There are special foods you can choose to eat that will directly promote weight loss. About 5-10% of your metabolic rate comes from the process of digestion and each item on the list of foods below makes your body burn more calories as you digest them. Some of these foods burn calories through a process called Thermogenesis, which I will explain in a moment, and others have their own unique mechanisms for weight loss.

Technically, all foods have what is called a “thermogenic effect” on your body, which means it takes calories just to digest the food you eat.  When you eat foods, the process of digestion creates heat, which is measured by calories. All foods have a unique thermogenic effect on the body, which is determined by the amount of heat particular foods release during digestion. The more effort a food takes to digest, the more heat your body produces, and the more calories you burn as you digest these foods.  Certain foods require more effort to digest than others, so adding more of these foods to your diet will result in more calories being burned through the process of digestion.  For example, protein (like chicken meat) takes more energy (aka calories) to digest than carbohydrates (like bread).

Beyond protein, there are certain foods, herbs, and spices that are such powerful, fat-burning foods that when you consume them they highly stimulate your metabolism and force it to burn calories faster than if you didn’t eat them at all. And take note: some of the foods I will share with you are so low in calories and cause such an increase in calorie burning that they are actually referred to as ‘negative’ calorie foods.  What a beautiful term! This means your body will actually burn more calories metabolizing these foods than it can absorb from the foods themselves!

The following items should be at the top of your next shopping list:

∗    Hot Peppers and Hot Spices
∗    Mustard
∗    Ginger
∗    Green Tea
∗    Black Tea and Coffee
∗    Vinegar
∗    Cinnamon
∗    Grapefruit
∗    Celery
∗    Turmeric
∗    Apples
∗    Asparagus
∗    Ice Water
∗    Berries
∗    Garlic
∗    Onions
∗    Cabbage
∗    Navy Beans

If you’re like me, you’re probably trying to figure out how to get all these ingredients into one recipe! Try one of my all-time favorite fat-burning recipes: Kickn’ Chick’n Salad. This one dish contains many thermogenic ingredients. I didn’t get everything in there, but it sure packs a punch! Try and see how many of the foods on this list you can squeeze into your own recipes!