What foods to eat to trim body fat and lose weight is a question I often get. Sometimes, finding optimal health through optimal eating can be the best strategy. Other times a more focused approach is needed for real weight loss or body fat reduction. In the nutritional consultations I do I often get asked about a ‘top 5’ list or a ‘foods to avoid’ listing – this list of top 5 foods comes from Wendy Smith, a nutritionist that is well known in the blogging community.
After a good conversation the other day I thought it would be useful to have a guest post that gave a different opinion on body fat loss and weight loss with a focus on healthy eating – so without further ado:
Not sure what this picture is shooting for. Is she saying "you wish you were this skinny" or is she saying "I lost all this weight scrubbing this bathroom until it was ludicrously white!"
5 Foods That Promote A Healthy Body Weight And Taste Great
With so much focus on weight loss in today’s body conscious world so many of us forget to factor in good health. Not only are the foods we eat on a daily basis going to influence our body weight and how we appear to others, but they’re also going to influence how we feel each and every day and our risk of getting certain diseases.
If you want to make the most of your life and live for as long as possible, it’s very important that you’re taking care of your body and getting proper nutrition.
Luckily, with smart meal choices what you eat can not only help your body but taste great at the same time. Here are some of the best tasting foods that you should start adding to your diet immediately.
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is perfect for both breakfasts and quick snacks, as well as for baking with when you’re creating muffins, bars, or pancakes. It’s slow digesting so you won’t experience the rapid blood sugar spike followed by crash that typically follows many of the foods that you eat and it’s also high in fiber.
This fiber will help prevent you from becoming hungry an hour or two later, so it makes sticking to a reduced calorie diet that much easier.
To jazz up your oatmeal while keeping it healthy, consider adding some peanut butter, cinnamon, maple extract and sugar-free maple syrup, or stir in a scoop of your favourite protein powder flavour.
Blackberries
One fruit that many people forget about as they reach instead for strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries, is blackberries.
Blackberries are actually extremely high in dietary fiber, with one cup providing almost eight grams. They are also low in calories, so you really can’t go wrong adding these to your day.
Egg Whites
For a quality source of protein, you may want to consider egg whites. Egg whites can be whipped up in a number of different ways including omelettes, hard boiled, scrambled, or even dropped right into a broth based soup for a totally different effect.
Egg whites are 100% protein and have zero carbohydrates or fats, so they make for a very good food when you’re working to maintain a healthy body weight.
Walnuts
Peanuts typically tend to be the nut choice for many people since they generally are cheaper and just taste great. While it is still smart to include peanuts in your diet, don’t overlook the health benefits of walnuts.
Walnuts are actually higher in essential fatty acids, which provide a wealth of health benefits. If you don’t eat a lot of fish in your diet, walnuts are a good option for you.
Jamie’s Note: I actually prefer raw almonds over peanuts as peanuts tend to be stored in silos for an inordinately long period of time before they reach you. However, if it works for you, it works for you. Alternatively walnuts are just more fun to eat 🙂
Flaxseeds
Finally, the last food to consider adding regularly to your diet is flaxseeds. Flaxseeds are also very high in fatty acids and provide you with a great source of fiber as well. These can easily be added to your oatmeal, blended into a fruit smoothie, sprinkled over cereal, or added to any type of muffin or bars that you’re preparing.
So don’t ever overlook any of these foods from your diet. The more often you can include them in, the better overall nutritional status you’ll have and the better you’ll feel.
About the Author: Wendy is currently writing a book about moderate health strategies to achieve maximum weight loss. She also currently writes frequently for theColon Cleanse Zone: http://www.colonzone.org
Once Pinocchio left for Hollywood, Gepetto had to turn to other materials to make a new boy... And so began the story of 'Vitaminchio'!
Thanks Wendy! Do you have a nutrition post you would like to see? Let me know by leaving a comment in the reply box below!
PS Winter is coming – and the decrease in sunny days can sometimes lead to a temptation to eat less healthily than we normally do.
Stay conscious of what goes into your mouth, and the results will be inches coming off of your hips and waist
(I’m so cheesy sometimes… well, ok, most of the time).
Yours in health,
Jamie Atlas
Want to keep up to date with new articles?
Click this link to subscribe and receive updates every time a new ‘insight’ is posted!
PS A summary of different posts I have written on my approach to nutrition:
http://jamieatlas.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/top-nutrition-blog-posts-calorie-counting-is-dead/
Hi Jamie,
I read this blog on the 5 foods to eat, and I have a question. A good friend told me that we aren’t able to digest flax seeds unless they’re cut up into teeny pieces. Is this true? How would you recommend I add them to my oatmeal? Whole flax seeds? Powder? Liquid?
As always, thanks for the tips!
Mags
Maggie, great question. Your friend is 100% correct that flax seeds are very difficult to digest – not impossible, but very difficult compared to other more optimal methods by which it can be consumed. Remember that Flax Seed is a very delicate food and must be treated with care. I would recommend using a coffee grinder to powder the seeds – keep the seeds in the fridge until you need them. Once powdered, they mix quite nicely with yogurt or hot cereal (thats how I eat them, anyway). Alternatively, take flax seed oil but again keep it in the fridge and consume it immediately after pouring it out, the oil (and the powder) reacts to air quite quickly and turns the flax rancid – not necessarily horrible, but you will miss out on the gains if you dont consume it immediately.
Thanks again for that question – a very important one to know!!
Jamie: Great tips. Breakfast now generally consists of oatmeal with blackberries or blueberries) AND flax seed ground up in my coffee grinder. I also eat a few pistachio nuts along the way – is that counter productive to my weight loss regimen? Thanks again for all the great suggestions!
Pistachios are deeeelish! I wouldnt say its ‘counterproductive’ to have a few pistachios – if you had your pistachios as part of a snack inbetween meals then I would say it would be greaet to use that – however, it would be important to keep an eye on your overall calorie intake… often the snacks can build up and put you over your daily ‘allowance’. Just keep an eye on your other snacks the often get snuck in eg ice creams or candy snacks.
Thanks for the question!