Eat Your Way to a Flatter Tummy – Top Fat Burning Foods

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Top Fat Burning Foods

March is National Nutrition Month so lets dive in and talk about some great foods you can add to your diet to help burn off fat and boost your metabolism.  Eating these foods will help you with your weight loss goals by burning more body fat which will result in a flatter belly.  Many of these foods also help with eliminating bloat and inflammation in the body.  

PROTEIN

Increasing the amount of protein in your diet will help you build muscle and boost your metabolism which will cause your body to burn more calories.  Protein also keeps you full and reduces hunger so you end up consuming less calories throughout the day.  Less cravings is a good thing, right!?  

More muscle in your body equals more fat burning.  Try adding eggs or black beans to your diet.  Eggs contain a fat-burning nutrient called choline which helps prevent fat storage in the body.  Black beans are high in protein and are also loaded with fiber to aid in digestion.  

FIBER

High fiber foods such as berries, chia seeds and broccoli are great for keeping you feeling full longer, curbing your cravings and regulating digestion.  

HEALTHY FATS

Fats are good!  You just need to know which ones are beneficial to your health.  Fat gets a bad rap but having good fat in our diet is vital.   My favorite foods to eat for consuming healthy fats are: avocado, olive oil and baked salmon.  

Avocados are packed with Vitamin E which is a super awesome nutrient for your skin, hello anti-aging food!  For any of you moms who are pregnant, avocado is a great source of folate which can reduce the risk of birth defects.  

Use olive oil when cooking or for making a homemade salad dressing.  Olive oil is great for heart health, helps improve memory and is also an anti-imflammatory.  

GRAPEFRUIT

This tangy and tasty fruit is loaded with fiber and will help keep you full.  It also stabilizes blood sugar and reduces insulin levels.  When your insulin levels are low, your body can burn off food more efficiently instead of storing it as fat.  Try having a grapefruit with breakfast or slice it up and add it to a salad for lunch.

SPICES

Not only do spices make your food taste amazing, many of them also have weight loss benefits as well.  My favorites are ginger, black pepper, cinnamon and cayenne.  

Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and can also help suppress your appetite.  Black pepper contains the substance called piperine and it aids in blocking new fat cells from forming, cayenne has similar properties.  Adding cinnamon to your diet can help regulate blood sugar and boost your metabolism.  Cinnamon tastes amazing and can be used in so many different recipes.  Sprinkle it on carrots before roasting or add it into a protein pancake batter.  

GREENS

Bring out the spinach, Popeye!  This leafy green packs a ton of protein, which builds muscles, which burns more calories.  Spinach is also rich in thylakoids which have been shown to reduce cravings.  Blend one or two cups into a smoothie or lightly cook it on the stove with a little olive oil and garlic.  

WATER

Last but most important in my opinion, water!  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  Water aids in digestion, circulation, transportation of nutrients, regulates body temperature and flushes toxins out of the body.  If you become dehydrated, you are likely to mistake it for hunger which leads to over eating.  

So how much should you drink?  Take your current weight and divide it in half.  This will be the number of ounces you aim to drink throughout the day.  

 

1 COMMENT

  1. Kari, as a Registered Dietitian with my MS in Nutrition, I appreciate all the healthy foods you are promoting here but I must respectfully disagree that they are evidence based fat burning foods. As you said, eating protein with your meals is healthy and satiating, but it does not inherently “burn fat”. Additionally, grapefruit, a very healthy, carbohydrate source will not stabilize blood sugars, rather it will raise blood sugar, which is not necessarily unhealthy as our blood sugar should increase when we eat carbohydrates. Again, I love the foods you suggest as they are all great components of a healthy, balanced diet but I do think it’s important to present them as such and certainly saying these foods can help you manage your overall weight and calorie balance is accurate, saying they are fat burning and belly flattening though, would be beyond the evidence.

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