13 July 2008 508 views 3 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

by Dr. Jonny Bowden

Look, let’s get real. Some foods make it really difficult to lose weight. They create their own self-sustaining cravings (”Betcha can’t eat just one!”) and play havoc with your blood sugar and, ultimately, your waistline.

But some foods do just the opposite.

By now almost everyone knows how great foods like broccoli and blueberries are and how they can help you lose weight — but here are some foods you may not have thought of when you first saw the title of this article. Yet every one of these foods (and one beverage) meets at least one major criteria of being a super food for weight loss.

1. Grapefruit. Remember the old “grapefruit diet”? Turns out there may actually be something to back up grapefruit’s reputation as a fat fighter. In a recent study at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, researchers studied the effect of grapefruit on weight loss and found that eating half a grapefruit before meals actually helped people drop weight. The researchers studied the effect of grapefruit capsules, grapefruit juice, and real grapefruit. All three seemed to help, but the folks eating the real grapefruit got the best results. The mechanism isn’t completely understood but the results speak for themselves. As an added benefit, grapefruit contains cancer fighting compounds like liminoids and lycopene — and red grapefruit has been shown to help lower triglycerides. And a half of a grapefruit has only 39 calories!
2. Sardines. I call sardines one of the greatest health bargains of all time, and it’s definitely a boon to anyone wanting to lose weight. Why? First of all it’s loaded with protein, which helps stabilize blood sugar, makes you feel full (and less like overeating), and helps stimulate metabolism. Second, it’s a great source of omega-3’s, which not only strengthen the cardiovascular system, but are helpful in boosting mood. (When you’re in a good mood, you tend to crave less junk food!). Third, sardines are convenient, easy to find, and cheap! And because they’re very low on the food chain, they’re remarkably free of contaminants.
3. Pumpkin. You may only know this vegetable for its central role in Thanksgiving celebrations, but it’s one of the great weight loss foods of all time. Plain old canned pumpkin is absolutely loaded with fiber — each 1/2 cup serving has a whopping 8 grams and only a mere 40 calories. Dozens of studies confirm that high fiber intake is associated with a host of health benefits, not the least of which is weight management. And here’s the deal: it’s the easiest food in the world to prepare. You can sweeten it with some Xylitol (or even Splenda), sprinkle it with blood-sugar lowering cinnamon (and nutmeg for good measure), throw in some healthy almonds, and make it into one of the best tasting weight loss treats around. It’s filling and it’s delicious.
4. Grass Fed Beef. I’ll be honest with you — meat is a great weight loss food, but it’s hard to recommend it if it’s filled with antibiotics, steroids, and hormones. Buy grass-fed beef and avoid the problems while getting all the terrific benefits. (Buffalo burgers are a good alternative if you can’t find grass-fed beef). Higher protein diets are associated with weight loss for a variety of reasons. Protein stimulates the metabolism, helps you feel fuller longer, and helps decrease the desire to overeat. High-protein breakfasts are one of the best weight loss tricks in the book (try a buffalo burger for breakfast sometime and see what I mean!). And grass-fed beef has a high omega-3 content giving you multiple health benefits as a bargain.
5. Green Tea. OK, technically it’s not a food, but it’s one of the great weight loss beverages of all time — rich in antioxidants, promotes heart health, aids digestion, and regulates blood sugar and body temperature. It raises the metabolic rate and speeds up fat oxidation thus helping people lose weight. Drink it daily to boost your metabolism. Some research has shown that five cups a day is the magic number for fat loss. As an added benefit, the theanine in green tea is also a great natural de-stressor.

Make these foods part of your daily diet and watch the pounds come off!