5 Foods You Should Eat Every Day to Lose Weight

While your overall nutrition plays a role in weight and body composition, no single food can cause you to lose weight. Most importantly, you should eat a calorie-controlled, balanced diet that includes a variety of nutritious foods. However, there are certain foods you may want to include in your weight loss diet more often.

1 Go Nuts for Nuts
Once considered off limits for dieters because of their high fat and calorie contents, nuts are now stealing the spotlight as a go-to food for fat loss. Rich sources of protein and fiber -- two nutrients that help create a lasting feeling of fullness -- nuts may contribute to increased satiety, and thus help you eat fewer calories overall. Nuts are also rich sources of monounsaturated fats, the healthy fats that can help prevent heart disease. A study published in "Diabetes Care" in July 2007 found that a diet high in monounsaturated fats also led to reduced abdominal fat. To control your calorie intake, stick to a 1-ounce serving of nuts.

2 Yahoo for Yogurt!
Smooth, creamy and delicious, yogurt might also help you shed pounds. As a protein-rich food, yogurt can help satiate you better than foods richer in carbohydrates. However, scientists have discovered that the calcium in yogurt, and other dairy products may play an important role in its ability to promote weight loss. Researchers of a study published in April 2004 in "Obesity Research" found that increasing dietary calcium intake led to significantly more weight loss than a restricted-calorie diet alone, and that increasing dietary calcium intake from dairy foods, as opposed to supplements, led to even greater fat loss results. A typical serving size for yogurt is one individual container or about 8 ounces.

3 Whole Grains Get a Gold Star
Compared to their refined counterparts, whole grains are rich sources of fiber that could contribute to weight loss. Because your body has to digest all parts of the grain, whole grains are digested at a slower rate and therefore contribute to longer-lasting fullness, which may promote reduced calorie intake. They also have less of an effect on blood sugar, which can help control hunger. Research from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that people with higher whole-grain intakes gained less weight over the course of a 20-year study. One serving of whole grains is one slice of bread, 1 cup of dry cereal, or a one-half cup of cooked rice, pasta or hot cereal.

4 Incredible Eggs
Whether you like them hard-boiled, poached or scrambled, adding an egg a day to your diet could help you beat the bulge. When eaten in place of other typical breakfast foods, like carbohydrate-rich bagels, eggs help reduce body fat, according to researchers of a study published in "International Journal of Obesity" in October 2008. Participants ate either an egg breakfast or a bagel breakfast, both of which were similar in energy density and total energy, at least five days a week for eight weeks. At the end of the study, the egg-eating group exhibited a 16 percent greater reduction in body fat and a 65 percent greater reduction in overall weight loss than the bagel-eating group. According to The Harvard University Gazette writer William J. Cromie, eating one egg a day doesn't increase your risk for heart disease.

5 Beans, Good for Your Heart...
Beans are high in protein and rich in fiber. Their high amount of one type of fiber, soluble fiber, makes them a boon to weight loss. As its name suggests, soluble fiber combines with fluids in your stomach and turns into a gel-like substance, which helps slow the passage of food out of your stomach. This means you stay feeling full for longer, and it may keep you from overeating to indulge in food cravings. A study conducted by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers found that participants who ate the most soluble fiber had the least amount of belly fat. In fact, for every 10 grams eaten per day, study participants saw a 3.7-percent decrease in belly fat over five years. One serving of beans is about one-half cup. If you're not a fan of beans, you can eat a bowl of oatmeal -- also rich in soluble fiber -- and get similar results.