weight gaining tips

Choosing Healthy Foods to Gain Weight
Remember that you need to choose healthy foods to really be healthy. This is especially important if you are recovering from an illness or have been undernourished for a long time. You want to gain weight and you want to improve your health as well.
Tips for Increasing Calories While Keeping a Healthy Diet

* Add cheese, nuts and dressings made with olive, walnut or canola oil to salads.
* Eat starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn more often.
* Go for dried fruits or fruit juices as healthy higher calorie snacks.
* Add cream or cheese sauces to fish and baked chicken breast.
* Choose herbs and spices to increase the flavors of your food rather than relying on salt.
* Add powdered milk to soups and sauces to offer calories and protein.
* Spread Peanut butter on whole grain bread, apples or celery sticks to get a great source of protein and calories.
* Stick with healthy desserts, such as a bowl of berries with whipped topping and lot of chopped nuts.
* Spoon healthy salad dressings on sandwiches and as a dip for vegetables.
* Dip whole grain bread into olive oil, walnut oil or flax seed oil. If you don't care for much meat, add legumes such as black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans as protein sources.
* Pick dark chocolate as a treat. Dark chocolate has antioxidants that other sweets don't have.

The foods that you choose to eat are important for more than just the amount of calories they contain. The foods you eat also have to give you the nutrients you need. Keep your high-calorie foods healthy; don't add non-nutritious junk foods to your diet. Junk foods may have lots of sugar and unhealthy fats that add the calories you may want, but they don't have much to offer nutritionally. Make sure you eat foods that have good nutritional value along with those extra calories.
Carbohydrates
Your body needs carbohydrates for energy. Carbohydrates are the best fuel for your body, although your body can use fats and proteins for energy if necessary. Since you need to gain weight, you should make sure you get enough carbohydrates to fuel your body as well as add the nutrients you need. Your best sources of carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Vegetables and fruits should be the cornerstone of any healthy diet. You don't want to avoid healthy green vegetables like green beans and asparagus just because they are low in calories. Green vegetables have a lot of nutritional value. You can add healthy calories to those vegetables by topping them with nutritious foods like olive oil, almonds and shredded cheese. You may also want to eat more of the starchier vegetables such as potatoes and corn. The starchy vegetables pack more calories into regular serving sizes.

You can add lots of fruit to your diet too. Fruits are packed with vitamins and phytochemicals that will boost your health. For example, instead of drinking extra sugary sodas, enjoy orange juice or other fruit juice. You will get the calories you need, plus a lot of vitamins that soda doesn't have. Snack on fresh fruits any time of day to increase your calorie intake.

Another large source of carbohydrates are the grains and cereals. The USDA suggests that you eat six to 11 servings of foods from the bread and cereal group. At least three of those servings should be from 100 percent whole grain products. Whole grains are a great source of fiber and nutrients.