There’s more to dieting than simply counting calories. Sometimes, what we eat is just as important as how much we eat. This is because some foods are simply more readily converted to fat, while others are actually foods that burn fat. When you make foods that burn fat a regular part of your diet, you can lose weight with less effort.
1. Hot Peppers
The capsaicin in hot peppers is the substance that gives them their heat. It also speeds up the metabolism, helping you to burn fat.
2. Green Tea
Green tea has been shown to speed the metabolism as well, and it does so without causing nervous jitters the way other caffeinated beverages do.
3. Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a delicious spice that has been shown to increase the metabolic rate, making it one of the foods that burn fat. Sprinkle it in your tea and coffee and use it to spice up foods.
4. Vegetables
Vegetables are some of the best foods that burn fat because some of them actually require more calories to digest than they contain. Green vegetables like broccoli, celery, cauliflower, lettuce, peppers and mushrooms are all examples of foods that burn fat because they contain very few calories but take a lot of calories to digest.
5. Whole Grains
Whole grain breads, pastas and brown rice have more fiber and more nutrition than their white counterparts. This means they help you stay feeling full and they require more calories to digest, making them foods that burn fat.
In addition, whole grains help keep your blood sugar steady, so that your body secretes less insulin. Fat can only be stored when insulin is present, so a steady blood sugar is key to burning fat. To get the most from your diet, avoid white flour products and white rice.
6. Nuts
Nuts are filled with good fats, which makes them a food that burns fat. They help you feel full and give you lots of nutrition, too. They are high calorie foods, though, so eat small portions.
7. Milk
Low fat milk and other low fat dairy products are great foods that burn fat. Calcium speeds the metabolism along with providing needed calcium.
8. Lean Protein
Lean protein is one of the number one foods that burn fat. Protein in the diet does not convert directly to fat, and it helps stabilize the blood sugar, so you eat less overall and produce less insulin.
Choose lean protein choices like chicken, fish and the leaner cuts of beef and pork to help ensure that you don’t eat too many calories or too much fat.
9. Low Sugar Fruits
Many fruits are high in fructose, a natural sugar, which may slow down weight loss. But there are several fruits that, like some of the vegetables listed above, require more calories to digest than they contain, so they are foods that burn fat.
These include berries, apples, apricots, peaches and pears.
10. Fish
Fish oil is one of the best foods we can consume. Not only is fish a food that burns fat, but the oil in fish is heart healthy too. Fish oil has been shown to speed the metabolism and to help improve the health of our blood vessels.
Calorie cutting is also important but only such that the sum of calories you consume is just a little lower than the sum you utilize. Starvation is not only detrimental to overall fitness, it is useless as far as burning body fat is concerned. In survival mode the body tells it to hold on to fats when food is scarce. Thus starvation brings to a lessening in activity level and BMR rather than burning up body fat.