There is no replacement for a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and a nutritionally sound diet, but there are ways to tweak and boost your body's fat-burning capability. Everyday foods, when used properly, can speed your metabolism and enhance weight-loss efforts. So while you should focus on creating habits that will provide for future health, you can increase your results and commitment with a few diet tricks.
Milk and Cereal
Believe it or not, choosing the right cereal for breakfast can make or break your weight-loss goals for the day. Choosing a heavily processed cereal with high sugar content for breakfast will spike your insulin, which in turn stores calories as body fat. Natural cereals and granola contain complex carbohydrates that control insulin levels as well as making you feel satisfied thanks to their high-fiber content. Milk contains calcium which signals your body to metabolize food faster.
Fish and Peppers
A spicy seafood salad tastes great and can help you burn extra calories throughout the day. Fish contain omega-3 fatty acids which help break down excess leptin in your body. High levels of leptin increase fat storage while lower levels speed fat burning, according to Michael and Mary Eades, authors of "The Protein Power Lifeplan." Peppers contain a chemical called capsaicin which is responsible for the spicy flavor and can also increase your fat-burning capability by 25 percent.
Coffee and Green Tea
Your morning mug of coffee and evening cup of tea may be standing between you and obesity, or at least minor weight gain. Coffee contains caffeine, which is famous for making you more alert but less known for increasing your heart rate and oxygen consumption. Green tea contains the chemical epigallocatechin gallate, which acts like caffeine but targets your brain and nervous system. The result in both cases is enhanced metabolism and increased fat burning.
References
- Exercise Goals: 15 Fat Burning Foods
- Dietzilla: 15 Fat-Burning Foods
- "The Protein Power Lifeplan"; Michael and Mary Eades; 2001
- Reader's Digest: 15 Fat-Burning Foods
- "The Fat-Burning Bible: 28 Days of Foods, Supplements, and Workouts that Help You Lose Weight"; Mackie Shilstone; 2006
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