Fruits and vegetables are good for weight loss and heart health.

Ever substituted one of your daily meals with some plain water to feel full, hoping it'll be enough to pacify your grumbling stomach? Or ignored the hunger cramps so that your body gets used to getting less food?

If so, you probably think the only way to lose weight is to starve yourself. Well, you're WRONG!

Doing this, in the long run, does more harm than good, as it hurts your body and leaves you malnourished.

With the right foods and the right mindset, it's not a difficult task to lose some weight while still eating full and nutritious meals!

A woman measuring her waist with a measuring tape.

Here are three weight loss tips which will help you to develop healthy eating habits.

1. Limit Or Avoid Sugary Drinks

Sugar from drinks provides empty calories, which raise your daily calorie count without adding nutrients. Sugary drinks unlikely to make you full and satiated, thus it’s easy to over consume. These excess calories can increase risk of weight gain and obesity.

 

Make water as your default drink option! The best thirst quencher which is sugar- and calorie-free. Infuse water with fresh fruits and/or herbs such as lemon, cucumber, apple, or mint/basil leaves if water is too plain for you. If you need to drink a sweetened beverage, choose drinks labelled with the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) lower in sugar or ask for siu-dai.


In general, you shouldn't drink more than two cups of caffeinated beverages in a day, and you should always go for water instead of sweet drinks.

2. Start Your Meals With a Broth-Based Soup

Broth-based soups such as chicken noodle soup are rich in flavour, easy on the stomach and low in fat.

If you have three heavy meals a day, why not consider starting each of them with something soupy? Not only does it taste good, but it also helps you eat less of your main dishes as you will already be half-full.

​3. Make Friends With Fruit and Vegetables

You've probably heard this a million times already, but the importance of consuming more fruit and vegetables can never be stressed enough!

Not only do they help you with your weight loss, but they also offer plenty of other health benefits.

This is due to the fact that they are fibre-rich foods, which means they decrease the amount of fat absorption in your body and enable it to move through your digestive system at a faster rate.

We're so lucky to have so many great fruits in Singapore, it'd be a shame not to try them all!​

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