Top Diet Foods

They are plenty of foods that give you a hot and helping hand in your battle against fat. Curious about these seemingly magic morsels? Prepare to learn the secrets to a new world of fat-burning possibilities.

How Do They Burn?

In order to be considered a fat-burning food, the food must force your body to produce heat, a process known as thermogenesis. During this process, your body burns up the food you eat, releasing it as energy to power you through your daily routine.

While it is true that all foods force your body to work a little to burn the calories consumed, fat-burning foods make your body warm up more than most.

Cinnamon

Without going into the whole scientific explanation of why it works, adding 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of this spice to something you eat every day — hot cereal, marinades, yogurt — helps blood sugar get into cells to be used for energy, so less is stored as fat.

Green Tea

One ingredient, caffeine, is a stimulant that raises your heart rate and compels your system to burn calories faster. Plus, green tea has catechins, substances that some experts believe help burn belly fat. Aim for three 8-ounce cups a day.

Yogurt

Yeah, dairy has a bad rep for high calories, but yogurt, both the low-fat and regular kinds, contains probiotics: “friendly” bacteria that preliminary research suggests may actually help reduce the amount of fat your body absorbs.

Coffee

Again, the caffeine kicks your metabolism into high gear. Caffeine also jump-starts lipolysis, the breakdown of fat. One to two cups a day is ideal.

Chili Peppers

Often found in high quantities in hot salsa as well as in many Thai, Indian, and Chinese curry dishes, these wonder foods are packed with a metabolism-boosting compound called capsaicin, which provides chili peppers’ fiery flavor. In addition, capsaicin increases your body temperature somewhat, giving your metabolism an extra calorie-burning push.

Chicken and Fish

It actually takes energy to digest food, and your body burns more calories digesting and metabolizing protein than it does while breaking down carbs and fats. Translation: Consuming a few servings of lean protein, such as chicken, fish, and tofu, each day may help keep your metabolism revving away long after you finish eating your meal.

Chia seeds

Believe it or not, seeds are the new superfoods as not only are they rich in fiber but provide energy too. Just a handful of chia seeds when mixed with nuts and dry fruits or included in smoothies or shakes can help you keep full for longer. These can soak a lot of liquid and expand in the stomach, which helps in suppressing appetite, warding off untimely hunger pangs, preventing binge-eating, and thereby facilitating weight-loss. Every 100g of chia seeds has close to 480 calories and 30g of fat out of which polyunsaturated fats (good/essential fats including omega 3, 6) make up to 23g.

Flax seeds

Flaxseeds may be useful as a part of a weight loss diet. They contain soluble fiber, which becomes highly sticky when mixed with water. This fiber has been shown to be effective at suppressing hunger and cravings, potentially promoting weight loss.

A study on weight loss diets showed that flaxseeds decreased inflammatory markers by 25–46%, compared to weight loss diets without them.

Coconut Oil

Not all fats are created equal. In fact, coconut oil is one of the healthiest, most natural fats we can consume. It can help decrease both body weight and body fat while keeping your thyroid running smoothly. Swapping out vegetable oils for coconut oil in your cooking is a simple way to add another fat-burning food to your diet.