5 Important Foods For Weight Loss

When you think of losing weight, your first thought is probably about the foods you will have to eliminate from your diet.  But, how often do you think about the foods you need to add?  Probably not very often. While some diet and weight loss programs talk about eating less, others emphasize adding foods to your diet.  Not just any foods, however.  There are several foods considered to have some real benefits for anyone trying to lose weight. Here are a few foods that are right at the top of the list.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oatmeal and oat bran are loaded with fiber and when eaten can expand to almost 30 times their volume. The combination of these two effects decreases your appetite by making you feel fuller longer.  You can go for long periods of time without eating while keeping your energy levels high at the same time. In order to increase the effectiveness of your weight loss program, eat oatmeal about two hours before doing your workout. Steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and plain or natural oatmeal are your best options. Avoid the instant flavored oatmeal in packets as they contain lots of sugar and other additives, and they are much more processed, meaning the fiber content is decreased.

Raw Fruits and Vegetables

Your body burns, on average, 15% more calories when your meals contain mostly raw fruits and veggies than if you ate a meal with no fruits or vegetables.  It just makes sense, then, in order to lose weight you want to eat meals consisting of mostly raw ingredients. Since these ingredients still have all of their nutrients, your body gets what it needs while you feel satisfied.  Also, fruits and vegetables that are high in vitamin C, like lemons, oranges, and pineapple help your body to mobilize and flush out extra body fat.

Spices

For years, people have claimed that adding spices to your diet can help with weight loss. Recently, a professor at Oxford University, found that by eating just 3 grams of chili peppers in a meal can increase your fat-burning metabolism by 8% to 20%, for up to three hours after eating the peppers. Also, the addition of spicy mustard to your sandwich may burn an extra 45 to 75 calories over the same three hour time span. And, just by adding fresh ginger to your diet, you get a strong diuretic. Fresh ginger also increases growth hormone production, therefore increasing the amount of fat released from your body's fat stores for burning as fuel.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Apples

While eating raw fruits in general is typically considered a great way to lose weight, apples are especially important to single out. Apples contain pectin, which prevents your body from over-absorbing fat, as well as causing your body to release some of the stored fat. A study done in Brazil found that people who ate an apple before each meal lost 33% more weight than a group of people who didn't eat an apple. Pectin also acts as an appetite suppressant, so they are great snacks to tide you over between meals.

Fish

Not only are most fish loaded with tons of omega-3s, but fish like tuna, sardines, and salmon trigger the hormone leptin. Leptin is a fat-burning hormone that suppresses your appetite and determines whether you store the calories you eat as fat, or if you burn those calories for energy. The origin of the word is interesting, too.  Leptin originated from the Greek word “leptos” which means “slender.”  So, adding more leptin to your diet may just prove to be slenderizing for you.

Eating certain foods to lose weight is not a brand new theory.  We've often heard about diet fads that include one or two foods that dominate the program.  The idea of eating specific foods that have been scientifically studied is a much more recent development in the weight loss world.  When you look at the reasons why certain foods actually help you burn fat and calories, it just makes sense to add those foods to your diet plan.