Fat Burning Foods

 I think there is a lot of misinformation out there on Fat Burning Foods. The basic issue at hand is that some foods with higher protein and low fat take energy (think calorie burning) to digest and therefore decrease the net calorie gains. This is called the thermic effect of food. A good example would be if you had a baked chicken breast that was 200 calories and it took 60 calories to digest it, your net intake would be 140 calories that were mostly protein. In comparison if you ate a 200 calorie donut, the calories to digest it is negligible so you would have a net calorie intake of 200 calories and these would be primarily fat calories.

So in theory if you eat more high protein foods with less fat, you benefit from the calorie burning digestive activity (thermogenic) and end up with less net calories. So there are fat burning foods that do exhibit this phenomena. But the amount is small based on the scientific testing. There are also food items that contain certain elements that boost your metabolism. Hot peppers contain capsaicin which is known to increase your metabolic rate and Green Tea has an element called epigallo-catechin gallate that does the same as an example. But according to most scientific tests, the amount of calories burned is relatively small.

But the problem is that even if the thermic effect and elements to raise your metabolism are present, it represents a very small increase in calorie burning. Little things can count and if you include foods that have these benefits in your diet it can be beneficial. But don’t expect miracles from consuming these types of food by themselves. You still need to cut back intake of calories, increase burning of calories, with any successful diet plan.

So adding these fat burning foods can help but won’t be the driving force behind any diet. Foods with lean protein can take up to 30% of the calories to digest. Here’s a list of foods that do have these fat burning abilities to some extent and are lean protein foods. We also included some fruits and vegetables that have high water content and fiber since fiber also takes some energy to digest.

High Protein Meats & Fish	Vegetables &	Fruits
Turkey Breast Chicken Breast Wild Game Meats  Bison Meat  Extra Lean Red Meats  Egg Whites Any Type of Fish  Shellfish	Hot Peppers Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Lettuce	Radishes Spinach Berries Oranges Grapefruit

You’ll recognize many of these foods as recommended by most diets in their meal plans. These foods have beneficial qualities that will help anyone who wants to have a healthy diet plan. Fat Burning Foods, foods high in fiber and water content, and low fat content will help anyone lose weight. One item that really doesn’t fit eight category but does have an element (epigallo-catechin gallate) that raises your metabolism (and therefore burns more calories) is Green Tea.

I would say that instead of calling these fat burning foods, I would call them calorie burning foods. There are beneficial and even necessary essential fats that you should consume. A few good sources of fatty acids that you need come from fish and shellfish, leafy vegetables, many seeds such as pumpkin and flax, leafy vegetables, and walnuts. There are both good and bad fats, the good fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can lower disease risk and the bad fats that are saturated and trans fats can increase the risk for many diseases. You can learn more about the whole good/bad fat situation here: Low Fat Diet Plan.

The bottom line is that fat burning foods by themselves may not have that big of an impact on your weight loss. But including these fat burning foods in any diet can be beneficial and also happen to be much more healthy for you in general. High protein and lean meats, vegetables and fruits with high content in water and fiber, can help give you a balanced diet that will certainly help with weight loss.