35 Secret-Weapon Foods To Lose Weight
1.Avocados
There's no reason to be afraid of eating fats,as long as they're the right fats.
Oleic acid, a compound in avocados's healthy monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) may trigger your body to actually quiet hunger. Stick to a quarter or a half of an avocado and watch that belly fat melt away. The creamy fruit is also packed with fiber and protein.
2.Mushrooms
If you want to try an easy and tasty calorie-cutting trick, then replace the meat in your favorite recipes with mushrooms. You'll automatically cut about 420 calories out of a meal, partly because you'll skip all the belly-padding saturated fat contained in meat
3.Green tea.
The slimming ingredient isn't caffeine. Antioxidants called catechins are what help speed metabolism and fat burning. In a recent Japanese study, 35 men who drank a bottle of oolong tea mixed with green tea catechins lost weight, boosted their metabolism, and had a significant drop in their body mass index. Health bonus: The participants also lowered their (bad) LDL cholesterol.
4.Bananas
Contrary to what some people believe, bananas contribute to weight loss NOT gain. Eating a banana is not just a great way to provide your body with skin-healing zinc, brain-powering slow release energy and filling fiber, but can also help you to relieve water retention thanks to the high levels of potassium they contain.
5.Melon
Half a melon contains almost twice as much potassium as bananas do, making it a low-calorie, high-antioxidant alternative that can aid the removal of excess fluids around the body. Cantaloupe melon also offers twice the recommended dose of vitamin C too, which will help to support your immune system and keep your skin in tip-top condition.
6.Cucumber
Believe it or not, cucumbers are actually a member of the melon family, and therefore have very similar slimming properties. It is a natural diuretic, which means consuming it eases water retention and bloating in the body. Why not make a slimming watercress, bean, mint and cucumber salad for a powerful tummy flattening lunch?
7.Peppermint
Peppermint is known for its potent healing and calming digestive properties, so if you’re looking to slim down your stomach, it makes sense to start including it in your diet. The easiest way to do this is to drink it in tea form, so pick up a box from your local supermarket (organic if possible) and try drinking three cups a day. Great for clearing the skin, too!
8.Grapefruit
It's back! A 2006 study of 91 obese people conducted at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic found that eating half a grapefruit before each meal or drinking a serving of the juice three times a day helped people drop more than three pounds over 12 weeks. The fruit's phytochemicals reduce insulin levels, a process that may force your body to convert calories into energy rather than flab.
9.Apples
For a mere 95 calories, a medium apple contains 4 grams of fiber. And recent research published in The Journal of Nutrition suggests that boosting your fiber intake may help you to prevent weight gain—or even encourage weight loss.
10.Berries
Tiny but mighty, berries are stuffed full of antioxidants and fiber.Plus, they’re low in calories too. Add a handful into a healthy smoothie or sprinkle over your breakfast cereal.
11.Pears
They're now recognized as having more fiber, thanks to a corrected calculation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At six grams (formerly four grams) per medium-size pear, they're great at filling you up. .It contains pectin fiber, which decreases blood-sugar levels, helping you avoid between-meal snacking.
12.Pistachios
Nuts may be high in fat, but it's the healthful unsaturated kind of fat found in pistachios. And like all nuts, pistachios offer lots of hunger-curbing protein and fiber. All of these qualities together explain why adding pistachios to the diet helped dieters in a study curb their appetites and lose more weight.
13.Almonds
Not only are almonds packed full of skin-boosting vitamin E and protein, but their high fiber content stops you feeling hungry. In 2007, researchers at Purdue University also reported that – despite the fact they are relatively high in calories – almonds themselves do not contribute to belly fat. Swap out your usual mid-morning snack for a handful and see if it makes a difference.
14.Peanuts
Peanuts get a bad rep in the diet world, but eating a small handful as a snack in between meals could stop you from overeating, and give you the protein you need to carve a lean, flat stomach. Peanuts are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and fiber, as well as skin-conditioning vitamin E.
15.Sunflower seeds
Sunflower seeds contain a bountiful supply of dietary fiber, which could fill you up for longer and keep sweet cravings at bay, while easing digestion at the same time. They are packed full of antioxidant vitamin E, too, which is essential for skin health, as well as protein and complex carbs.
16.Leafy greens
The quickest way to flatten a stubborn stomach? Include a portion of leafy green vegetables at every meal. Kale, spinach and romaine lettuce are all extremely low in calories, full of fiber and offer several vital vitamins and minerals that help to ease water retention without causing the bloating and discomfort that some other vegetables might do.
17.Cinnamon
Sprinkle it on microwave oatmeal or whole-grain toast to help cure those mid-afternoon sugar slumps. Research from the U.S.Department of Agriculture found that a little cinnamon can help control post-meal insulin spikes, which make you feel hungry.
Health bonus: One USDA study showed that just a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon a day lowered the blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
18.Garbanzo beans
Also known as chickpeas, these slimming beans pack more than 2 grams of Resistant Starch per half-cup serving. They're also a great source of fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
19.Beans
You've probably never heard of cholecystokinin, but it's one of your best weight-loss pals. This digestive hormone is a natural appetite suppressant.There's also some evidence that beans keep blood sugar on an even keel, so you can stave off hunger longer.
Heart-health bonus: High-fiber beans can lower your cholesterol.
20.Tomatoes
Delicious, full of antioxidants, and they help you to lose weight. Tomatoes are definitely among our favourite fat-fighting foods. Tomatoes have been found to reduce inflammation and water retention in the body, as well as reversing leptin resistance. Leptin is a type of protein which helps to regulate metabolic rate and appetite, so our bodies rely on it to shed those extra pounds.
21.Papaya
Papaya contains a naturally-occurring enzyme called papain, which aids the digestion of protein. It can also help to break down food faster, easing bloating and flattening out your belly in no time.
22.Apple cider vinegar
If you’re looking for a quick fix body detox, try adding a few capfuls of apple cider vinegar to your meals. It acts as a digestive tonic, helping to slay off harmful bacteria in the intestines, flush out toxins and relieve water retention around the stomach. Try adding some to vegetables during cooking or as a dressing over salad.
23.Red Pepper
Add some heat to your meals and you'll boost not only the taste but also the effectiveness of your weight loss diet. A dash of cayenne pepper or some diced jalapeno or red peppers will do the trick. They all contain capsaicin -- the heat-inducing compound in red peppers that, according to research, tamps down appetite and curbs food intake later in the day.
24.Chilli
Adding chilli to your food is a great way to boost your metabolism, which helps you to burn fat faster. A single chilli pepper also contains a full day’s supply of beta carotene (which is great for maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails) and twice your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C – an essential antioxidant that helps to battle toxins and foreign bodies in the blood stream.
25.Soup
A cup of chicken soup is as appetite blunting as a piece of chicken: That was the finding of a Purdue University study with 18 women and 13 men. Why? Researchers speculate that even the simplest soup satisfies hunger because your brain perceives it as filling.
26.Oatmeal
Eating a breakfast made with "slow-release" carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or bran cereal, three hours before you exercise may help you burn more fat, suggests a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition. Here's why: in the study, eating "slow-release" carbohydrates didn't spike blood sugar as high as eating refined carbohydrates, such as white toast. In turn, insulin levels didn't spike as high and because insulin plays a role in signaling your body to store fat, having lower levels may help you burn fat.
27.Eggs
Eggs get a bad rap when it comes to weight loss. But the breakfast staple is loaded with protein that will curb your appetite. One study found that overweight women who ate egg breakfasts lost twice as much weight as women who started their days with bagels.
And don't worry about cholesterol: The study found that egg eaters don't have higher bad cholesterol or lower good cholesterol than bagel eaters.
28.Lean beef.
It's what's for dinner-or should be, if you're trying to shed pounds. The amino acid leucine, which is abundant in proteins like meat and fish as well as in dairy products, can help you pare down while maintaining calorie-burning muscle. That's what it did for 24 overweight middle-aged women in a study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Eating anywhere from nine to 10 ounces of beef a day on a roughly 1,700-calorie diet helped the women lose more weight, more fat, and less muscle mass than a control group consuming the same number of calories, but less protein. The beef eaters also had fewer hunger pangs
29.Salmon
Lean sources of protein help you feel full without adding fat. However, 50% of women ages 18 to 50 don't know if they get enough of this essential nutrient.
Up your intake with salmon; it's a leaner choice than red meat and is chock-full of MUFAs to boot. A 2001 study found that dieters eating a MUFA-rich diet lost an average of 9 pounds, while their low-fat diet counterparts gained, on average,6 pounds.
30.Whole Grains
Ready to trade your belly bulge for a flat tummy? Then toss your refined grains into the garbage, and eat more whole grains instead. Research shows this one move can help whittle your middle. We're talking brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats, whole-grain cereal, and 100% whole-wheat bread and pasta.
31.Brown rice
If you’re looking to flatten and tone your belly, you should aim to eat a complex carbohydrate that is rich in muscle-strengthening protein and vitamins, like brown rice. It’s better than white rice, because it contains a rich supply of energizing B vitamins, which could help you burn calories faster.
32.Olive oil. Fight off middle-age pounds with extra virgin olive oil. A monounsaturated fat, it'll help you burn calories. In an Australian study, 12 postmenopausal women (ages 57 to 73) were given a breakfast cereal dressed either with a mixture of cream and skim milk or half an ounce of olive oil and skim milk. The women who ate the oil-laced muesli boosted their metabolism. Don't want to add olive oil to your oatmeal? That's OK-it works just as well in salad dressings, as a bread dip, or for sauteing.
33.Yogurt
Dietitians often refer to plain yogurt as the perfect food, and for good reason: With its trifecta of crabs protein and fat, it can stave off hunger by keeping blood sugar levels steady.Eat more Use low fat plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise in chicken or potato salad, or top a baked potato with a bit of yogurt and a squeeze of lemon juice. You'll save 4.7 grams of fat per tablespoon. Look for Greek yogurt, which has more protein than other versions.
34.Tofu
It seems too light to be filling, but a study at Louisiana State University showed that tofu does the job. Researchers tested it against chicken as a pre-meal appetizer for 42 overweight women-and the participants who had tofu ate less food during the meal. The secret: Tofu is an appetite-quashing protein.
35.Dark chocolate
Chocolate lovers, rejoice! A nibble of dark chocolate here and there can slow down digestion so you feel full longer and eat less at your next meal.
Dark chocolate is full of MUFAs (Mono unsaturated fats) studies show eating a diet high in these healthy fats can rev your metabolism to burn fat and calories. It may also help by curbing cravings for salt, sweet, or fatty diet-wreckers.
1.Avocados
There's no reason to be afraid of eating fats,as long as they're the right fats.
Oleic acid, a compound in avocados's healthy monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) may trigger your body to actually quiet hunger. Stick to a quarter or a half of an avocado and watch that belly fat melt away. The creamy fruit is also packed with fiber and protein.
2.Mushrooms
If you want to try an easy and tasty calorie-cutting trick, then replace the meat in your favorite recipes with mushrooms. You'll automatically cut about 420 calories out of a meal, partly because you'll skip all the belly-padding saturated fat contained in meat
3.Green tea.
The slimming ingredient isn't caffeine. Antioxidants called catechins are what help speed metabolism and fat burning. In a recent Japanese study, 35 men who drank a bottle of oolong tea mixed with green tea catechins lost weight, boosted their metabolism, and had a significant drop in their body mass index. Health bonus: The participants also lowered their (bad) LDL cholesterol.
4.Bananas
Contrary to what some people believe, bananas contribute to weight loss NOT gain. Eating a banana is not just a great way to provide your body with skin-healing zinc, brain-powering slow release energy and filling fiber, but can also help you to relieve water retention thanks to the high levels of potassium they contain.
5.Melon
Half a melon contains almost twice as much potassium as bananas do, making it a low-calorie, high-antioxidant alternative that can aid the removal of excess fluids around the body. Cantaloupe melon also offers twice the recommended dose of vitamin C too, which will help to support your immune system and keep your skin in tip-top condition.
6.Cucumber
Believe it or not, cucumbers are actually a member of the melon family, and therefore have very similar slimming properties. It is a natural diuretic, which means consuming it eases water retention and bloating in the body. Why not make a slimming watercress, bean, mint and cucumber salad for a powerful tummy flattening lunch?
7.Peppermint
Peppermint is known for its potent healing and calming digestive properties, so if you’re looking to slim down your stomach, it makes sense to start including it in your diet. The easiest way to do this is to drink it in tea form, so pick up a box from your local supermarket (organic if possible) and try drinking three cups a day. Great for clearing the skin, too!
8.Grapefruit
It's back! A 2006 study of 91 obese people conducted at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic found that eating half a grapefruit before each meal or drinking a serving of the juice three times a day helped people drop more than three pounds over 12 weeks. The fruit's phytochemicals reduce insulin levels, a process that may force your body to convert calories into energy rather than flab.
9.Apples
For a mere 95 calories, a medium apple contains 4 grams of fiber. And recent research published in The Journal of Nutrition suggests that boosting your fiber intake may help you to prevent weight gain—or even encourage weight loss.
10.Berries
Tiny but mighty, berries are stuffed full of antioxidants and fiber.Plus, they’re low in calories too. Add a handful into a healthy smoothie or sprinkle over your breakfast cereal.
11.Pears
They're now recognized as having more fiber, thanks to a corrected calculation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At six grams (formerly four grams) per medium-size pear, they're great at filling you up. .It contains pectin fiber, which decreases blood-sugar levels, helping you avoid between-meal snacking.
12.Pistachios
Nuts may be high in fat, but it's the healthful unsaturated kind of fat found in pistachios. And like all nuts, pistachios offer lots of hunger-curbing protein and fiber. All of these qualities together explain why adding pistachios to the diet helped dieters in a study curb their appetites and lose more weight.
13.Almonds
Not only are almonds packed full of skin-boosting vitamin E and protein, but their high fiber content stops you feeling hungry. In 2007, researchers at Purdue University also reported that – despite the fact they are relatively high in calories – almonds themselves do not contribute to belly fat. Swap out your usual mid-morning snack for a handful and see if it makes a difference.
14.Peanuts
Peanuts get a bad rep in the diet world, but eating a small handful as a snack in between meals could stop you from overeating, and give you the protein you need to carve a lean, flat stomach. Peanuts are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and fiber, as well as skin-conditioning vitamin E.
15.Sunflower seeds
Sunflower seeds contain a bountiful supply of dietary fiber, which could fill you up for longer and keep sweet cravings at bay, while easing digestion at the same time. They are packed full of antioxidant vitamin E, too, which is essential for skin health, as well as protein and complex carbs.
16.Leafy greens
The quickest way to flatten a stubborn stomach? Include a portion of leafy green vegetables at every meal. Kale, spinach and romaine lettuce are all extremely low in calories, full of fiber and offer several vital vitamins and minerals that help to ease water retention without causing the bloating and discomfort that some other vegetables might do.
17.Cinnamon
Sprinkle it on microwave oatmeal or whole-grain toast to help cure those mid-afternoon sugar slumps. Research from the U.S.Department of Agriculture found that a little cinnamon can help control post-meal insulin spikes, which make you feel hungry.
Health bonus: One USDA study showed that just a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon a day lowered the blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
18.Garbanzo beans
Also known as chickpeas, these slimming beans pack more than 2 grams of Resistant Starch per half-cup serving. They're also a great source of fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
19.Beans
You've probably never heard of cholecystokinin, but it's one of your best weight-loss pals. This digestive hormone is a natural appetite suppressant.There's also some evidence that beans keep blood sugar on an even keel, so you can stave off hunger longer.
Heart-health bonus: High-fiber beans can lower your cholesterol.
20.Tomatoes
Delicious, full of antioxidants, and they help you to lose weight. Tomatoes are definitely among our favourite fat-fighting foods. Tomatoes have been found to reduce inflammation and water retention in the body, as well as reversing leptin resistance. Leptin is a type of protein which helps to regulate metabolic rate and appetite, so our bodies rely on it to shed those extra pounds.
21.Papaya
Papaya contains a naturally-occurring enzyme called papain, which aids the digestion of protein. It can also help to break down food faster, easing bloating and flattening out your belly in no time.
22.Apple cider vinegar
If you’re looking for a quick fix body detox, try adding a few capfuls of apple cider vinegar to your meals. It acts as a digestive tonic, helping to slay off harmful bacteria in the intestines, flush out toxins and relieve water retention around the stomach. Try adding some to vegetables during cooking or as a dressing over salad.
23.Red Pepper
Add some heat to your meals and you'll boost not only the taste but also the effectiveness of your weight loss diet. A dash of cayenne pepper or some diced jalapeno or red peppers will do the trick. They all contain capsaicin -- the heat-inducing compound in red peppers that, according to research, tamps down appetite and curbs food intake later in the day.
24.Chilli
Adding chilli to your food is a great way to boost your metabolism, which helps you to burn fat faster. A single chilli pepper also contains a full day’s supply of beta carotene (which is great for maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails) and twice your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C – an essential antioxidant that helps to battle toxins and foreign bodies in the blood stream.
25.Soup
A cup of chicken soup is as appetite blunting as a piece of chicken: That was the finding of a Purdue University study with 18 women and 13 men. Why? Researchers speculate that even the simplest soup satisfies hunger because your brain perceives it as filling.
26.Oatmeal
Eating a breakfast made with "slow-release" carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or bran cereal, three hours before you exercise may help you burn more fat, suggests a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition. Here's why: in the study, eating "slow-release" carbohydrates didn't spike blood sugar as high as eating refined carbohydrates, such as white toast. In turn, insulin levels didn't spike as high and because insulin plays a role in signaling your body to store fat, having lower levels may help you burn fat.
27.Eggs
Eggs get a bad rap when it comes to weight loss. But the breakfast staple is loaded with protein that will curb your appetite. One study found that overweight women who ate egg breakfasts lost twice as much weight as women who started their days with bagels.
And don't worry about cholesterol: The study found that egg eaters don't have higher bad cholesterol or lower good cholesterol than bagel eaters.
28.Lean beef.
It's what's for dinner-or should be, if you're trying to shed pounds. The amino acid leucine, which is abundant in proteins like meat and fish as well as in dairy products, can help you pare down while maintaining calorie-burning muscle. That's what it did for 24 overweight middle-aged women in a study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Eating anywhere from nine to 10 ounces of beef a day on a roughly 1,700-calorie diet helped the women lose more weight, more fat, and less muscle mass than a control group consuming the same number of calories, but less protein. The beef eaters also had fewer hunger pangs
29.Salmon
Lean sources of protein help you feel full without adding fat. However, 50% of women ages 18 to 50 don't know if they get enough of this essential nutrient.
Up your intake with salmon; it's a leaner choice than red meat and is chock-full of MUFAs to boot. A 2001 study found that dieters eating a MUFA-rich diet lost an average of 9 pounds, while their low-fat diet counterparts gained, on average,6 pounds.
30.Whole Grains
Ready to trade your belly bulge for a flat tummy? Then toss your refined grains into the garbage, and eat more whole grains instead. Research shows this one move can help whittle your middle. We're talking brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats, whole-grain cereal, and 100% whole-wheat bread and pasta.
31.Brown rice
If you’re looking to flatten and tone your belly, you should aim to eat a complex carbohydrate that is rich in muscle-strengthening protein and vitamins, like brown rice. It’s better than white rice, because it contains a rich supply of energizing B vitamins, which could help you burn calories faster.
32.Olive oil. Fight off middle-age pounds with extra virgin olive oil. A monounsaturated fat, it'll help you burn calories. In an Australian study, 12 postmenopausal women (ages 57 to 73) were given a breakfast cereal dressed either with a mixture of cream and skim milk or half an ounce of olive oil and skim milk. The women who ate the oil-laced muesli boosted their metabolism. Don't want to add olive oil to your oatmeal? That's OK-it works just as well in salad dressings, as a bread dip, or for sauteing.
33.Yogurt
Dietitians often refer to plain yogurt as the perfect food, and for good reason: With its trifecta of crabs protein and fat, it can stave off hunger by keeping blood sugar levels steady.Eat more Use low fat plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise in chicken or potato salad, or top a baked potato with a bit of yogurt and a squeeze of lemon juice. You'll save 4.7 grams of fat per tablespoon. Look for Greek yogurt, which has more protein than other versions.
34.Tofu
It seems too light to be filling, but a study at Louisiana State University showed that tofu does the job. Researchers tested it against chicken as a pre-meal appetizer for 42 overweight women-and the participants who had tofu ate less food during the meal. The secret: Tofu is an appetite-quashing protein.
35.Dark chocolate
Chocolate lovers, rejoice! A nibble of dark chocolate here and there can slow down digestion so you feel full longer and eat less at your next meal.
Dark chocolate is full of MUFAs (Mono unsaturated fats) studies show eating a diet high in these healthy fats can rev your metabolism to burn fat and calories. It may also help by curbing cravings for salt, sweet, or fatty diet-wreckers.
