Weight Loss & Diet Plans

6 Best Summer Foods for Weight Loss

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 4: Salads

Salads make for quick, healthy meals -- with no recipes required.

"Just give the produce a quick rinse; slice, dice, toss fruits, vegetables, low-fat cheese, a handful of toasted nuts with some salad greens and a light raspberry or ginger vinaigrette, along with a whole-grain roll, and you have a meal in minutes," Moores says.

Or try bean or whole-grain salads, such as wheatberry and tabouli.

Moore suggests flavoring your salads with herbs from the garden so you can go light on the dressing. And when adding meats or fish to your salad, she says, "think of them as an accessory to the greens, vegetables, and grains."

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 5: Low- and No-Calorie Beverages

Smoothies, sweetened specialty coffee drinks, sweetened teas, and sodas -- they all go down so easily, especially when it's hot outside. But the calories add up just as easily.

"Beverages can be the Achilles heel during summertime because we need to drink lots of liquids to stay cool, but liquids quench thirst and don’t usually impact our hunger," Blatner says.   

She recommends these refreshing drinks and treats to enjoy this summer without blowing your diet:

• Root Beer or Orange Dream Float.  1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt in 12 ounces of diet root beer or orange soda (100 calories)
• Tart Lemon Pom Spritzer. 12 ounces of lemon sparkling water mixed with the juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 cup pomegranate juice, served over ice (35 calories)
• Large (24-oz.) Ice Skim Latte from Starbucks (110 calories)
• White Wine Spritzer. 5 ounces white wine mixed with 3 ounces lemon/lime seltzer water (120 calories)

Best Summer Weight Loss Food No. 6: Fruit-Based Desserts

"Cravings don't take a summer vacation and your hot-weather sweet tooth can wreak havoc on your weight loss efforts," Blatner says. "Ditch high-calorie desserts and opt for these naturally sweet treats that can tame the most ferocious sweet tooth." 

She suggests:

• Grilled banana sundaes made with low-fat ice cream
• Grilled pineapple with rum and pecans
• Grilled white peaches with blackberries and honey
• Frozen, dark, sweet cherries
• A chocolate-covered frozen banana
• Frozen grapes