BREAK YOUR DIET PLATEAU
You follow all the rules -- you eat right, you exercise but you just can't seem to lose those last 5 kilo's! Annoyed and frustrated?
Don't worry, there is hope. To break your Diet Plateau and speed up your metabolism, eat the following foods:
Eggs:
Skip the croissant this morning. Eggs, which are full of protein, will help you feel fuller longer — a lot longer. A multicenter study of 30 overweight or obese women found that those who ate two scrambled eggs consumed less for the next 36 hours than women who had a different breakfast of equal calories.
Other research has shown that protein may also prevent spikes in blood sugar, which can lead to food cravings.
Salad:
Do you tend to stuff yourself at meals? Control your food intake by starting with a large salad (but hold the creamy dressing).
In a study of 42 women at Penn State University, those who ate a big, low-cal salad consumed 12 percent less pasta afterward — even though they were offered as much as they wanted. The secret, say researchers, is the sheer volume of a salad, which makes you feel too full to pig out.
Green tea:
The slimming ingredient in this beverage isn't caffeine. Antioxidants called catechins are what help speed metabolism and fat burning. In a recent Japanese study, 35 men who drank a bottle of oolong tea mixed with green tea catechins lost weight, boosted their metabolism, and had a significant drop in their body mass index.
But if you want to see results, you need to drink at least 12 mugs of green tea (prepared from fresh tea leaves -- not the bag) daily.
Pears:
You'll find 6 grams of fiber per medium-size pear; they're great at filling you up. Apples come in second, with about three grams per medium-size fruit.
Both contain pectin fiber, which decreases blood-sugar levels, helping you avoid between-meal snacking.
This may explain why, in a Brazilian study that lasted 12 weeks, overweight women who ate three small pears or apples a day lost more weight than women on the same diet who ate three low-calorie cookies daily instead of the fruit.
Lean Beef:
It's what's for dinner — or should be, if you're trying to lose weight. The amino acid leucine, which is abundant in proteins like meat and fish as well as in dairy products, can help you pare down while maintaining calorie-burning muscle.
That's what it did for 24 overweight middle-aged women in a study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Eating beef helped the women lose more weight, more fat, and less muscle mass than a control group consuming the same number of calories, but less protein.
Olive oil:
Fight those extra kilo's (espcially if your over 30) with extra virgin olive oil. A monounsaturated fat, it'll help you burn calories.
Olive oil also lowers raises your HDL (healthy cholesterol) and gives you strong and healthy nails, skin and hair. Use it as a salad dressings, as a bread dip, or for sautéing.
Hot Red Pepper:
Eating spicy chilli's daily can help you lose weight.
In a Japanese study, 13 women who ate breakfast foods with red pepper, ate less than they normally did at lunch.
The magic ingredient may be capsaicin, which helps suppress appetite.
