Do you know what foods to select to boost your weight loss efforts? If not, this quick guide will open your eyes to the best weight loss foods. Focus all your meals around these foods and cut out the junk if you want to see great results in a short period of time.

Fresh Produce

Any healthy diet will include a wide variety of fresh produce including berries, fruits, and vegetables. These foods are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and a variety of other substances that benefit your body and which make weight loss possible. For instance, they offer a lot of fiber which will help regulate your bowls, control swelling, and keep your system cleansed.

Start with adding some colorful berries to your foods. Eat a small bowl of sliced strawberries with “free” cool whip for a snack or toss a handful of fresh blueberries on your cereal. You can even incorporate a variety of berries with other fruits in smoothies or fresh homemade sorbet.

Next make sure you are eating dark green and colorful vegetables with your meals. Eat a salad with fresh baby spinach leaves with grilled chicken, tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers for lunch. Add spinach to your omelets in the morning. Eat sliced veggies for snacks with a bit of low fat dip.

Top it all off with a healthy dose of citrus fruits and grapes with dark coloring.

Notice the focus here on rich color. The more color a food has the more vitamins you can expect it to contain. For instance, dark purple grapes are much better for you than the light green grapes.

Whole Grains

Grains have a bad reputation today, but don’t let that scare you away from including reasonably sized portions of whole grains into your daily diet. This is where your body pulls energy for intense workouts or a demanding day at work, so make sure to eat your carbs during or just before the most active portion of your day.

These grains should be unprocessed, unrefined whole foods such as 100% whole grain bread and pasta or steel cut oats.

Lean Protein

The reasons so many people are overweight today is the amount of red, fatty meat that most people consume. It’s true that red meat is a source of rich protein, but you can get protein of higher quality from less fatty meats.

Opt for grilled chicken over breaded or fried chicken and fresh fish fillets over fish sticks from a box. Substitute lean turkey burger for hamburger and go for chicken over steak and other fatty meats whenever possible.

Water

Finally, make sure you are drinking enough water to keep your body hydrated at all times. This is one of the best things you can do for your weight loss efforts since a dehydrated body will have a slower metabolism, burn fat at a slower rate, and will struggle to function properly.

You can get a lot of water by eating fresh vegetables and fruits, but you still need to be consuming water as well.