You’re probably sick of hearing that burning fat means eating a plain, bland diet of fruits, veggies and no fun. That’s not entirely true. Of course, the rule of thumb is the more processed it is, the less health benefits it has for your body. Makes sense right? Healthy food often encompasses benefits such as boosting your metabolism and burning fat faster – but let’s narrow it down to healthy foods and foods specifically known to increase your metabolism. What’s the difference?
Logically speaking, if you’re active, or even just growing and in your younger years, you may be able to eat whatever you want and not gain even a 16th of a pound. Although, each human is different – there will be a time in our life that we will all have; the fear that it will catch up with us. All our hard work put into keeping our bodies active and toned, should also be complimented by our diets to live a healthy lifestyle. Remember the 80/20 rule? Think of it as 80% diet and 20% exercise.
To take advantage of your diet and workout building off each other to create the body you want, and how to keep it. Start with the easiest thing to change – your diet.
So here you go, 7 tasty tips and tricks to get that dream body you’ve been working so hard for. And why not start with the first, and most important meal of the day. Breakfast!
Firstly, consuming spices increase the “generation of heat in the body,” which in turn makes you burn fat faster by decreasing your appetite. The list of spices can go on and on. Let’s start with some simple things to do to spice up your life (and yes you have to say “spice up your life” like the spice girls.)
Pancakes that are Good for You. (What?!)
Use copious amounts of cinnamon. Even Starbucks offers it as an ad-on to put in your coffee. (They know what’s up.) Make your Sunday morning healthier and more fueling than ever.
Try: Eggs, oats, banana, shredded coconut and a ton of cinnamon and nutmeg, pan fried in coconut oil at medium heat for 1-2 minutes and drizzle with your favorite fruit and/or natural honey or coconut nectar. (1 Banana: 1 Cup Oats: 1 Egg – FYI you can be missing any of the ingredients except for eggs and they are still great!) Of course now, you need cinnamon your coffee – it compliments it beautifully!
Smoothies
They are probably one of the best creations in the world. Putting fruits and veggies into your system to wake you up in the morning is an awesome habit to get into, especially since fruit is digested best on an empty stomach. Some key ingredients to get you started are:
- Ginger– is a spice, so boosts your metabolism (up to 20%!!), and tastes great with some apples and cinnamon and a banana ( while sneaking in some greens and the healthy powders of your choice also)!
- Papaya- which has an enzyme; papain that aids protein absorption and digestion, proven by various articles – a definite super food. (HINT: feel a cold coming on? Go to Papaya before any pills or medicines.)
- Flaxseeds / chia seeds – High in Fiber, very fulling, and lowers cholesteroul levels. The result? Aided weight loss.
Keep in mind fruits and veggies are great in smoothies. You can get wild with it, add some veggies you’d never guess would be good in a smoothie (like cucumber or carrots) – oh but they will be. Google some recipes if you’re stuck, but make sure you stick with mostly fruits and veggies and no added dairy or anything that isn’t incredibly healthy- each ingredient has to earn its spot!
Why not add a cup of hot green tea for the perfect contrast – the main antioxidant called polyphenol, known as epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, stimulates the body to help burn calories.
Eggsactly what you need for fuel for the rest of the day : Veggies, Black Beans, Eggs and Salsa Verde – YUM.
This combo is great. Start with coconut oil, sauté your favorite veggies (anything green is great, and don’t forget the chili peppers!) Beans have a high fiber content and in turn can lower cholesterol. Also, high in phytoestrogen. This means they are digested slowly by the body, which helps maintain healthy glucose levels. Now moving onto all the benefits of eggs. The essential amino acids are great, not to mention the high protein content. High-protein diets can be shown to boost metabolism by 80-100 calories a day. This is called thermic effect of food. (Basically, it uses more energy to metabolize food with protein than carbs – told you eating was the easiest part of this!)
Sweet Potato Home Fries, Poached Egg, Avo, Tomato. Need I say more?
Lentils and sweet potatoes, are nutrient-dense. This nourishes your muscle and fat cells making the hunger hormone ghrelin tell your brain you are satisfied. Cool right? And well … can avocado just be explain by simply saying the name? This super food is one of the best, and can be used for 1 million different things and has similar health benefits to what eggs do to help increase your metabolism.
HINT: try cracking the egg into the pitted avocado and cooking in the oven for 15 minutes. (You’re welcome in advanced.)
Simple and Sweet – Greek yogurt with Fruit
Antioxidants are great, and found in many berries. Calcium and protein helps build muscle mass, and will also keep you full for longer than alternatives to this.
Overnight Oats
Oatmeal is proven to increase metabolism because they are rich in fat soluble fiber, which means similar to other foods mentioned, it takes your body more energy to break down. With tons of iron it is great for you. Play with high fat, but healthy ingredients like almond butter and chia seeds. These overnight oats you can go crazy with and there is a highly likely probability that they will be great. Google some recipes and starts whipping them together in jars, you won’t be disappointed.
In a hurry?? Power bars with a couple pieces of fruit. There are endless recipes. A good suggestion is to use molasses, oats, dried fruit without sugar, honey, any nut or seed butter, any nuts or seeds, a small amount of coconut sugar and tons of cocoa and some vanilla – get creative as the recipe never has to be the same. These ingredients will fill you up, and you can make a triple batch and freeze them to help prevent extreme hunger in-between meals. (Bonus)
There you go. A week’s worth of breakfast ideas to get your day started the right way! To get the full benefit of increased metabolism, it is suggested to work out in the mornings and throughout the day in small increments.
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