Flickr Photo: Shumpei Sano
When it comes to staying fit, healthy and in peak physical condition what we put into our bodies becomes almost, if not more important than our carefully crafted exercise routines. You could train harder, faster and longer than anyone else but if your diet isn’t up to scratch, you’ll definitely struggle to shift those extra pounds.
Pepper
When it comes to pepper, the hotter the better! Add this vibrant vegetable to all your winter soups, sauces,and even salads. Hot peppers naturally contain a little-known ingredient called Capsaicin which, as you may have guessed, is where that extra chilli kick comes from. When our bodies feel hot, we tend to burn lots of extra calories, so the fiery heat of that cayenne pepper sauce is doing far more than just making your eyes water!
Flickr Photo: City Foodsters
Green Tea
There are plenty of health benefits to drinking green tea such as increased concentration, plus it also eases depression and contains no caffeine. However, drinking green tea is also good for your gut, more specifically your metabolism and if you up your green tea intake to over four cups a day, you’ll get slim in no time. According to clinical studies, participants who drank green tea regularly were losing up to eight pounds in as many weeks just by consuming tea. It’s not quite as good as Cool Sculpting, a Freeze Your Fat technique that’ll lead to a 20 percent weight loss in two months but every little helps. You see, components in green tea have been scientifically proven to give your body a temporary boost. It’ll even work with chilled green tea so why don’t you keep a jug ready in the fridge?
Flickr Photo: Kari Sullivan
Oats
Oats or whole grains are what we call ‘slow release foods.’ We may eat them quicker, but they give us more energy over an extended period than say sugary snacks like biscuits, cakes, and sweets. While digesting these, because it takes longer, our bodies end up burning twice as many calories than other foods which means we’re losing extra fat.
Flickr Photo: ilovebutter
Lean Cuts Of Meat
Being healthy doesn’t mean you can’t eat meat but it is important that you look at the quality, and quantity of the product you’re consuming. We actually only need a small amount of protein around, 300 calories or a single chicken breast or turkey steak but, of course, many people choose to slather their burgers, steaks, and fillets in unhealthy sauces and dressings. Protein digests quickly, you burn around 30% of calories during the initial digestion phase so it’s important you choose leaner cuts of meat.
Flickr Photo: Jessica Spengler
Lentils
These small, round edible seeds are getting lots of positive press at the moment thanks to the growing vegan movement. Lots of restaurants have added things like lentil burgers, rice balls and avocado on toast to their menus in a bid to cash in on an increasingly animal-friendly society. Despite their tiny stature these little seeds are incredibly good for you, just one cup contains a whopping 35% of our daily iron intake, especially good for women, and they also help to speed up our metabolism which becomes sluggish when we’re vitamin deficient.
