50 Best Weight Loss Foods

Incorporating these healthy, slimming foods into your diet can help your body burn more calories, feel full for longer, and avoid weight gain.
Super-slimming foods
If you're trying to shed pounds, consider this the ultimate guide to what you should be putting on your plate and the foods you should always keep in your kitchen. These good-for-you foods contain powerful nutrients and antioxidants that have been shown to help your body lose weight, feel full for longer periods of time, and have more energy. As a bonus, many have added benefits, too, such as preventing various diseases or reversing the signs of aging.
Here are 50 weight loss superfoods to start incorporating into your diet, plus delicious ways to prepare them from Health's contributing nutrition editor Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD.
Superfoods That Work Better Together
Black beans + red bell pepper
Black beans are a good source of iron. Thing is, the iron in plant foods, known as non-heme iron, isn't as readily absorbed as the iron you'll find in meat. "Just 2% to 20% of the iron in plant foods makes its way from your digestive tract into your blood, compared to 15% to 35% from heme animal-based iron," says Cynthia Sass, RD, MPH, Health's contributing nutrition editor and author of Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches with Real Food, Real Fast ($27; amazon.com). That's where vitamin C-rich foods, like red bell pepper, come in. They can increase the absorption of non-heme iron by six times, Sass says. Her go-to dish: black bean tacos topped with sautéed red bell peppers.
Whole grains + onions + garlic
Like beans, the iron and zinc you find in whole grains have low bioavailability, meaning they get metabolized faster than your body can absorb them. "Whole grains contain natural substances that may bind with minerals, which make them less absorbable," Sass says. But research shows that sulfur-rich foods, such as garlic and onion, could make whole grains even more nutritious. A 2010 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that the addition of garlic and onion to cooked or raw food grains enhanced the accessibility of iron and zinc in both cases. Pair the two by baking onions or garlic right into bread, Sass says, or try adding a generous serving of onions to your sandwich.
Tomatoes + olive oil
You already know that olive oil is a heart-healthy fat shown to boost "good" HDL cholesterol and lower "bad" LDL cholesterol that can clog your arteries. When paired with tomatoes, though, it has even more superpowers. A 2000 study in Free Radical Biology and Medicine had people consume tomato products with extra-virgin olive oil or sunflower oil. Researchers found that olive oil raised the antioxidant activity of the lycopene in tomatoes, while no effect was seen with the sunflower oil. "There are numerous delicious combinations, including bruschetta, roasted red pepper pesto, or simply sautéing tomatoes in olive oil with garlic and herbs to toss with lean protein and a small portion of whole grain pasta," Sass says.
Salmon + collard greens
To get the most out of your calcium intake, consuming enough vitamin D is key. "Vitamin D helps absorb calcium from the GI tract into the blood and helps maintain a normal calcium level in the blood," Sass says. The National Institutes of Health recommends adult women get 600 IU of vitamin D daily. Bare skin exposed to sunlight triggers vitamin D production in your body, but you can also get it by eating certain foods, including salmon. Sass suggests grilling the fish over a bed of sautéed collard greens, which just happen to be rich in bone-boosting calcium.