes, a punnet of strawberries and a large mango. I am on a diet and eat no confectionary and low fat meals only, am I doing myself harm by eating so much fruit?