Do you want to wear perfect fit cloths? Reduce your Fat.

A lot of people try to starve their nutrition in a bid to reduce fat. This approach can have spurious effects on the harmony of the body and is not a wise or healthy way to reduce fat. The right way to reduce fats would be to eat foods that reduce the possibility of further fat deposition, or foods that assist in burning fats, while also taking up calorie-burning exercises (like aerobics, yoga and resistance/weight training) to use up the past-stored fat in your body. So here’s a compiled list of some easily available foods that can help in this process of burning fats or reducing the fat profile of your body.

Citrus Fruits

I would rank these as the best fat burning foods around. Eating a breakfast of citrus fruits, or other Vitamin C rich fruits, is one the best ways to start reducing the fat profile of your body. Citrus fruits provide the body with easy energy to hike up its metabolism while also supplying a rich amount of Vitamin C which is scientifically known to help burn fat as it’s a vital chemical used by the body in the process of fat metabolism.

Some citrus fruits you can try are Oranges, Kiwi fruit, Grape fruit, Tangerines, Kumquats, Clementine and Fresh Lime. While fruits like Strawberries, Apples, Tomatoes, Plums, Grapes, Cherries, Raspberries, are also good sources of vitamin C. Depending on your budget, and fruit availability, try to use a mix of these fruits for your breakfast to combine health with taste. You can also try out a “citrus fruit only” breakfast for a few weeks to see how effectively it helps in burning fat around your waist and hips. I’ve personally seen excellent results with this method of eating a fruit only breakfast.

Fruits in general are excellent foods for fat reduction because they are natural, they are rich in vitamins & minerals, high in water content and low on calories compared to refined foods. Fruits are known to improve body metabolism and reduce bad cholesterol. Papaya, bananas, mangoes, sapote, pomegranates and blueberries make for excellent snack foods as well as breakfast foods.

Oats

The benefit of eating cereals like Oats is that they contain a huge proportion of their calorie profile in terms of insoluble fiber. This insoluble fiber not only gives you a feeling of satiation and thus keeps you from feeling hungry for a long time but also does not contribute to any calorie addition to the body. In fact, any foods that contain a good amount of insoluble fiber would help you in the process of reducing the fat profile of the body. Raisin and Barn cereal is another good example of breakfast food that’s rich in insoluble fiber, so is cooked barley.

Vegetables

Except for certain calorie rich vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams, most other vegetables have a low calorie profile while containing essential minerals and vitamin that improve the metabolism of the body. When you eat potatoes, if possible, cook them with their skin on because their skin is a good source of insoluble fiber. Veggies like broccoli, spinach, artichoke, lima beans, peas, cabbage and carrots are excellent sources of minerals while being low on calories. Veggies don’t contain fats either and their carbohydrate count is very low (even compared to fruits). Cucumbers are excellent as a salad food, low on calories and rich in water content.

The best way to cook veggies would be to boil them or stir fry them with healthy oils like olive oil, sunflower oil, Soybean oil or sesame oil.

Lentils

These foods, also known as edible pulses, are not only filling and nutritious (in terms of minerals) but are also low on calories and rich in plant proteins/amino-acids. In countries like India, it’s very traditional to have lentil soups, broth and gravies with breads (wheat rotis) and rice. You can also make several food items using the flour of ground lentils. They are excellent sources of dietary fiber and are known to lower the bad-cholesterol (and thus contribute to heart health).

Poultry

If you are a non-vegetarian it would be a good option to eat more poultry than red meats. Poultry like chicken are low on fats and carbohydrates while have a good protein profile. Proteins are not only more complex to digest & assimilate (and thus require a higher expenditure of energy) but they also require more energy to be stored as fats. Go in for lean cuts and avoid eating the skin of the poultry as it contains a lot of fat. Red meats, or white meats, from lamb, beef or pork, can be consumed in moderate quantities a few times a week, instead of eating them regularly in your diet, because they have a high fat profile (but these meat are a good source of minerals and proteins that can assist in the over-all health of the body when consumed in moderation).

Eggs

An average adult can consume one or two eggs a day (whole eggs with yolk) and obtain necessary protein and minerals from it while also keep a low calorie profile. Eggs are not high on calories and are also low on unhealthy fats. The possibility of a variety of food preparations using eggs make them ideal as snack foods as well as regular meal foods. It’s been found, in many studies, that eggs don’t contribute to increasing your bad cholesterol profile but can serve to improve your good cholesterol (necessary for a healthy body) when eaten in moderation.

Almonds and walnuts

These are excellent snack foods and can help you feel satiated with just a fistful of these nuts. These nuts are a great source of healthy fats. It has been seen that people who don’t consume healthy fats are more likely to gain weight than people who do. This is the reason why it’s very imprudent to eliminate healthy fats from your diet in a bid to reduce weight. Remember that healthy fats are needed for a harmonious functioning of the body because most of the body’s cell structure is made from these fats.

Salmon

Fish is a good source of protein and healthy fats (rich in omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids), and makes for a great lunch or dinner meal. Salmon, mackerel, trout and tuna are not only tasty but are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids while also being low on calories and saturated fat content.

Water

Though water would not count as a food, because it has no calories, it would need to mentioned that water helps improve the over-all metabolism of the body and thus helps burn fat. And of course, water helps flush out toxins and thus improves the capacity of the body to stay healthy. Certain foods are rich in their water content and thus help in the process of fat reduction (also foods rich in water content make you feel satiated quickly), some examples are water melons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, snake gourd, papaya and chard.
The benefit of eating these water rich foods is that they supply minerals (electrolytes) along with water and hence do not cause “water intoxication” which can results from drinking too much water while not balancing out the minerals (especially during work outs).