Natural Fat Burning Foods

Often people are looking for a complete list of fat burning foods.  I’m not sure a complete list exists seeing that nutritionist and scientist are often discovering new foods that burn fat.  Having said that however, here’s my best attempt at a “complete” fat burning foods list.

All the foods listed below have certain common qualities that make them fat burning in nature.  Firstly, all of them are natural foods; there are no foods listed with refined sugars or fat.  Also, these foods have a high thermic effect, that is the increment in energy required above your resting metabolic rate to process food for use.  In other words all these foods require a higher than average number of calories for your body to burn in order to digest them; an important aspect for burning fat and weight loss. I’ve broken the list down into seven main categories:

Vegetables are by far the best foods you can give your body. Vegetables are naturally high in fiber, low in fat, and contain essential vitamins and nutrients to feed your muscles.

Low fat dairy products such as skim milk contain high amounts of calcium and complex carbohydrates, both of which help boost your metabolism and keep insulin levels low, resulting in increased fat burn.

Lean meats contain high levels of protein which boost your metabolism and burn fat. Fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids such as Salmon are also great for burning fat due to the lowering of leptin levels in your body and higher resulting caloric burn rate.

Fruits which contain Vitamin C are known to help shed fat. Vitamin C dilutes fat making it less effective and also helps in releasing it from the body. Eat fruits in moderation however as they are also naturally high in sugar.

Whole Grains are both high in fiber and complex carbohydrates, keeping your metabolism high.

Spices such as cayenne pepper and jalapenos speed up your heart heart rate and boosts the metabolism, resulting in increased caloric burn.

Teas & Coffee contain caffeine which can increase your heart rate and help burn more calories. Green tea in particular is good as it also contains a chemical known as EGCG which causes the brain and nervous system to run faster and burn more calories.