'Unhealthy' Foods That Can Actually Help You Lose Weight

Sometimes, it can feel like everything we eat is unhealthy or "bad" for us. Ahead of 2021, 44 percent of Americans who made New Year's resolutions promised to shed some pounds (via YouGov). Trying to figure out the right foods to help achieve a slimmer waistline feels like a constant endeavor, and options can feel pretty limited.

That's why it's hardly surprising that people are pretty much always looking for new ways to lose weight — and the diets out there can get pretty wild. Between the "vision diet" (eating everything while wearing blue-tinted glasses), the "ice-cream cleanse" (eating five pints of specialized ice cream daily), and the "baby food diet" (eating jars of baby food and just one regular meal per day), there's truly any number of ways to lose weight (via Cosmopolitan).

However, these strange diet trends can sometimes increase our fear factor of certain foods or even of food as a whole. And actually, some foods that we consider to be "bad" aren't actually unhealthy when they exist in a certain dietary context. Join us as we investigate some of these seemingly unhealthy foods that could actually help you lose weight.

Although butter is the last thing we would picture being good for the waistline, eating it in moderation could help you maintain or even lose weight. While butter is high in calories and saturated fat, there's fair evidence that eating high-fat dairy products like butter can reduce your risk of obesity when incorporated into a healthy, balanced diet, according to WebMD.

Dr. Wendy Bazilian, registered dietitian nutritionist and author of the Eat Clean, Stay Lean series, believes the fear of butter is overplayed. As she said in an interview with Eat This, Not That, "If you eat an overall nutritious menu daily including fruits and vegetables at every meal, fewer ultra-processed foods, smart proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats at meals and snacks within portions that help maintain health and weight, then the amount of butter [in your diet] should sort itself out. You don't have to worry too much about it."

Plus, butter in combination with other ingredients may promote weight loss. Take bulletproof coffee, for example. According to Healthline, adding butter to your daily coffee may help suppress your appetite, meaning you'll eat less.

When we try to lose weight, we often say goodbye (while shedding a tear or two) to high-fat dairy products used in sweet desserts and creamy sauces. Although cutting back on excess calories makes sense for weight loss, full-fat dairy products could help you more than you might think.

Harvard Health Blog asserts that eating full-fat dairy can actually help reduce the risk of weight gain. This is because the fat keeps us feeling fuller longer, meaning we wind up eating less. The publication also pointed out that restricting fats too much in diets may be an inhibitive strategy when it comes to weight maintenance. Yes, fats are not the enemy we often perceive them to be. When full-fat dairy is eaten in moderation, or when following a diet that focus on higher fat intake and lower carbs (like the keto diet), they can help a person lose weight.

If, like us, you find it tricky to stir into action without a daily cup of coffee, you may be pleased to know that you can keep your daily cup of joe and still lose weight. Although coffee sometimes gets a bad rap in the dietary department, it's usually due to what is added to coffee: sugar, artificial sweeteners, cream, et cetera. However, black coffee only contains around 5 calories and 0 fat, according to the Mayo Clinic. But once you start adding extras likes syrups and creamers, your cup's caloric content could skyrocket.

Limiting what you put in your coffee can indeed promote weight loss, but the coffee itself also plays a role. One study found that drinking multiple cups of caffeinated coffee a day can help with a reduction in fat levels (via WebMD). In fact, participants who drank 4 cups a day for over six months lost 4 percent of their overall body fat. This could be due to the caffeine content in coffee promoting a faster metabolic reaction, resulting in more calories burned. If you're looking to shed some pounds, warm up that pot pronto!

Potatoes have long been considered public enemy number one when it comes to weight loss. However, potatoes aren't as unhealthy as they seem, thanks to how satiated they can make you feel. Satiety — the quality of feeling full and satisfied after a meal — can have a powerful impact on the way that we eat (via British Nutritional Foundation). If we feel more satiated, we're less likely to eat more at the next meal or snack between meals, meaning fewer calories ingested and less weight gain.

A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirmed how great potatoes are at keeping us full. Researchers developed a "satiety index" and determined that boiled potatoes had the highest satiety index score of the 38 foods tested. So even though buttery mashed potatoes by the bucketload might not be the best choice for weight loss, potatoes in their simplest form can be an excellent choice to help you remain full and control your appetite.

Cheese may not be the "best" diet food, but nor is it the killer of weight loss progress that you might think it is. It really all depends on the balance of cheese in your diet, as well as what kind of cheese you eat.

According to Healthline, there are hundreds of types of cheese. Some of them can not only be a great source of protein and calcium, but they can even help with weight loss. Cottage cheese, for example, is high in protein and relatively low in calories, making it a great diet choice. Other cheeses, like feta, have a relatively favorable ratio of fat to protein and contain certain acids which have been shown to decrease body fat.

If you're opting to eat cheese while attempting to lose weight, go for a cheese that has a higher protein content. As the National Academy of Sports Medicine explained, eating protein on a diet designed for weight loss helps keep you feeling full longer and preserves lean body mass.

It gives us the greatest joy to tell you that, yes,despite chocolate's reputation as pretty much the worst food you can eat for weight loss, it may be able to help you lose weight! There is a bit of a caveat here, however: It comes down to the type of chocolate you eat. Many commercial chocolates can be loaded with sugar and fat, and thus lead to weight gain, according to the Mayo Clinic. Dark chocolate, on the other hand, might just control your appetite better.

A study published in Nutrition & Diabetes found that when participants ate dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, they "felt more satiated, less hungry, and had lower ratings of prospective food consumption." This is potentially because, as Everyday Health explained, eating dark chocolate may make hormones tell your brain that you're full. In small quantities (moderation is key!), dark chocolate could be useful in suppressing your appetite and therefore controlling the amount you eat.

A pack of peanuts doesn't exactly scream "healthy." But nuts are not be as "bad" as you might imagine. In fact, they could be one of your greatest allies in weight loss. Although nuts are high in fat, you don't need to fear them. Eating them won't necessarily cause weight gain — as long as they're a part of a balanced diet.

According to Healthline, the high level of unsaturated fats and protein content in nuts can help to suppress appetite, Multiple studies cited by the publication show the potential for nuts like almonds, pistachios, and peanuts to aid with weight loss.

Besides, eating more nuts can help reduce long-term weight gain. As one large-scale study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health found, individuals who ate nuts more regularly demonstrated a lower risk of obesity, and gained less weight over time. Add to this the density of nutrients and antioxidants that are found in nuts, and you've found a winning snack for weight loss.