Fat-burning foods

Scientifically speaking, there are no ‘negative calorie’ foods. Not even celery, but here are our top seven diet-friendly choices.

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Grapefruit

Full of fibre and special nutrients that help lower insulin levels, meaning your metabolism moves at a good speed ensuring that you burn calories rather than putting on weight.

Grapefruit can interact with certain medicines, so take care and discuss it with your GP if you are concerned.

Porridge

Oats are full of fibre, milk contains protein and calcium and complex carbs and this happy union of nutrients means that your insulin levels will stay low after you’ve eaten.

That means that unlike when you eat high-sugar foods, for example, which spikes insulin levels and triggers your metabolism to slow down and burn fewer calories, you’ll continue burning calories and feel fuller for longer too, thanks to the oats taking longer to digest.

Find delicious porridge recipes

Tea and coffee

Caffeine speeds up your heart rate and as a result you burn more calories. Green tea especially has been found to help people lose weight. In fact, research published in medical journal Obesity found that mice on a weight-gain diet who were also given green tea extract put on less excess weight than other mice who were not given extract.

Find out more about the effects of tea and coffee

Fish

Fish is lean and full of protein which helps keep you feeling fuller for longer but certain types of fish also help reduce levels of leptin in your body, which controls the speed of your metabolism. A University of Wisconsin study found that low leptin levels equates to faster metabolisms and faster fat-burning.

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Eggs

Not an obvious choice for a dieter but eating eggs in the morning helps keep you feeling fuller for the rest of the day which can help prevent overeating, thereby reducing your overall calorie intake.

10 healthy reasons to eat eggs

Berries

Full of nutrients that help keep you fighting fit (so you can spend more time out and about rather than lying in your sick bed!), berries are also full of fibre so they keep you feeling full and they’re also a fantastic snack to replace high-fat high-sugar treats in the afternoon.

Peppers

Not sweet peppers although those are healthy too, chilli peppers trigger a process called thermogenesis, whereby your body produces heat and more oxygen in the period after they’ve been eaten. This process requires more calories, which means you burn more calories than you usually would, without even trying.

Read more about the health benefits of spices

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