Best Foods For Dieting

lunch snacks

Each year Americans spend about thirty billion dollars on slimming products, many of which aren't even clinically proven to work. Rather than looking for pills, powders and potions, you can find healthy foods to help you reach a healthy weight right in your regular supermarket. Recent research indicates there are more than a dozen foods that can effectively mitigate your hunger, replace your sugar/salt/fat cravings and boost your metabolism to help you lose weight naturally. Additionally, the best foods provide beneficial nutrients and disease-fighting elements to ensure a healthy, happy life.

To start your day off with the best foods, try eggs! Protein snacks like eggs not only fill you up, but they also deliver protein that prevents spikes in blood sugar and aids in muscle building. A multi-center study of thirty overweight and obese women found that a breakfast of two scrambled eggs, two slices of whole grain toast and a reduced-calorie fruit spread equated to them consuming less for the next 36 hours, as opposed to those women who had a bagel breakfast of equal calories.

For lunch, the best, healthy foods can be typical or slightly surprising. Salad is an obvious choice for eating healthy, as it is low in calories, not to mention high in vitamin C, E, folic acid, lycopene and disease-fighting carotenoids. In a Penn State study of 42 women, not surprisingly those who ate a big low-cal salad ate 12% less pasta afterward. Many diets also say that beans are excellent for weight loss, appetite suppression, keeping blood sugar stable and lowering cholesterol. Chicken noodle soup and tofu are other less-noted appetite suppressors. Hot red pepper is an item you may not routinely think of in weight loss but a Japanese study found that the ingredient capsaicin helps to suppress the appetite and increase metabolic rates.

The best foods for snacking run the gamut from pears to nuts. According to the FDA, there are six grams of fiber in a medium-sized pear, which will help fill you up. Apples, with three grams of fiber, is another savvy choice. Nuts may be higher in calories (a handful contains 165), but a Purdue University study found that those who snack on nuts are slimmer and healthier. Those who ate 500 calories worth of peanuts each day, consumed less at meals, had 11% faster metabolic rates and gained added disease-fighting benefits. For instance, walnuts contain cancer-fighting omega-3 fatty acids and just 10-20 pecans per day has been shown to reduce heart disease risks.