Updated 10th June 2018
After about the age of 25 our metabolism starts to slow and we all start to lose muscle and gain fat slowly unless we begin the fight against the flab early.
Women have an especially difficult battle as they age. When women approach menopause body fat can increase up to 50 percent, and it just gets worse from there. The dim forecast is the reason women need to start healthy habits early and keep them going through their lives.
The four foods listed will help with all facets of women’s health, they’re simple but amazing fat burning foods for women. We want to emphasize to not forget about the importance of healthiness of mind along with body. We cannot all look a certain way, and it is important to realize that our weight loss efforts are not just for outside appearance but also for the benefits of our long term health.
Nuts
Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. It is important that we try to reduce the amount of unhealthy fats and cholesterols in our diet for our cardiovascular health. Incidentally most foods that help with our cardiovascular health are also fat burning superstars. A delicious food that is a serves as a great replacement food for other unhealthy fats are nuts. Nuts are also a great source of protein, and make an amazing healthy substitute for other unhealthy ‘bad’ fatty snacks during your day.
Nuts have saturated and monounsaturated fats in them that help fill you up while boosting your energy. These type of fats also are known the help beat down belly fat and bad cholesterol. If you are especially trying to be heart healthy you can get unsalted ones from most grocery stores. You should look for ‘raw’ varieties of nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews – they shouldn’t be roasted, sweetened or salted.
All nuts are about equal in terms of calories per ounce, and in moderation, are all healthy additions to any diet. “Their mix of omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and fiber will help you feel full and suppress your appetite,” says Judy Caplan, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Portion control is crucial to keeping nuts a healthy snack, not an over-indulgent one. Nuts are packed with calories due to how much energy they do offer us. To incorporate them in your diet in a healthy way consider eating only a small handful a day. You can carry them in a baggy in your purse or keep a canister at your office for a quick snack.
Apple Pie Oatmeal
A sweet secret that is very heart healthy and fat trimming. The oatmeal serves as a whole grain with lots of soluble fiber that lowers cholesterol and body fat. The apple has vitamin C which is a natural fat burner, because it dilutes fat to make it easier to flush out of the system.
What makes this recipe so killer is that it reduces the amount of sweetener that you need to use for your oatmeal by using the apples as a natural sweetener. Microwave a diced apple for one minute. Put the oats, apple, cinnamon and teaspoon of brown sugar into a bowl. Poor on boiling water then allow the oatmeal to cook with a cover over the bowl. You can also coo the oatmeal with milk rather than water, to give you a further boost!
This treat is great for breakfast, and will help you have more energy through the morning without feeling hungry. It can also be a substitute when you are craving something sweet, like apple pie or ice cream. Oatmeal is a very simple to make, enjoyable way to warm you up during the cold, dry winter.
Dairy
The National Institute of Health recommends that on average women consume 1000 mg of calcium a day. While we all can and should take calcium to avoid problems like osteoporosis, it is best absorbed if we include it in foods we eat. A great way to get calcium is through dairy products, and incidentally dairy can be a fat burning power food.
Yogurt and milk are the best way to get the calcium that we need. For fat burning purposes we highly recommend incorporating milk into your diet. A 2010 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study discovered that drinking milk can double weight loss efforts. Milk actually helps break down stomach fat and interrupt fat formation.
To get the most benefit out of the vitamins and fat burning properties of milk we recommend drinking 1% milk. Skim is frequently robbed of its nutrients and the healthy fats that milk has. Higher fat percentage milks obviously have a higher fat content.
Try adding milk to a bowl of granola or oatmeal, or making a delicious smoothie by adding fruits and yogurt to milk and giving it a few seconds in your food blender. You can also have a tiny bit of natural chocolate syrup in your glass of milk for a delicious treat. Or replace that sugary drink you used to have with lunch or dinner with a glass of milk!
Dark Chocolate
I can’t speak for all of woman kind, but all the women I know love chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate, right? Think you can’t eat chocolate if you’re trying to lose weight? Think again!
Dark chocolate (the darker the better, 70-80% cocoa is best) is really, really good for us mentally and physically. It is important to remember that dark chocolate is the best way to get to the source of chocolate’s benefits. Other sweeter and milkier chocolates also have more milk and sugar which are incidentally not as good for us (they aren’t that terrible either taken in moderation).
Research has shown that dark chocolate helps us generate energy, helps our heart and stress levels. Beyond that it can help us on our mission to burn fat. A study from the University of Copenhagen found that dark chocolate dark chocolate lessens our cravings for other sweet, salty and fatty foods. The more we can avoid those foods on our weight loss journey, the better.
Treat yourself. Just a square or two of dark chocolate a day can be a treat that you can look forward to while knowing you are actually contributing to your overall well-being. A little bit of self-love is one of the best things that you can do for yourself while going down the hard road of weight loss.
And there you have 4 amazing, powerful delicious foods that not only taste great, they will help improve your overall physical and mental health, all while helping you burn fat and get a flat belly!
