I was reading something I found quite interesting today in the March issue of Prevention magazine. It's an article about Active Calories vs. Couch Potato Calories. It's adapted from The Active Calorie Diet by Leslie Bonci, RD.
The idea is that all calories are not the same - some foods take more work to eat, and therefore burn more calories while you're digesting them. Just the act of chewing foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats can increase your calorie burn by up to 30%! There are also calories from some sources that you may never have thought of, that are easy to add to your meals, and can give you an even bigger calorie burn (and can boost your metabolism by as much as 12%.)
There are 4 types of Active Calories that will stimulate your body to burn more calories:
1. Chewy Foods (lean meats, nuts, whole fruits and vegetables). These calories make your body work right off the fork.
2. Hearty Foods (fruits, vegetables, brown rice, whole grains, and cereals). In addition to being chewy, these calories are packed with fiber - they take up more room in your stomach. They fill you up faster, and leave less room for seconds.
3. Energizing Foods (coffee, black and green tea, dark chocolate). Coffee and black tea have metabolism-boosting caffeine. Just don't load them up with milk, cream, or sugar. Green tea contains catechins - an antioxidant that raises resting metabolism by 4%. Dark chocolate contains both catechins and caffeine - but it's recommended that you stick to just 1 oz. per day to limit calories and fat.
4. Warming Foods (peppers, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, cloves, mustard, vinegar). These things help up your energy expenditure for several hours after eating.
The article goes on to say that you should consume all four types of Active Calories each day. Healthy fats, such as nut butters, avocados, and salad dressings can also help boost fat burn - you just need to limit them to 1 tablespoon for nut butters and salad dressings, and 1/8 of an avocado.
Also, drink 2 glasses of water with every meal to prevent digestive problems from all the protein and fiber.
Here's a list of Couch Potato Calories - foods that are so easily digested that you're likely to absorb every calorie and store it as fat. The result: Even if you don't overeat, you may still gain weight...
1. Pantry Stuffers (Candy bars and candy, fruit punch or fruit juice cocktails, sweetened cereals, soda, and sweet tea). These refined and sugary foods take ZERO energy to digest. Watch out for packaging listing corn syrup, molasses, honey, and juice concentrate.
2. The Imposters (Breaded chicken patties, chicken nuggets, burgers that aren't 100% beef or turkey, veggie burgers, bologna, salami, hot dogs). BEWARE of processed foods that are advertised as the real thing - there's really no meat or substance and they're fattened up with fillers.
3. The Binge Brigade (Pasta, white rice, refined bread, muffins, bagels, French fries, potato chips, biscuits, cookies, pies, pastries, doughnuts, ice cream). Once you start, you just can't stop eating these starchy, high-carb foods!
If you'd like to read the entire article, and get a 5-day meal plan, look for the March 2011 Prevention magazine, page 88 - "Turn Up The Heat", or click on the following link to read it online: http://www.prevention.com/health/weight-loss/eat-to-lose-weight/healthy-foods-that-boost-metabolism/article/81e365680a90e210VgnVCM10000030281eac____
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