News Flash: Eating More Fruit and Veggies Helps You Lose Weight

Nothing new in that info but maybe understanding the logic behind it will help reinforce those habits ... even if you don't want to lose weight eating more produce is always a good goal for general health reasons. Better more fruit and veggies than Slimfast!

"Calories count, no matter what you read in the press. The laws of thermodynamics have not been reversed."

With respect to weight gain and loss, the laws of thermodynamics can be translated: Calories consumed must be used or they will be stored as body fat. The body does not waste energy, no matter what its source. When people are placed on carefully controlled diets, the amount of fat in the diet has little effect on weight loss, Dr. Rolls reported ...

"People tend to eat a consistent weight of food," Dr. Rolls has found. When consuming a calorie-dense food high in fat, people are likely to eat more calories just to get in a satisfying amount of food.

What increases food volume without adding calories? You guessed it: water. And what foods naturally contain the most water? Fruits and vegetables.

"People given the message to eat more fruits and vegetables lost significantly more weight than those told to eat less fat," Dr. Rolls said. "Advice to eat more is a lot more effective than advice to eat less."

Dallas Morning News (free registration required)