Fruits, vegetables may be key to long-term weight loss

And it turns out that adding produce to their diet didn't show up as especially helpful in the short term, but in the long term it mattered.

The researchers didn't find that eating fried chicken was just fine as long as it came with a side of broccoli.

What they found was that some behaviors are hard to maintain, and that adding produce might be easier than avoiding all fried foods.

"People are so motivated when they start a weight-loss program. You can say, 'I'm never going to eat another piece of pie,' and you see the pounds coming off," Bethany Barone Gibbs, the lead investigator, said in a statement.

Lemon Diet

"Eating fruits and vegetables may not make as big a difference in your caloric intake. But that small change can build up and give you a better long-term result, because it's not as hard to do as giving up French fries forever."

Lemon Juice Diet

The study, published this week in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, looked at overweight post-menopausal women.

Barone Gibbs, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh department of health and physical activity, said several factors work against long-term weight loss.