As the holidays approach and come to a finish, we are often left with the dreaded weight gain and belly fat. New Year’s Resolutions are made to lose weight, and sometimes we feel at a loss for where to start.
Seeing a TCA Rolling Strong Wellness Coach is a great first step! A coach can also review your daily food intake, guide you on a path of exercise and diet, and help keep you accountable. In the interim, did you know there are some natural foods that can help you begin the journey?
Here are some great choices to start that first step in losing weight:
Water: Ideally you should be drinking at least half a gallon a day. Water helps remove toxins and impurities from your body. For added benefit, add lemon or infuse fruit overnight for a tastier drink. Be careful of drinking sparkling waters. While they don’t add calories, they can cause bloating which will make your belly appear to be larger.
Almonds: Almonds are just a great source of everything. In addition to helping curb belly fat, they are a great source of protein, they help regulate blood sugar, and help curb snacking. Mixing them in salads or even using almond milk instead of cow’s milk are great ways to sneak in almonds into your diet.
Raspberries: These are a great source of vitamins and minerals that help you reduce belly fat. As an added benefit raspberries also have nutrients in them that protect your eyes from macular degeneration, as well as can help with menstrual annoyances. These are great to add to water as well.
Avocados: Avocados are great in reducing belly fat. They are known for their high fat and caloric content but don’t let that scare you away. They are filled with healthy fats that help reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. They are packed full of vitamins and nutrients that combat belly fat so go ahead and eat that guacamole. A great pairing to guacamole are chips made from beans. They add more flavor to the chips and guacamole and are a great source of fiber as well.
Fish: Fish is another superfood like almonds. There is just so many great health benefits to eating fish. Fish is a lean protein and contains all kinds of brain-food nutrients. It is recommended to eat at least fish twice a week. The best way to eat fish is grilled or baked. Obviously, avoid fried fish.
Peppers: The spicier the better! Any pepper that has capsaicin in it, such as chili pepper, will help speed up your metabolism and burn energy. It will also cause you to sweat which will also help you lose weight and burn calories. A great dinner would be a spicy chili made with peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn and ground turkey.
Beans: Speaking of beans with the chips and chili mentioned above, it goes without saying that beans are a great source of soluble fiber and nutrients that help optimize metabolism of nutrients and help reduce belly fat.
Grapefruit: Grapefruit is great in reducing fat in the liver and boosting metabolism. There are many fad diets that include grapefruit for this reason. The current fad seems to be the grapefruit diet of one cheat day where you can eat anything and everything you want, and the rest only consuming grapefruit. Grapefruit is a great addition to your diet, but should never be used to eat anything you want for a day, and then just consume grapefruit for a set amount of days straight. For numerous reasons this is bad, but it is also dangerous. A better solution would be to have oatmeal in the morning with a glass of grapefruit juice. In addition, there are many medications that grapefruit can interfere with, so before consuming grapefruit, please consult with a physician if you take medication.
Ginger: Ginger has many health benefits to it. It stimulates digestion, which helps curb belly fat. It also adds a great distinct flavor to what you add it to. In addition, ginger can help combat nausea, diarrhea, and bloat. For this reason, a lot of IBS sufferers use this to help ease symptoms.
Green Tea: There are many great things to say about green tea. It helps reduce bloating and has healing properties to it. It is rich in antioxidants and is a great substitute to soda or other sweetened drinks. You can sweeten it with organic cane sugar or stevia, but for added health benefits try honey, lemon, and ginger.
Oats: Oats are high in fiber and are one of the few foods that are known to take the bad stuff in your intestines, cling on to it, and pull it out with it. It helps lower cholesterol and regulates blood sugar. It is also very filling, so it will help you to snack less. A great breakfast would be to have a bowl of steel cut oatmeal mixed with almond milk topped with raspberries. There are many super foods out there. These are just a few that can help you on your way to weight loss and make the holidays just a little merrier and tastier.
Remember, you can always check with your TCA Rolling Strong Wellness Coach for more great food options.
This article was originally featured on Rolling Strong.