So I got a couple very nice responses to my last blog and I also met a terrific young lady on my trips last week who informed me she has been losing weight and working very hard to get back to her old weight.  She was asking about the site and my last blog post and was wondering what foods are fat burning.  There are MANY fat burning foods.  You have to remember two things:  1) every body is different so you have to get to know your own body and know how it reacts to different diets and routines  and 2) Be sure and consult with a nutrition expert or a doctor before you try anything on your own.  Diets, weight loss and over all changes in your routine may require monitoring and gradual change not a drastic one.

There are many foods that help in burning fat. Foods rich in protein and fiber contents are especially beneficial in weight loss.  A body requires more energy to digest protein as compared to fat. So when you eat more protein food, you require more energy to digest them. This results in burning your body fat.  Fat burning foods have a strong metabolism boosting impact when eaten. They speed up the rate at which your body burns calories and stored body fat.

List of Fat Burning Foods

Breakfast foods: Low fat milk, oatmeal, and whole-grain cereal are the food items that you can use to prepare your breakfast. The complex carbohydrates and fiber helps to keep insulin levels in check, which prevents fat storage. The calcium in milk is considered a metabolism-booster because it directly affects the chemical and hormonal balance of the body.

Spicy foods: Jalapenos, habaneros, cayenne peppers, and other chile peppers can affect your metabolism by speeding up your heart rate. Studies have shown that eating a very spicy meal can actually speed up the metabolism by about 25% for up to 3 hours!

Liquid foods: Black tea, green tea and coffee contain caffeine and/or a chemical called EGCG, both of which directly effect metabolism. Caffeine speeds up the heart rate and also frees fatty acids stored in the body, making them more readily available for energy-usage. EGCG, found in high concentrations in Green Tea seems to speed up the brain and nervous system, helping you to burn significantly more calories.

Meat foods: Lean beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and other lean meats help to speed up the metabolism and burn more fat as they require more energy for digestion. Studies have shown that people who follow a high-meat/high-protein diet burn twice as many calories after a meal as people who follow a high-carbohydrate diet.

Fish foods: Salmon, tuna, and sardines contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids which, besides being incredibly healthy, seems to have a strong effect on metabolism. Omega-3 fats alter levels of a body hormone called leptin which directly influences metabolism and determines whether you burn calories or store them as fat. Basically, the less leptin you have in your bloodstream the more calories you use for energy. Cold-water fish and omega-3 oils like flax seed oil have been shown to significantly lower leptin levels and improve metabolism.

Fruits and vegetables: Asparagus, apple, beet root, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, sweet potatoes and watermelon are the common fruits and vegetables that are considered as fat burning

And now lets break some of them down:

Whey Protein: This quick and easy food supplement is the base of many health food nuts diets for good reason. Whey protein boosts glutathione, which is one of the most important anti-oxidants in the body. It also contains natural amount of ACE inhibitors that lower blood pressure and improve heart function. Plus, whey protein keeps you satiated for longer so you don't end up snacking on foods that wreck your diet.


Broccoli: This vegetable makes the top 15 fat burning foods list quite easily and can even be the best fat burning food. Broccoli contains sulforaphane and indoles, nutrients that protect against prostrate, gastric, skin and breast cancer as well as reducing bad estrogen in the body. When we reduce estrogen we raise our natural fat burning hormones. Broccoli is also high in anti-inflammatory properties, which will help our joints following intense exercise. Not to mention the fiber, which delays hunger.


Blueberries: great fruit for fat burning because it has a very high antioxidant capacity which helps our cardiovascular system perform better during training. Blueberries also lower cholesterol which at times is associated with a high protein diet.


Wild Fish: Any fish that is caught in the wild such as tuna, salmon and cod have numerous health and fat burning benefits to land it on the top 15 fat burning foods list. Wild fishes biggest benefit is that they contain omega-3 fish oil that increases heart health, reduces heart attacks and cardiac arrhythimias as well as improving brain function, memory, skin health and kidney function.


Beef: Preferably grass-fed, beef is very high in the fat burning supplement CLA that has been shown in research to improve the muscle to fat ratio. Also grass-fed beef contains omega-3's and is a great source of zinc and the vitamin B12 which both have positive effects on a anabolic hormone environment to help us burn more fat. It also has has a decent amount of protein as well.


Natural Peanut Butter: Who does not love Peanut Butter?!  The healthy fat content not only keeps us fuller for longer but it also contains heart health fats that increase heart health. Natural peanut butter is also high in B5 which is a essential nutrient for reducing stress and regulates the muscle wasting, stomach fat storing hormone cortisol. So in addition to being one of the top 15 fat burning foods a case can be made to put it on a muscle building food list as well.


Oatmeal: Oatmeal is a super carbohydrate in that it actually helps you get and stay lean. Not only is oatmeal high in fiber which can stabilize your blood sugar but the fiber that it contains is beta-glucan which has been shown in research to stabilize the blood sugar of type II diabetics better than other types of fiber.


Grapefruit: Not only does grapefruit make our top fat burning foods list but it also makes the mayo clinic diet as well. A study that appeared in the Journal of Medicinal Food compared grapefruit pills to grapefruit juice to actual grapefruit. The result? The people that ate the grapefruit lost substantially more weight and also improved their insulin resistance as well.


Avocados: This fruit helps fat burning due to its high concentrations of monounsaturated fat specifically oleic acid that is found in macadamia nut oil. Not only does this type of fat turn on fat burning but it also lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Avocdos are also high in beta-sitosterol, which lowers blood cholesterol and has protective prostate properties.

Macadamia Nuts: Atkins diet called them a "nutritional complete and safe meal". Not only are they very high in monounsaturated fat which is higher than any other nut, they also have been linked to lowering heart disease and cancer. Research is beginning to show that the oil in macadamia nuts can increase your metabolism by around 8-10%.

Almonds: Research has shown that when two dieters ate the same calories but one of them ate 520 of those calories from almonds that the almond dieter lost more fat. There's another research that points to the almond cell wall possibly limiting the amount of dietary fat that can be absorbed which might mean that not even all of the fat from almonds is absorbed. Almonds keep you fuller for longer and they are also high in ALA which is a omega-3 fat that helps with fat burning.


Walnuts: I personally don't like the taste of them but I force myself to eat them since they contain the highest amounts of omega-3 fats of any nut. More importantly, walnuts are high in manganese which is a trace mineral that aids in how we metabolize sugar and insulin. Controlling insulin and limiting sugar is so important when we are trying to get in better shape which is why they made the top 15 fat burning foods list.


Eggs: Eggs had gotten a bad rep long ago but studies showed not too long go that aside having high protein content which is essential for fat burning, eggs are also high in phosphatidylcholine which is a nutrient that is used to both regenerate the liver and to calm people down. Think about how alert and amped up you are after a good workout? What about your inability to get to sleep? Since we know that sleep is important for fat burning, eating eggs that contain choline can help us relax and get to sleep.

Tuna: Although Tuna has a high mercury content, it is still a great fat burning food because of the protein it contains.  One light can of tuna has forty-two grams of protein per can. That's a lot of protein and tuna even contains a decent amount of omega-3 fish oil as well.


Green Tea: No fat burning food list would be complete without mentioning green tea. Taking away the caffeine from it, the EGCG found in green tea has been associated with decreased risk of various cancers, less coronary artery disease as well as increased levels of dopamine, which improves our mood. More directly related to fat burning, green tea helps the liver to detoxify estrogen. When the liver can't detox man made estrogens we won't be in a fat burning mode as efficiently as we should be.

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