One way to lose weight is to concentrate on eating more foods that help burn fat. There are several types of fat burning foods and including as many as possible in your daily menus will help you to burn fat faster. Therefore continue reading this article and adjust your daily menu appropriately!
Negative Calorie Foods
During the 90s, there was a lot of emphasis put on “negative calorie foods” for fast weight loss. It was claimed that eating certain foods like celery, lettuce, raw onions and greens would inevitably lead to weight loss because the body needs to expend more calories to digest these foods than they contain.
Studies have found no proof that this is actually true, but it is certain that if you eat plenty of leafy greens, celery and fresh salad that not only will you not gain weight, but you will also be likely to lose if you eat large portions regularly.
Other foods that are often claimed to be negative calorie are pickles, grapefruit and sauerkraut.
Green Tea
Although not a food per se, clinical trials have found that drinking plenty of green tea can help promote weight loss. However to see any results you will need to consume large amounts; at least 3 cups per day. As green tea is not to everyone’s taste, you might prefer to buy green tea supplements that are available online from health stores. Drinking green tea alone without making any dietary changes is not likely to result in any significant weight loss, but it can be a handy tool as well as a healthy beverage to include in your daily menus.
Fruits and Vegetables
Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is probably the best way to lose weight long-term. Raw fresh fruit and vegetables not only contain loads of minerals and vitamins which helps prevent cravings as your body has all the nutrition it needs; but they are also rich in fiber, which helps keep you feeling full. By replacing unhealthy snacks with fresh fruit or vegetables you will soon see a reduction in your weight as well an improvement to your skin tone and overall appearance.
While some diet and nutrition experts claim that eating sweet fruits like bananas, mangoes and dates may not help weight loss efforts, many others who have experimented claim that eating sweet fruits actually speeds up weight loss. To find out what works for you, you may have to practice a little trial and error, but either way there is no doubt that swapping chocolate bars and cookies for a banana can only assist you in your weight loss efforts.
MUFA Foods
MUFAs are monounsaturated fatty acids. MUFA foods include avocados, flaxseed oil, olives, dark chocolate, nuts and seeds. MUFAs are one of the healthy types of fat; the other being polyunsaturated fatty acids which are found in oily fish, seeks, leafy greens, and some oils. By cutting out the two bad types of fat which are trans fats and saturated fats, and replacing them with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, you will find your clothes begin to feel loser. Trans fats are found in cookies, cakes, and deep-fried foods and must be avoided completely if you want to lose weight. Saturated fats are found in dairy products and red meat – these should be completely eliminated or eaten in very small amounts when on a weight loss diet. Eat a small amount of a MUFA food two or three times a day, such as a handful of olives or half an avocado to help keep you feeling satisfied without weight gain.
Low Glycemic Foods
The Glycemic Index, or GI, is a classification system developed to measure the effect that foods with carbohydrate content has on blood sugar. The index was created to help diabetics determine the best foods to eat to maintain their blood sugar levels steady.
“By eating low glycemic foods you are likely to lose weight because sugar is released into the blood from these foods at a relatively slower rate and therefore you feel full for longer periods and are less likely to snack between meals.”
Fruits that have a low GI include apples, grapefruit, kiwi fruit, plums, cherries and all types of berries. Fruits that have a high GI and therefore should be avoided include watermelons and mangoes. Dry fruits like dates and raisins rank extremely highly.
Just about all vegetables have a low GI rating and are therefore great for keeping blood sugar levels steady and promoting weight loss. Good examples include broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, celery and snow peas. Vegetables that grow underground such as potatoes, carrots and parsnips have a higher GI rating, so if you’re following a weight-loss plan based on low GI foods, these should be avoided.
High GI foods that are known to cause weight gain include white bread, bagels and cookies. Try to swap these for pumpernickel bread or whole-grain products. Or optimally, avoid baked goods altogether when you want to lose weight.
I hope that correct change in your diet will help you to burn fat until next summer.
Yours,
The Slim Donkey – “Hee-Haw”
Article resources:
Higdon, J. Ph.D. (2005). “Micronutrient Information Center: Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load”. Reviewed by Liu, S. (2009). Published by Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. (Online). Available at: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/foods/grains/gigl.html
O´Connor, A. (2006). “The Claim: Some Foods Have Negative Calories”. Published by New York Times. (Online). Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/health/25real.html
U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). “Dietary Guidelines for Americans”. 7th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. (Online). Available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/PolicyDoc.pdf