For some, gaining weight is as hard as losing it. If you're having a tough time adding pounds to your body, it's crucial to do so in a healthy and sustainable manner. This guide discusses nutrient-rich foods and techniques for healthy weight gain so that you're not only putting on weight but also ensuring you're maintaining overall health.

Weight gain is the intake of more calories than your body burns in a day. The calorie surplus supports muscle growth, increases bone density, and adds fat to your frame. However, the kind of weight you gain—whether it is muscle or fat—is determined by your diet and activity levels.

It includes genetic factors, age, hormones, health, and exercise routine that can significantly contribute to the gaining of weight quickly. The balance of nutrition combined with strength training is necessary to achieve desired outcomes.

How to Build a Calorie Surplus

For weight gain, you have to change your calorie intake:

Determine Your Baseline

Calculate the calories you would require to support your current weight.

Add Calories Gradually

Increase your daily calories by 500–1,000 calories at a time. This slow method allows for a steady, healthy weight gain.

Eat Nutrient-Dense Foods

Eliminate junk foods. Replace with calorie-dense, nutrient-dense foods for optimal health.

Foods That Help Gain Healthy Weight

1. Protein Smoothies

Protein smoothies are a convenient way to increase your calorie and protein intake.

- Blend banana, chocolate whey protein, and peanut butter with milk.

- Combine fresh berries, Greek yogurt, and vanilla whey protein.

- Use spinach, avocado, banana, and pineapple for a nutrient boost.

These shakes are customizable and pack a calorie punch, making them ideal for weight gain.

2. Dairy Milk

Milk is a perfectly balanced mixture of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Rich in calcium and vitamins, it is a staple food for decades, used to gain weight and develop muscles. Taking it regularly after exercise increases the growth of muscle.

3. Salmon and Oily Fish

Salmon is rich in high-quality protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which is a need for muscle repair and overall health. A single fillet gives about 155 calories and 22 grams of protein. Grill, bake, or poach salmon as a great addition to your dishes.

4. Protein Supplements

Whey protein supplements are very popular among athletes wishing to gain body mass. When used with strength training, they can help gain weight effectively. Choose products that contain whey, soy, or pea proteins.

5. Dried Fruits

Dried fruits, for example, contain raisins, dates, and apricots. They contain calories and full of fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins. Couple them with nuts or Greek yogurt for a snack that's highly calorie-rich.

6. Avocados

Avocados are rich in calories and filled with healthy fats called monounsaturated fats. One large avocado contains 365 calories and 30 grams of fat. Dip them in salads or guacamole.

7. Nuts and Nut Butter

Nuts like almonds and walnuts are rich in calories and healthy fats. Nut butter, such as peanut or almond butter, can be added to smoothies, oatmeal, or toast for an extra calorie boost.

8. Potatoes and Complex Carbohydrates

Potatoes, quinoa, oats, and other complex carbs provide sustained energy and essential nutrients. Roast sweet potatoes or make quinoa salads to incorporate these into your diet.

9. Cheese

The calorie-rich food item cheese can be combined with almost any food. One ounce of cheddar cheese contains 110 calories and 7 grams of protein. It is a good food for weight gain, but be sure not to overdo this, because too much saturated fat isn't good.

Tips for Gaining Weight

- Eat five or six small meals a day.

- Use calorie-dense add-ons such as olive oil, seeds, and dried fruit during meals.

- Hydration properly helps in digesting food items and absorbing their nutrients.

- Combine weight lifting with diet in order to increase muscle mass without gaining fat.

Weight gain is achieved by the right balance of calorie intake and nutrient-dense food choices. You can add these foods to your diet and incorporate practical tips into your plan for safe and effective weight gain. Always consult a healthcare professional or dietitian to tailor your plan to your specific needs. With persistence and the right approach, you can achieve the healthy weight gain you are aiming for.

Avid tea drinkers now have a reason to rejoice as drinking tea regularly may be linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. A new study has found that people who drank around six to eight cups a day are at low risk. However, researchers warn that this does not mean everyone should increase their tea consumption.

Published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, the study examined data from 485,934 adults in China, aged 30 to 79. Over an average follow-up of about nine years, researchers identified 14,863 cases of cardiovascular and other vascular diseases, including heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease.

Tea Drinkers At Lower Heart Disease Risk

People who drank tea at least three days a week had an approximately 11% lower risk of developing vascular disease than those who drank it less frequently.

The lowest estimated risk was observed among people who drank around six to eight cups daily. However, risk began to rise again at higher consumption levels.

The findings are based on an observational study. It means that they just show an association rather than proving that tea directly prevents heart disease. It is also important to note that participants reported their own habits of drinking tea, and researchers did not use a standard cup size.

Emergency physician Dr Leana Wen cautioned against interpreting the results and drinking multiple cups of tea as a daily target, according to CNN. She said, "People should not interpret this to mean that everyone should aim to drink six to eight cups of tea daily."

Also read: India Proposes Lower Pesticide Residue Limits In Tea Than US & Japan: What Are The Health Risks?

What Type Of Tea Is The Most Beneficial?

The study mostly found associations between black tea consumption and lower cardiovascular risk across different types of vascular disease. Green tea showed benefits for heart health, according to the study.

Black and green tea come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, but the leaves are processed differently, resulting in different compositions of polyphenols.

Tea contains polyphenols, including flavonoids, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds may help support blood vessel function. Some research has also linked tea consumption with improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol.

However, researchers cannot rule out other lifestyle factors. People who drink tea regularly may differ from non-drinkers in their diet, physical activity, smoking habits and other aspects of health.

Dr Wen said, “Both can be part of a heart-healthy diet — especially if people take care to drink them without added sugar.”

Also read: Mississippi Student Deaths Put Kratom Under Scrutiny: How Dangerous Is It?

Why You Should Avoid Drinking Tea Scalding Hot

The study also found that people who reported drinking tea at a “burning hot” temperature had a 16% higher risk of vascular disease than those who did not regularly drink tea.

The researchers trusted the participants' descriptions of their preferred drinking temperature, rather than measuring the temperature directly. The finding should therefore be interpreted accordingly.

There is another reason to let tea cool before drinking it. Repeated consumption of very hot beverages has been linked to an increased risk of oesophageal cancer.

Researchers Warn

The study does not prove that drinking more tea will lower an individual's risk of heart disease, and the findings may not apply in the same way to every population.

Additionally, tea also contains caffeine. An eight-ounce cup of black tea typically contains around 30 to 50 milligrams, while green tea generally contains less. Excessive caffeine intake can contribute to sleep problems, anxiety or palpitations. Pregnant people are generally advised to limit caffeine to 200 milligrams a day,.

Drinking unsweetened tea can be part of a daily diet, especially when it replaces sugary drinks. Apart from this, regular physical activity, avoiding smoking, maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and eating a balanced diet still remain the basic ways to reduce cardiovascular risk.

Raw oysters from a single company have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak across multiple states in the US. At least 27 people have been sickened in 12 states and five hospitalised, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No deaths have been reported so far.

The outbreak has been pinned down to oysters harvested by Little Wicomico Oyster Company from the Little Wicomico River in Virginia. The company voluntarily recalled oysters harvested between September 18 and October 8, 2026. The river was temporarily closed to shellfish harvesting.

Pennsylvania has reported eight infections, becoming the state with the highest number of cases currently, followed by New York with four and Virginia with three. The recalled oysters were distributed to restaurants and retailers in 16 states and Washington, DC, and may have reached other locations.

Oysters That Appear Fresh Can Still Make You Sick

Contaminated shellfish may not always show signs of spoilage. Therefore, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns - “Food containing Salmonella may look, smell, and taste normal.”

Oysters can become contaminated with harmful bacteria in the environment where they grow. Eating them raw or undercooked means the bacteria may survive and cause infection. Their appearance, smell and taste cannot reliably establish whether they are safe to eat.

The CDC's investigation found that 10 of the 13 people interviewed about their food exposure had eaten raw oysters before becoming ill. Investigators also found that the oysters eaten by several affected people shared a common source, supporting the link to the Virginia harvest area.

Also read: FDA Expands Recall Of Frozen Berries After E. Coli Outbreak Left 17 Sick

Symptoms Of Salmonella Infection

Salmonella infection may cause:

• Diarrhoea
• Fever
• Abdominal cramps
• Nausea and vomiting

Symptoms usually begin within six hours to six days after the bacteria enters your body. Many people recover within four to seven days without treatment, but some may develop severe illness and need medical care.

It can become serious in young children, older adults aged 65 and above and people with weak immune systems. The bacteria can occasionally enter the bloodstream and cause more severe infections.

The CDC has warned that the actual number of infections may be higher than reported because some people recover without seeking medical care or getting tested.

Also read: Daily Vaping In The US Surged 230%; Nearly 50% Of Young Adult Daily Vapers Used High-Nicotine E-Cigarettes: Studies

What Should Consumers Do?

The FDA advises consumers not to eat recalled oysters from Little Wicomico Oyster Company, identified by harvester certification number VA-1421-SP, that were harvested from the Little Wicomico River between September 18 and October 8, 2026.

Restaurants and retailers should not sell or serve these oysters. Consumers who have them should discard them or contact the seller. Any surfaces or containers that came into contact with the recalled shellfish should be cleaned and sanitised to prevent contamination.

Anyone who ate the recalled oysters and develops symptoms should contact a healthcare provider and mention the possible Salmonella exposure. Bloody diarrhoea, a high fever, signs of dehydration, or vomiting that prevents someone from keeping fluids down warrant prompt medical attention.

The investigation is ongoing, and health officials are continuing to trace the source and distribution of the contaminated oysters.

An 84-day clinical trial has found that a high-fibre diet improved blood sugar control and reduced body weight more effectively than metformin, the standard first-line diabetes drug, in adults newly diagnosed with both type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Researchers led by Li Y and colleagues enrolled adults aged 18 to 70 with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to the study published in Frontiers in Microbiology.

Participants were randomly assigned to either a high-fibre dietary intervention, using two standardised fibre formulations plus dietary guidance, or metformin monotherapy, given according to routine clinical practice. Neither group combined the two approaches.

Researchers tracked diet through food frequency questionnaires and 24-hour dietary recalls, and measured outcomes including HbA1c, BMI, fasting blood glucose, and glucose responses during meal tolerance tests.

Fibre beat the drug on blood sugar and weight

By the end of the trial, the high-fibre group had significantly lower HbA1c and BMI than the metformin group, per the study. Continuous glucose monitoring showed the fibre group had more stable blood sugar overall, with lower average glucose levels and less variability throughout the day.

The fibre group also came out ahead on body composition: lower waist-to-hip ratios, lower leg, trunk and total body fat mass, and lower triglyceride levels compared with the metformin group, the researchers reported.

Also Read: 94% Of TB Patients Report Anxiety, 77% Depression: Study Highlights Mental Health Toll Of India's TB Burden

How the gut bacteria changed

The high-fibre diet reshaped participants’ gut microbiota in ways metformin didn’t. By day 28, the diet had enriched bacteria from the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus genera, both generally considered beneficial, while reducing Bilophila wadsworthia, a bacterium linked to gut inflammation, according to the study. Metformin, by contrast, produced little detectable change in gut bacteria.

Several bacterial species associated with fermenting carbohydrates increased specifically in the fibre group. Participants whose acetate levels, a byproduct of that fermentation, rose the most also saw significantly greater drops in HbA1c at both day 28 and day 56, and these participants tended to have distinct gut microbiome profiles at the start of the trial.

Why fibre may work this way

The likely mechanism involves short-chain fatty acids like acetate, produced when gut bacteria ferment fibre. These compounds are thought to boost secretion of GLP-1, the same gut hormone that newer diabetes drugs like semaglutide are designed to mimic, which in turn improves insulin sensitivity and promotes fullness, according to a separate summary of the research by News-Medical.

This isn’t an isolated finding. A separate, smaller crossover trial of 34 newly diagnosed patients, published in a different study, similarly found that early high-fibre nutrition therapy produced rapid improvements in glycaemic control alongside reshaping of the gut microbiome, reinforcing the idea that timing and gut-level changes both matter.

The study’s authors concluded that a high-fibre dietary intervention could be a promising strategy for managing newly diagnosed diabesity, outperforming metformin alone on both blood sugar and weight-related outcomes. They noted that larger trials with longer follow-up are needed to confirm how durable these benefits are and to better understand the exact microbiome mechanisms involved.