Need a fat-burning boost? Add these superfoods to your grocery list! From grapefruit to ginger, these easy-to-find items will fuel you up with key nutrients that help you lose fat faster…
By Jordana Brown
Brought to you by Jes, Healthy Eating Dept at Natural Elements
Avocado: Active ingredients: healthy fats, mannoheptulose
High in healthy monounsaturated fats, which are less likely to be stored as body fat, avocados have also been shown to reduce weight when eaten in place of carbohydrates.
Plus, avocados contain a sugar called mannoheptulose, which is associated with blunting insulin release; since excess insulin is directly involved with fat storage, maintaining normal levels of insulin can mean less body fat.
Chili Peppers: Active ingredient: capsaicin
A study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition determined that capsaicin—a potent metabolism-booster—can reduce hunger and increase the feeling of fullness in order to help you eat less.
Eggs: Active ingredients: protein, healthy fats
When researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri fed dieters a breakfast that included two eggs, they found that participants reported feeling fuller throughout the day and ate less at lunch than subjects who didn’t have eggs for breakfast. And don’t ditch the yolk—it’s full of healthy fats and vitamins A, D and E, and contains most of the egg’s protein.
Ginger: Active ingredient: gingerol
Popular in Eastern cuisines, ginger boosts metabolism in two ways. It may increase your muscles’ oxygen consumption, helping you burn more calories. It also increases lactic acid production, which in turn increases production of the human growth hormone, which then increases the amount of fat released from fat stores to be burned as fuel.
Grapefruit: Active ingredient: naringin
In one study, people who ate half a grapefruit daily lost, on average, 3.5 pounds after 12 weeks without changing anything else about their diets. Grapefruits contain a compound called naringin, which boasts fat-blasting properties.
Green Tea: Active ingredients: epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caffeine
While caffine is a well-known fat-burner, it’s not the most powerful component at work. EGCG, the phytochemical also responsible for green tea’s myriad of health benefits, has been shown to increase metabolic rate and burn fat, most recently in a large review of existing research.
Pomegranate: Active ingredients: antioxidants
Talk about an easy sell! Pomegranates are a whopping 300 times better than their fellow fruits at protecting nitric oxide (NO) in the body. Since NO is associated with increased fat burning, it’s worth protecting.
Salmon: Active ingredient: omega-3 fatty acids
The omega-3s in salmon are so powerful, they can actually turn on genes that increase fat-burning and turn off the genes that regulate fat storage, all while making sure your cardiovascular system stays healthy.
Spinach: Active in ingredients: glutathione, alpha lipoic acid, fiber
A cup of cooked spinach contains a mere 41 calories and two powerful detoxifying nutrients—glutathione and alpha lipoic acid—along with soluble fiber, which does the nifty fat-ridding job of binding bad cholesterol (LDL) in your digestive system and dragging it out of your body.