If You're Trying to Lose Weight, the 800 Gram Challenge Could be the Simple Solution

The founder of the 800 Gram Challenge, EC Synkowski of OptimiseMe Nutrition, is well-educated with a BS in biochemical engineering, a first MS in environmental sciences (with a focus in genetics), and a second MS in Nutrition and Functional Medicine. EC also holds the Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach (CF-L4) credential and has been training people since 2000.

The 800 Gram Challenge is a tool to guide healthy eating, a way to encourage getting quality nutrients, and, according to the website, "is a simple method to make sure you hit a healthy daily dose of fruits and veggies."

You aim to eat 800 grams of fruits and/or vegetables, by weight, a day. What's great is that no foods are restricted during the challenge. You continue to eat whatever else you want, just making sure you get your 800 grams a day. And yes, it's OK to eat more than 800 grams if you choose.

The challenge lasts as long as you want it to, or as long as it brings value to your life. You can choose to do it for two weeks, one month, or every day for the rest of your life.

You get to choose which fruits and vegetables to eat; weigh them cooked, canned, frozen, or fresh. All fruits and veggies count, and although variety is best, choose the foods you'll actually eat. This includes:

• All fresh fruits and veggies
• Canned produce, as long as it's only in water and spices (weigh it drained)
• Even high-carb fruits and veggies count including bananas, corn, potatoes (not commercially fried), sweet potatoes, and squash
• Fermented/pickled foods (kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles)
• Legumes (beans), lentils, and peas
• Recipes made at home with fruits and veggies such as soups and smoothies (weigh the items before preparing)
• Olives
• Tofu
• Salsa and tomato sauce, as long as they're made without added water, oil, or sugar

These foods don't count toward your 800 grams:

• Store-bought or pre-made foods that contain fruits or vegetables like soups, smoothies, frozen burritos
• Dried fruits and veggies including fruit, veggie chips, or coconut flakes
• Juices
• Commercially fried veggies like french fries or tempura
• Peanuts (even though it's a legume)
• Popcorn

While weighing your food with a food scale will allow you to see exactly what 800 grams looks like, you can also measure your food in cups if that's easier and makes you more likely to follow through. 800 grams is approximately equal to six cups (about six fist-sized portions), so aim to eat two cups, three times a day.

While you could eat 800 grams of just fruit, eating a variety of fruits AND veggies is recommended to maximise the amount of different vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (which contain antioxidants) you consume.

EC founded the 800 Gram Challenge after researching the benefits of eating 800 grams of fruits and veggies a day. This meets or exceeds the USDA dietary guidelines that recommends adults consuming 2,000 calories per day should be eating two and a half cups of vegetables and two cups of fruit per day.

The vitamins, minerals, fibre, and phytochemicals in fruits a vegetables can improve health and lower a person's risk for certain diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

When people fill up on 800 grams of fruits and veggies, they could end up losing weight especially if they choose the lower-calorie options. They'll fill you up and leave less room in your diet for highly-processed, nutrient-poor foods.

While registered dietitian Leslie Langevin, MS, author of The Anti-Inflammatory Kitchen Cookbook agrees that eating more veggies is one way to help with weight-loss, since the fibre and high water content in vegetables helps you feel satiated longer, eating 800 grams of fruits and veggies won't automatically result in losing weight.

If the rest of your diet includes tons of alcohol, pizza, chips, cookies, and other high-calorie processed foods, or you're consuming too much, you won't lose weight.

If you are doing the 800 Gram Challenge in the hopes of losing weight, Leslie said non-starchy veggies are the best choices, since you can eat as many as you want with minimal calories. Go for salad greens like kale, arugula, and spinach, as well as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers, courgette, mushrooms, celery, and onions. "The only ones to watch portions on would be potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, and cooked beans," she said.

As for fruits, registered dietitian Stephanie Clarke of C&J Nutrition, told POPSUGAR in a previous interview, "While the sugar from fruit is different in that it brings along fibre, vitamins, and minerals, too much sugar in any form can cause a steep rise in blood sugar levels that is then followed by a steep crash." So if you're watching your sugar intake, you should choose the low-sugar fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and grapefruit.

You can practically follow any diet and still do the 800 Gram Challenge — you don't have to be vegan or vegetarian. The only diets that wouldn't work are if you're eating strictly keto or carnivore. But you can still do it if you're eating low-carb; just choose low-carb fruits and veggies.

I wanted to get an expert's opinion on the 800 Gram Challenge, and although Leslie hadn't heard about it before, she was all for it!

Leslie said, "what a cool way to drive up fruit and veggie consumption." She agrees that it's healthy and would support this as a fun way to boost a person's nutrient intake through eating fruits and veggies. She said that filling up on more fibre is always a good thing to help you feel more satiated after eating and to improve digestion.