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0 Comments | Jan 27, 2011

Fat burning foods and you: what you need to know



    What are fat burning foods?

    It’s a bit of a misnomer, actually.  The phrase “fat burning foods” can be more than a little misleading, so we’ll spend some time to clear up a bit of confusion.

    First, foods don’t burn fat.  Period.  That’s important to understand.  You can’t eat a box full of jelly doughnuts, then down some “fat burning foods,” and expect not to see the jelly doughnuts appear on your rump.

    But “fat burning foods” enable your body to work as designed.

    The reason our bodies store fat is because our bodies are designed to burn fat as fuel.  It’s a very complicated biochemical process, influenced by adjacent hormonal processes, but the truth is that burning fat is the natural state of our metabolic design.  We do it extremely efficiently, but only when our diets create the proper conditions.

    What causes the body to store fat rather than “burn” it for energy?  The hormonal and metabolic conditions brought on by our activity levels and nutritional choices.

    Which brings us to what you were probably searching for:  the list of foods that help your body burn fat rather than store it.

    The short list of fat burning foods.

    It’s very simple.  Fat burning foods are:

    • Meat
    • Vegetables
    • Seeds/nuts
    • Some fruits (limit your quantity due to sugar content)
    • No starch
    • No sugar

    I can hear the squealing now:  “But meats, some vegetables, and all seeds and nuts contain FAT!”

    That’s absolutely correct.  However, despite its wonderful symmetry, the statement that “eating fat makes you fat” is utterly false.  It’s just biochemically untrue.

    You get fat by overdosing on processed carbohydrates (breads), natural starches (potatoes), and sugar (every drink on the market other than water).

    If it contains “high fructose corn syrup,” don’t eat it or drink it.

    If it comes in a box or bag, has a food label longer than ten words, or has gobs of starch or bread in it, you should pass.

    So here’s how to tap into the power of “fat burning foods:”  eat meats and vegetables, seeds and nuts, some fruits, little starch, and no sugar.

    I said it was simple, not easy.  🙂