In a new study, Stanford University researchers put more than 600 overweight adults on either a healthy low-fat or low-carb diet. It turns out, participants had similar levels of weight loss success on each plan. Researchers recommend three commandments that cross over all types of weight-loss approaches.

Eat more vegetables

Considering that only one in ten Americans meet their produce requirements, it’s pretty safe to say you need to eat more veggies. Vegetables have a lot going for them: They fill you up for a very few calories, and they flood your body with nutrients it needs to fight diseases, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.

Eat less sugar

You can blame biology for your sweet tooth. We are hardwired to have a preference for sweets, and this drive is universal and begins early on, according to research on the subject. Sugar makes food taste good, so food companies add it to everything from breads to soups to salad dressings to cereals, yogurts and more. This adds up to way too much sugar. The true intent of low-fat dining is to eat more healthful foods that are naturally low in fat: fruits, vegetables, beans, lean proteins and whole grains.

Eat more whole foods

Overly processed foods have been linked to weight gain, perhaps because many unhealthy packaged foods, such as potato chips, ice cream, frozen pizza, and cookies, lack the fiber found in many whole foods, including vegetables. Fiber helps fill us up, and research suggests that by simply adding more fiber to your menu, such as fruits, vegetables, bens, nuts, seeds, whole grains, eggs, seafood, chicken and so on.