Fat-burning foods to lose fat and build muscles

Healthy Options sponsored a seminar on Power Eating featuring Dr. Susan Kleiner, PHD, a sports nutrition authority on eating for strength and whose Power Eating program has reshaped the lives of thousands.  This is my second article on her seminar which was so comprehensive and touched on several topics.

I tried to take in every word, every sentence of her lecture hoping I could re-program my eating habits even at this late stage of my life. I’ve always wanted to talk to a sports nutritionist to inquire about how to rebuild or restore muscles we have lost through the aging process.  I noticed that my once muscular legs have lost a considerable amount of muscle in spite of regular workouts.  Listening to Dr. Susan Kleiner gave me some answers.   

Here’s a list of foods that actually rev up our metabolism or enhance hormones to help us burn fat and build lean muscle.

PROTEIN

In addition to helping build muscle, lean protein helps stoke the fat-burning fires.  It takes many more calories to digest, absorb, and use protein than carbohydrate.  When you include protein in every meal and snack all day long, you raise your fat-burning potential.

 Make sure to choose lean protein sources such as egg, chicken, turkey, fish, lean red meat, low-fat or nonfat dairy (such as Greek yogurt), and vegetable protein.

FISH

For many years, nutritionists assumed that people lose weight when they eat fish because it has fewer calories, pound for pound, than red meat. Now, however, it appears that the reasons go above and beyond calories.  Dr. Kleiner said, “The type of fat found in fish appears to enhance the efficiency of the hormone leptin. This protein circulates in your bloodstream and, like the hormone insulin, is key in the weight-management equation.  Leptin regulates your food intake as well as your body’s energy expenditure.  When cells in your brain sense a rise in leptin, they signal other parts of your nervous system to turn down your appetite and turn up yourmetabolism.”                                          

Dr. Kleiner recommends athletes to eat five fish meals a week. Omega-3 fat supports a healthy heart, brain, and nervous system, and possibly enhances efficiency of leptin in boosting your metabolism and controlling your appetite.  The fatty fish, such as salmon, black cod, herring, sardines, mackerel, halibut, fresh tuna, shellfish, are highest in omega-3 fat.

PROBIOTICS

Your digestive system is home to between 10 trillion and 100 trillion bacteria, many of them friendly and health- enhancing.  The friendly bacterial cultures in your gut are called probiotics.  Scientists believe that people with certain kinds of unfriendly microbes may get more calories from their food and therefore pack on more fat than people with different types of microbes.  As a result, manipulating these bacteria by diet or supplement may be a way to fight obesity. Probiotics act as food for the probiotic cultures and are found in food such as whole grains, flaxseed, onions, banana, garlic, honey, leeks, artichokes; probiotics are found in certain yogurts and kefir that contain live bacteria, as well as in supplements. It is believed that these friendly microbes digest excess calories. The net effect is that fewer calories are stored as fat.  Researchers found that probiotics also reduce hunger and improve blood sugar and insulin function.  

OLIVE OIL

 International studies have shown that Mediterranean-style diets higher in olive oil are associated with weight maintenance and little weight gain over time, compared with diets lower in olive oil. However, overall fat consumption still does add many calories to the diet and those subjects with a very high fat consumption were overweight, compared to those who controlled their total fat intake.

GREEN TEA

Certain natural chemicals called catechins are abundant in green tea.  Animal and human studies show that these chemicals appear to increase fat burning and stimulate thermogenesis (the production of heat in the body) and the combination with caffeine in tea appears to boost the effect. The amount that you need to consume isn’t absolutely clear. A more recent Japanese study found successful result from 2-1/2 cups (600ml) every day for 12 weeks.  A recent study from the UK demonstrated increased fat burning in exercising young men who ingested three capsules a day of a green tea extract.  Because the amount of catechins is difficult to control with brewing, many practitioners recommend using a green tea extract for better dose control.

MILK

Milk ranks high on the list of the fat-burning foods.  The high calcium content of milk helps turn off a key obesity gene, keeping your body from turning up the fat-making machinery to high, and helping your fat-burning metabolism run smoothly. At the same time, milk is the primary source of whey protein.  Studies show that it enhances fat burning and limits the turnover of calories into fat storage by the liver. Subjects on a calorie-reduced diet given 20 grams of whey protein supplement every day after an exercise bout lost significantly more fat and maintained significantly more muscle mass compared to subjects given a placebo.  Milk is a natural source of whey protein and you benefit from adding a whey supplement to your diet.   

CHILI PEPPERS

Studies have shown the thermogenic effect of capsaicin, a compound found in chili peppers. Subjects fed chili-containing meals regularly for four weeks had reduced high blood insulin levels after the meals.  Chili peppers are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C, which is important in muscle building and boosting immunity levels.