Rather than fight against the current and continue to try to impress on people that in the long run it’s better to concentrate on eating healthily and adding in a sustainable exercise routine, rather than worrying solely about bodyfat. I’ve decided to give people what they want and put together Ten Simple Ways to Lose Fat. The caveat is that these 10 simple methods are all safe and sensible and in no way detrimental to health.
Vegetables
Before I go onto some of the nutritional benefits of vegetables, and why you should eat them for health, lets just start with the overall reason why which WILL make you want to eat them. They can help you lose weight.
I don’t like the term “lose weight”, I prefer “lose fat”, I don’t want most people to lose “weight” if it’s going to come from muscle. We want muscle to move and exercise and burn Calories. However, people think they want to lose weight, so let’s go with that.
Vegetables are what we can nutritionally dense, Calorie low foods. The have loads of nutrients but few Calories. Compare this to ice cream (for example) which is Calorie dense but nutritionally low. If you eat 6 cups of vegetables, you will likely feel full and have an influx of good nutrients. If you eat 2 cups of ice cream, one you’ll probably crave something else but you’ll also have very little nutrients. Eat two fist size amounts of veg with each meal, you’ll feel fuller, ingest less Calories for the overall meal and thus it’ll help you lose weight.
Anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals
In addition to helping you feel full despite low calories, vegetables also help fat loss as they contain many powerful antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Some examples like catechins and anthocyanins can help increase your body’s ability to burn fat on their own. Another great reason to eat lots of veg.
In general, antioxidants help to decrease oxidative stress in our body. The huge number of processes that our bodies go through everyday such as digestion and metabolism, as well as environmental toxins that we are all exposed to, create byproducts. These byproducts or ‘free radicals’ can be damaging to our cells. We also create these free radicals from the less sensible food choices we make when eating simple sugars and trans fats among other things. These foods are not only low in antioxidants but can actually increase the oxidative damage to our cells as well.
Veg to the rescue
We all have free radicals from the lives we lead. Simply digesting food and being around pollutants cause them. However, they may be preventing your from metabolising fat properly and getting the benefits of the diet and exercise you are working hard at. Well, eating vegetables, packed with anti-oxidants that can help the fight against these free radicals is the answer. Not just that, different colour veg are thought to have different properties due to the varied make up of them.
Orange and Yellow
This colour veg, containing beta carotene is plentiful in this group is said to be beneficial to the skin, eyes, and heart. Research also suggests this group may fight off some cancers as well as promote eye health, protect skin from sun damage and even delay cognitive aging. Lastly, these vegetables are rich in vitamin C, which can help decrease stress hormones in the body. Stress hormones are often linked with excess stomach fat or the inability to remove it. Vitamins C from veg could be the answer you’re looking for.
Green
Green vegetables also contain high levels of vitamins A and C, which, just like in orange and yellow vegetables, can decrease oxidative stress and help cut down stored belly fat when exercise and diet are in sync. Furthermore green leafy vegetables are a source of folic acid, which helps in protein digestion and metabolism. Perfect for building muscle which we know in turn aid fatloss.
Even more important, folic acid can help insulin levels remain stable, which in turn helps control fat storage, especially in the belly. Eating green ve in abundance really can help lower stomach fat and reveal that sixpack.
White and Red
White veg (cauliflower/onions) have pigments called anthoxanthins, which contain disease-fighting chemicals like allicin which are thought to help reduce overall cholesterol and blood pressure levels as well as lowering inflammation. Red veg are high in the phytochemical lycopene which has been shown to protect the heart (by decreasing plaque build-ups in your arteries) and could protect against cancers like prostate cancer.
Just relax and Veg
There you have it. Eat your veg. Whether to feel full or to get the myriad of health and fatloss benefits. There is no downside. Unless you hate veg. In which case, get over it and eat veg.
Again, as I’ve said in previous Ten Simple Ways to Lose Fat blog posts, you need an understanding of your nutritional needs (The Ration Pack Diet) and a good resistance based training programme to really get on top of fatloss, but these tips on caffeine can help.
Follow my Ten Simple Ways to Lose Fat blogs for more ways you can easily start to burn bodyfat.