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How Your Favorite Foods Can Help You Lose

You want to shed some pounds, and immediately your personal list of no-no's grows. No bread or potatoes—too many carbs. No chocolate—too fattening. Sound familiar? Diets Don't Have to Be So Strict In fact, forbidding certain foods can backfire says Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, a Connecticut-based dietitian. "Thanks to fad diets that aren't based in solid science, I often see clients avoiding foods that would help them control overeating or fight belly fat and ultimately lose weight," he says. "Worse still, having an off-limits list is like stuffing your cravings into a plastic bag. Eventually it's going to burst open, unleashing all your food urges at once, which leads to bingeing." The real key to weight loss? "Mind your p's and q's—watch portions and choose quality, nutrient-rich foods," says Sari Greaves, RD, a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Here, how the top foods typically dismissed by dieters can help you happily slim down.