To burn fat and lose weight does not mean to abstain food, yet it is a good idea if you can include some foods that help burn fat. You might have been searched for scientific information about the ability of some foods to burn fat, and you always got irrational reasoning of the idea.

You are told that Garlic burn fat because of its cholesterol lowering effects!, or Oranges burn fat because it contains vitamin C!! You are overwhelmed by similar interpretetions of how many foods can burn fat,
the thing that makes you - and me- doubt the value of this food as a fat burning tool if this is how it works.

Among the foods that you find included are Cayenne, Citrus fruit, Bananas, Grape fruit, and Green Tea…etc. You may find more logical reasoning of how these foods can burn fat, and although the postulations are appealing theoretically, yet they are not comletely substantiated, examples:

# Some foods (e.g. Grape fruit, Citrus fruits and Apple) are claimed to buen fat because of their high content of organic acids like citric acid and malic acid, and these acids accelerate production of energy through acceleration of Krebs cycle which involves these acids inside mitochondria

# Some foods (e.g. Bananas) have a high content of Potassium which can boost metabolism and regulate the body water balance, thus enhancing its ability to burn fat

# Cayenne pepper burns calories by (triggering a thermodynamic burn)?

# Green Tea boosts metabolism and increases energy production

The antagonists of these foods ability to burn fat say:

- There are no studies to substantiate claims that organic acids or Potassium can boost metabolism

- Spicy foods may boost your metabolism slightly, but unfortunately, it is too small a boost to be significant. They say it is only 20% increase for about 30 minutes, and they suspect that the extra burn will last any longer

- Green tea may boost energy production by 4% for 24 hours, and it is not clear whether this would be enough to boost weight loss

To verify the claims of each side, and to recognize which foods can burn fat on solid scientific basis, we should closely at the their to do that ,aka, metabolism.

Metabolism is simply a measure of the rate at which your engine (body) will produce energy (calories) to sustain work (life).

Basl Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the energy needed for the body to maintain its internal functions without movement (activities), and it is roughly 1750 Calories. When the body performs an activity(movement), it consumes energy, and the tissue that consume this energy is the muscle tissue. The muscle tissue energy expenditure is a fraction of the basal metabolic rate.

Metabolism is affected by the following factors:

1- Age : It normally slows about 5% per decade after age of 40

2- Sex : Men burn more calories at rest than do women

3- Body Mass Index (BMI): The more the muscles you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be (every 1 pound of muscle burns 35 Calories a day, while every 1 pound of fat burns 2 Cal/day). This is why some weight loss programs admit exercise with diet, they aim at replacing fat with muscles, not just only to burn calories.

4- Intervals between meals: Long periods between meals slow down the metabolism, thus when eating, a sharp increase in insulin secretion is induced, which in turn dictates the body to store fat.

5- Type of food: Composition of food may affect the body metabolism as
was proved by many clinical trials.

Consequently, metabolism can be activated to increase energy yield that is wasted rather than stored as fat by:

# Exercise (build muscles?)

# Eating frequent meals to keep mtabolism in high gear. This should be a life style on continuous basis, as this was found to reduce eating at the regular meals.

# Type of food :

1- Protein requires about 25% more energy to digest

2- Foods containing Calcium:

According to (obesityresearch.org) ” Increasing dietary Calciumsiginificantly augmented weight and fat loss secondary to calorie restriction and increased the percentage of fat loss from the trunk region, whereas dairy products exerted a substantial greater effect“

3- Warming spices: These include Cayenne, Ginger, Cinnamon, Allspice, nutmeg and others. They dilate pirepheral blood vessels, i.e. they bring blood from the center of the body to the skin inducing sweating.

Any additional contribution to weight loss is a positive mark in your plan. Only do not eat it if it is not palatable.

4- Foods that regulates blood sugar; This can be divided into 2 subcategories :

a- Low Glycemic Index foods:

Researchers led by D.Ludwig MD,Ph, director of optimal weight for life program at children’s Hospital, Boston, found that high glycemic-index foods including white bread, white rice, most prepared breakfast cereals and concentrated sugar, to raise blood sugar quickly. Low glycemic-foods like most vegetables, fruits, beans and grains were found to raise blood sugar slowly.

They found that after 6 months, the mice fed on both types weighed the same, however, mice on the low glycemic-index diet were lean, with normal amounts of fat in throughout their bodies. Mice on the high glycemic-index diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood, and livers. An additional benefit is lessening the risk of gall stone formation.

b- Foods that Lower blood sugar:

These help prevent sharp increases in blood level of insulin which directs the body to form fat

5- Water:

Extra weight stored as fat changes the percentage of water in the body, besides it is distributed over a larger surface area, thus water layer outside cells are thinner, needing to be enriched at short intervals.

Drink 8 glasses of water every day to normalize cellular metabolism.

6- Negative Calorie Foods(Vegetables and Fruits):

This group of food once entered the body, its fibers absorb amounts of water many times its weight, thus converted into a heavy mass the intestines have to push it to excrete it outside the body. This process consumes energy more than the little amount of energy contained in these foods. This property is the one that keeps plants alive in the sun, otherwise it would dry and die when exposed to sun rays all the day time.

The base line is that list of foods that burn fat comprise a vast variety of foods that may suit different tastes. All what you need you need is to understand your body needs, reduce calorie intake, exercise and choose your preferences of foods that burn fat.

Go here to view the largest List of food that Burn Fat, on Scientific Basis on the internet. It covers almost all food groups.

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