List of Fat Burning Compatible Foods
When certain fat-burning foods are eaten or cooked together, their combined properties have an increased fat-burning effect. Fat-burning foods reduce the amount of fat absorbed by the body, transport fat of out of the body and/or increase metabolism to burn the fat to prevent storage.
Foods that not only burn fat but also have nutritional value tend to have a low glycemic index, low saturated fat content, essential omega three fatty acids and a high content of fiber, water and/or protein.
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Negative-Calorie Foods
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All foods have some calories and, when the amount of energy required to fully digest a particular type of food is greater than the actual calories it contains, this type of food is referred to as a negative-calorie food. This feature provides the fat-burning effect.
Low Calories/High Fiber
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A food with high water content means that it has little to no calories, while high fiber foods move through the digestive tract at a quicker rate, thus preventing any fat storage. An example of this combination is a meal that consists of a banana, orange and kiwi.
Most fruits and vegetables are negative-calorie foods with both a high water and fiber content. Below are examples of fat-burning, negative-calorie foods.
Vegetables: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, endive, green beans, onions and spinach are vegetables.
Fruits: apple, blueberries, cantaloupe, cranberries, grapefruit, honeydew melon, lemons and limes, oranges, pineapple, strawberries and watermelon.
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Low Calories/Spicy
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Spicy foods and negative-calorie fat burner are highly compatible fat-burning foods. A spicy meal can increase metabolism by 25 percent for up to three hours compared to a non-spicy meal. Capsaicin is the ingredient found in jalapenos, habaneros, cayenne and other chile peppers, which increases the heart rate and metabolism.
When men drank coffee throughout the day and ate snacks with red peppers, they burned more calories (almost 1,000) than those who did not have the same food intake.
In addition to negative-calorie foods, there are negative-calorie beverages. Some examples include green tea, black tea and coffee. The caffeine in the coffee and a chemical substance called ECGC found in green tea and black tea speeds up metabolism by increasing heart rates. In addition, EGCG can help speed up brain and nervous system functioning, which results in burning more calories.
Complex Carbohydrate/Fiber/Calcium
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The combination of a complex carbohydrate and fiber helps to keep blood sugar or insulin levels stable, which prevents fat storage. The addition of calcium increases metabolism to burn the fat at a more accelerated rate.
Examples of this combination include:Complex carbohydrates: pasta, bagels, potatoes, other root vegetables, brown bread, pita bread
Fibers: whole-wheat pastas, whole grains such as barley, popcorn, corn and brown rice, wholegrain cereals, dried apricots, dates, prunes and raisins; broccoli, spinach, swiss chard, green peas and other dark green leafy vegetables, kidney beans, lima beans, black beans, chick peas and lentils
Calcium: low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt
Lean Meats/High Protein
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The energy needed by the body to extract the calories from lean poultry, beef and pork or any other meat is so great that metabolism rates naturally increase upon their consumption. High-protein meat meals burn twice as many post-meal calories, compared to a meal that is high in carbohydrates.
Omega three is the healthiest of all fats. In addition to its anti-inflammatory effect, omega three alters leptin levels, which determine whether the, omega three also increases metabolism. High concentrations of this good fat can be found in cold-water fish such as body should store calories as fat or burn them. In addition salmon, tune and sardines and omega three oils like flax seed and soybean oils. When salmon is cooked using flax seed oil, the result is an enhanced fat-burning meal.
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References
- Photo Credit Skip ODonnell: istock.com
