Read here for the list of our recommended best healthy weight-loss foods to help you shed lots of weight and fat. The secret behind these superfoods is that they make you feel full longer and curb your cravings.
Some even boost your metabolism or help to burn calories fast. They not only help you lose weight but also help to strengthen your bones, prevent chronic diseases and improve your overall health.
Next time when you go shopping, carry this list. They all are superfoods for weight loss. But you should not focus on any one of them. Instead, start each week by introducing a few more foods out of this list. Keep rotating them.
List Of Foods To Eat When Trying To Lose Weight
1. Apples: An apple a day can help you stop gaining weight. Go for a crunchy apple instead of its juice. Whole fruits lessen appetite in a way that fruit juices can’t.
Apples are low in all of the things that make you gain weight, like calories, fat, and sodium. Another reason is that they have a good amount of fiber that prevents your urge to eat between meals. Moreover, chewing sends signals to your brain that you have eaten enough.
The bonus is that the antioxidants present in apples help prevent metabolic syndrome, a condition that causes excess belly fat.
2. Soup: Start a meal with vegetable soup. It can be chunky or pureed. Make it broth-based, and don’t add cream or butter to it. A recent study shows that if you start your meal with soup, you will eat 20% fewer calories over the course of your meal.
3. Oats: Oats are packed with fiber. Consume a portion of oats in your breakfast as part of a low calories diet to keep you feeling full for longer and help kick up your metabolism, thereby burning more fat. It also caters to your body with a slow release of natural energy during the day.
Not just a source of fiber, the antioxidants and other minerals present in the oats make it a perfect choice. And if lowering cholesterol is also your aim, it is a great choice to cut your cholesterol levels.
4. Eggs and Sausage: When you eat a high-protein breakfast, you feel fuller right away, and that too for a longer duration. That makes you less likely to munch on fatty, sugary foods or other snacks than those who have cereal for breakfast. So don’t give a bad rap to the eggs when thinking of weight loss. Instead, enjoy eggs in your breakfast – yolks and all!
5. Lentils: Lentils help in flattening your belly. They are a rich source of satiating protein and fiber. They also provide resistant starch, a healthy carb to kick up metabolism, helping burn fat fast.
The fiber portion of lentils will help prevent your blood sugar levels from spiking, which can cause your body to produce extra fat, especially in the abdominal area.
Lentils contribute to the processing of carbs more efficiently and help manage your cholesterol levels. For vegetarians, they are a boon, being a rich source of protein.
6. Kidney / Red / Black / White / Garbanzo Beans: They are a good source of satisfying protein and fiber while remaining low in calories. They are slow to digest, which means they will stop you from eating more. Because of their high fiber content, they help to regulate sugar levels and help with your digestion. The high protein content helps to tone up your muscles also.
Kidney, white, and Garbanzo (chickpeas) beans are rich in fat-blasting resistant starch, a healthy carb that accelerates metabolism.
7. Wild Salmon: Salmon, like mackerel, is a good source of lean protein and is packed with omega-3 and fatty acids. On the face of it, you might think it contains too much fat to be a superfood for weight loss. If you research, you will find it does not have high saturated fat, the type you find in fast foods.
The omega-3 and fatty acids not only make it heart-healthy food, but it trims your waistline too.
Omega-3 fatty acids regulate your insulin sensitivity, which builds muscles and reduces the waistline. More muscles mean your body will burn more calories.
Eat it grilled or steamed with a bit of lemon to keep the fat content low.
8. Berries: They are genuinely called – tiny but mighty. Berries are packed with antioxidants and fiber. The bonus point is that they are low in calories. Just one cup of berries gets you 4-6 grams of fiber. In addition, they help the body in breaking down fats and sugars, so it’s not only you lose weight, but the fat also.
All berries are good, but we especially recommend blue and raspberries for their high antioxidant and fiber content. They taste amazing, too – put a handful into your bowl, add oats and low-fat milk or yogurt. Alternatively, have them in a fruit salad or a smoothie without adding sugar.
9. Natural or Greek Yogurt: Go for low-fat plain yogurt to cut down on saturated animal fats. You can use low-fat plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise in chicken or baked potato salad with some lemon juice. Choose Greek yogurt, which has more protein than the other varieties. In addition, yogurt helps in keeping your sugar levels steady.
10. Avocado: Don’t be scared by the fat content (about 28 grams) in an avocado. All fats are not the same – good fats, in fact, help in losing weight. It contains oleic acid, a compound that is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. It enhances satiety and makes it one of the best weight-loss foods.
As avocado contains a lot of calories, take care to include only a quarter to half of an avocado in your diet, and voila! Your belly fat will slowly melt away.
11. Green Tea: The steamy sips of green tea hydrate your body and help you feel full and shed pounds. Moreover, the packed antioxidants in green tea will kick up your metabolism and boost-up your fat burn.
Green tea contains a compound called polyphenols that causes the destruction of triglycerides, which makes it one of the best weight loss foods plus bonus is that you are likely to lose most of the weight around your middle.
Make sure to consume green tea, as it’s not as processed as the other teas, and so many of its good properties are retained, such as antioxidants and phytonutrients.
12. Quinoa: This whole grain is packed with fiber and protein, a combination that keeps you full longer on fewer calories, curbing hunger. It’s an all-in-one grain containing protein, fiber, B vitamins, and complex carbohydrates, thus rightly called a complete grain. Eating quinoa will kick up your metabolism and help you burn fat around your middle.
Have you ever tried it? If not, what are you waiting for? To get into shape fast, eat quinoa instead of cereal for breakfast. It will help you feel full, and bonus points are that it doesn’t have a lot of calories and comes low on the Glycemic index score as well!
Please also read our article: Lose Weight Without Exercise
13. Tomatoes: They contain fiber, are low on calories, and give you that full feeling. Packed with antioxidants and help you lose weight. They are known for reducing inflammation and water retention in the body. Tomatoes also have been found to have the ability to reverse leptin resistance, a protein that helps to manage metabolic rate and appetite, so it can help us shed extra weight.
14. Broccoli: It’s known for its cancer-fighting property, but with a punch of filling fiber, it can prevent weight gain also. Besides that, it lowers your cholesterol levels, which helps in solving many heart problems.
15. Pears: Pears contain several benefits, including weight loss properties. Just one pear can provide you with 15% of your daily fiber requirement, which gives you a feeling of fullness and aids in digestion. They also contain high pectin compounds (natural fruit sugar), making this juicy fruit a healthy diuretic and helping you get rid of unwanted water retention. Consume them in whole, as the skin is where all that fiber is hiding.
Include the above best foods for weight loss in your diet to lose weight. If you know of other foods that can help with weight loss, please mention them in the comments section below to share with our other readers.
Helpful Resources:
About Author: Renu Bakshi, AKA Fitness Buffhq, is ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. He
passed Personal Fitness Trainer Course, Nutrition Health Coach course & Specialist Exercise Therapy course from ISSA, USA obtaining + 97% marks. He shares his experience and knowledge about nutrition and effective workouts to get you in the best shape of your life, no matter how old you may be. The author says: “For me, age is just a number!”