Through trying to lose weight or living a more health conscious life many of us begin to learn about foods that burn fat. These foods also help our body from inside out giving us the proper nutrition we need to nourish our brain, heart, skin and everything else.
Our taste buds sometimes think that these good-for-you foods are boring. As hard as we try to pretend, a bowl of oatmeal just isn’t as tasty as a big, juicy cheeseburger.
Many of us find ourselves slipping on our diet, because we give into our cravings too frequently. Giving in and eating something full of ‘bad’ calories means we get hungry again faster…and so the cycle continues.
The next thing we may know we are dipping into a bag of potato chips instead of that bag of granola or the almonds we saved for a healthy snack at work on a regular basis.
Some indulgence is fine, obviously – but it is important we start to incorporate healthy food as much as possible.
One of the ways we can make the good for you foods actually taste good is by manipulating them to appeal to our taste buds more. Some of this will just be forcing yourself to eat a piece of fruit, vegetable or bowl of oatmeal now and again. Other times we can spend the time to make recipes that will become new foods that we can look forward to that help burn fat, taste good and are great for our bodies.
Banana Pomegranate Shake
Ingredients
1 Banana
1 Cup low fat plain yogurt
1 Cup Pomegranate fruit
A Blender
Steps
1: Freeze the banana at least one hour before making the shake, so the banana will add the chill to the shake. If you do not have time you can just add a couple cubes of ice.
2: Add one cup of yogurt and one cup of Pomegranate.
3: Turn on the blender until ingredients thoroughly blended together.
Pro-tip: Those tasty little pomegranate seeds are hard work and difficult to get out of the fruit, right? Wrong! Here’s how you do it the quick, easy way – cut the pomegranate in half. Hold it face down in the palm of your hand, over a bowl so the outside of the pomegranate is facing up and at you. Now, beat the outside of the pomegranate – HARD – with a spoon. Keep going, keep hitting it – and the delicious pomegranate fruit will start to drop out into the bowl. Easy!
Apple Pie Oatmeal
Ingredients
½ Cup Oats
1 Cup Water
½ Apple Diced Into small piece
6 shakes of cinnamon (or more, cinnamon is really good for you)
1 pinch salt
One tablespoon of dark or light brown sugar
Steps
1: Combine oats, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar in a bowl.
2: Microwave Diced Apple for one minute
3: Put apple in oats.
4: Boil water then pour water over oats.
5: Cover bowl with plate or another flat surface for five minutes until oats are cooked.
Stir-Fried Broccoli
I love take out Chinese food. Don’t we all? But when I learned how much oil and sodium are in all my favorite Chinese food dishes I was disgusted. How are the Chinese so skinny if they eat like this (they don’t eat like this). Quickly I began learning to make healthier version of Chinese and Thai food at home, so I could cut down on oil and salt. Here is one of the first recipes I learned to make.
Ingredients:
One large stock of broccoli cut into small florettes.
½ Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1-2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
1 tsp dry sherry
One tsp fresh ginger
1-2 cloves garlic dice
½ tablespoon oil
1: Dice ginger and garlic. Combine chicken broth, soy sauce and dry sherry. Heat oil in pan.
2: When the pain is heated add the ginger and garlic. Cook until fragrant around 30 seconds.
3: Add broccoli. Cook until broccoli turns bright green around 5-7 minutes. Flip the broccoli occasionally to cook sides evenly.
4: Add soy mixture into ban. Cover the pan so the broccoli can steam. Cook around 7 minutes until broccoli is tender. Serve over whole grain rice for a filling meal.
Great, But I’m Still Hungry!?!
Here’s 3 Quick foods that Burn Fat
Hunger pangs are the enemy to any weight loss plan. We find ourselves sneaking into the pantry for very unhealthy snacks when we don’t have time for prepared meals. I can definitely relate to this problem, I always find myself itching for a snack. The following are some quick snacks that you take little or no prep time to create. Remember to watch your portion control on all of these snack options.
1: A Peanut Butter Sandwich. Do this on toasted whole grain bread for a warm and healthy quick snack. Peanut butter contains monounsatured fats that are healthy fats that keep us full.
2: A Handful of nuts. Almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, cashews, macadamia nuts and many others are all filled with healthy fats that keep us full. Having a handful of nuts can keep us satisfied until our next meal. You can also try heating some raw unsalted nuts in a pan with a tiny bit of vegetable oil, salt, pepper, cayenne for a spicy and warm treat.
3: Dark Chocolate. Yes, really – you can eat chocolate and lose weight! You need really good dark chocolate though – the 70-80% cocoa stuff. If you find yourself craving sweets between, before or after meals dark chocolate can be a good option. Chocolate is also healthy for our hearts and moods.
And there you have it – some excellent, tasty, healthy alternative recipes that will have you feeling better, and fuller for longer so you’re less likely to go hunting for a bag of chips or the cookie jar!
