Want to speed up your weight loss, especially due to your lack of movement during self-isolation? It’s not just about reducing your food intake, or cutting things out of your diet. It’s actually all about what you can add to your diet to help you lose the extra kilos.
GRAPEFRUIT: We’ve all heard of the grapefruit diet but you don’t have to live on a diet of grapefruit alone to lose weight. It’s been found that that eating half a grapefruit before each meal or drinking a serving of the juice three times a day can help you drop the pounds. The magic ingredient is the fruit’s phytochemicals and their effect of reducing insulin levels which stimulates your body to convert calories into energy rather than storing as flabby fat.
CINNAMON: Cinnamon is a great spice when it comes to boosting your immunity and metabolism as it has many health-giving properties. In terms of weight loss, it’s all to do with controlling those post-meal insulin spikes, which is what makes you feel hungry. And you don’t need to get much of the stuff to get the benefits; studies have shown that just a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon a day can lower the blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. To up your cinnamon intake either sprinkle it on to your breakfast cereal, or maybe mix it into your morning latte.Image Credit: Pexels
CHILI PEPPERS: Adding a bit of heat to your diet can give you a weight-loss boost. Studies show that having a spicy start to your morning, for example, eating chilies as a part of your breakfast can make you opt for a smaller lunch. Apparently it’s down to capsaicin which is found in chilies and red peppers that has appetite suppressing properties. Granted — chilies aren’t the easiest of items to face as your morning meal but how about as a part of a spicy egg-white omelette or stirred into scrambled eggs for a spicy weight loss kick.
FENNEL TEA: Again fennel tea is a food stuff that boasts a list of health-giving benefits; it’s packed with good levels of potassium, magnesium and calcium as well as the vitamins B and C. But when it comes to the weight-loss stakes fennel has a double benefit: working both as an appetite suppressant and a metabolism booster – both useful if you’re trying to lose weight. Fennel tea is widely available in supermarkets so add it to your daily diet to stave off cravings and boost your fuel burn.
BABY SPINACH: Eating a low-calorie salad before your main meals can help you to lose weight and ensure you get some daily intake of veggies. And it’s not rocket science as to how it works for weight loss, the key is the sheer volume of a salad, which makes you feel full so that you don’t go all out when it comes to your main meal. You need to make sure you don’t put too much dressing though, as they tend to contain a lot of added sugars — natural options like little olive oil and balsamic vinegar makes a great accompaniment to a fresh salad.