8 Foods That Promote Weight Loss
© Vasily Pindyurin/fStop/Getty ImagesWhen it comes to weight loss, eating carrots and kale isn’t going to help you much; you’ll find yourself ravenous and ready to cave and devour junk food. Most weight-loss-friendly foods aren’t necessarily veggies or 90-calorie yogurts; instead, they’re items packed with protein, and sometimes even good fat.In order to lose weight, you need to feed your body required nutrients that give you energy: protein, certain healthy fats (such as those found in olive oil or avocados), vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Read about these nutrient-dense foods that will provide you with stamina and strength, and the willpower to avoid their lesser counterparts more often found in chips, pasta, and cake.
Black Beans
© ShutterstockThey may not be the tastiest food on the planet, but black beans are incredibly solid when it comes to losing weight. One cup contains 15 grams of protein, and there's no saturated fat that's typically found in other protein sources like meat.Toss some into a mixed bean salad, mix them with rice, or even use them in a quesadilla as your main source of protein. They're also a good way to clean out your digestive tract, and are high in folate, fiber, vitamin B1, and magnesium.
Oatmeal
© Photo courtesy of ShutterstockInstead of that bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, turn to oatmeal for your daily breakfast (at least during the work week). Oatmeal is an excellent pre- or post-workout meal that packs you with both protein and carbs and keeps you full (it's definitely one of those "sticks to your ribs" kind of deals). Buy regular oatmeal in bulk (not the sweetened kind), toss it on the stove with milk and cinnamon, and throw in some blueberries for good measure. Oatmeal is also a great way to make cookies.
Cottage Cheese
© Photo courtesy of ShutterstockNo, you won't turn into your grandma if you add cottage cheese to your diet. Cottage cheese is one of the most low-fat cheeses and a great source of protein and calcium. However, be careful about the amount of sodium in cottage cheese (one cup contains 918 milligrams of sodium, which is most of the recommended amount of 1,500 milligrams daily). Choose low-sodium brands of cottage cheese, which contain about 29 milligrams per one cup.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
© Photo courtesy of ShutterstockBreakfast is often the most important meal of the day, and eggs are an excellent way to stay full for hours. Research has shown that consuming two to four hard-boiled eggs every morning (depending on your recommended calorie intake for the day) will help keep you fuller and more satisfied throughout the day.In one study out of the Rochester Centre for Obesity in America, researchers found that eating eggs for breakfast actually helped overweight or obese women lower their calorie intake throughout the day, compared to those who ate bagels for breakfast. In the study, even though the bagel-based breakfasts contained the same amount of calories as the egg breakfasts, the women who ate eggs were more successful in losing weight because they stayed full and ate smaller lunches.
Avocados
© Photo courtesy of ShutterstockAvocados may be high in fat, but it’s the kind that’s good for you and lowers bad (LDL) cholesterol — known as monounsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids are a good substitute for saturated fatty acids, which are the bad kind of fat. Avocados are also rich in cholesterol-lowering compounds, vitamins E, C, K, B6, and potassium.When it comes to losing pounds, avocados are on your side: A 2013 study from Penn State University found that foods with high-oleic oils like avocados lowered people’s belly fat by 1.6 percent compared to people who ate a flax/safflower oil mix for four weeks. Another study found that adding avocados to participants’ diets helped them lower their cholesterol significantly.For a high-protein breakfast before a big day, cut an avocado in half, take out the seed, then crack an egg over it to nestle nicely into its niche. Stick it in the oven until the egg bakes, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, then eat it with toast and sriracha. To add some pizzazz to your turkey sandwich, slice off some avocado, sandwich it between hummus, mozzarella cheese (one of the most low-fat cheeses), and kale.
Lentils
© ShutterstockLike beans, lentils are humble and cheap and come in bulk. You have to soak them first before you boil them, but once the process is complete, they can be a filling and nutrient-dense way to eat dinner without binging on fatty protein sources. These little dried beans are high in folate, fiber, copper, iron, protein, vitamin B1, and potassium — and they're extremely low in fat. You really can’t go wrong.Try mixing lentils in with brown rice and cumin for Mujadarra — a popular Middle Eastern dish that can be finished off with a fried egg on top. Lentil salads are a great way to make salads a little more substantial, and cooking a lentil curry mixed with veggies is another creative dish. Other great legumes include red lentils, black lentils, yellow lentils, red beans, and green mung beans.
Salmon
© ShutterstockLean protein is the best substitution for red meat, and salmon is the king of lean protein. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B12, D, and B3, salmon has also been shown to help people lose weight. Research has shown that people who eat salmon had lower fasting insulin levels, which improves health and lowers the risk of developing diabetes. In a 2011 study, researchers found that people who ate salmon had lower weight gain than people who ate non-salmon types of fish.
Quinoa
© ShutterstockIf beans and legumes aren’t enough, add some quinoa to your mix of weight loss foods — it’s a good substitute for rice or carbs but is essentially a dense source of protein. Using quinoa for breakfast bowls or dinner bowls will help you avoid carbohydrates that aren’t as nutritional.
source : Medical Daily (http://www.medicaldaily.com/)
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