Foods to Help Weight Loss and Digestion
It’s a pretty well-known fact that what you do with your diet defines the degree of success you can expect on your weight loss journey. As much as exercise helps, and as good as it is for your health and wellbeing, you just can’t overcome a terrible diet with a couple of hours of jogging each week.
These sayings come to mind: “you can’t outrun your fork” and “you can’t out-train a bad diet”. It’s suggested that a 40% exercise and 60% diet ratio is best when it comes to weight loss.
So for that reason, here are a few fat-burning, digestion-improving foods you should welcome into your diet today.
Cayenne Pepper
Spicy food may not be to everyone’s tastes, but it seems like those who can’t stomach it are missing out on some great weight loss and health benefits.
Spicy peppers such as cayenne or jalapeno contain high levels of the compound capsaicin. It’s what gives them their “heat” and “kick.” It just so happens that capsaicin has been found to promote weight loss[1], potentially due in part to its ability to increase thermogenesis in the body.
The benefits of scorching your taste buds don’t end with weight loss. A 2016 study[2] also found capsaicin to have a beneficial impact on the gastrointestinal system, including improved digestion of micronutrients.
Apples
“An apple a day keeps the… obesity away?”
Well, that’s the word from a 2014 study published in Food Chemistry[3], which found that apples –the Granny Smith variety in particular – could help to fight obesity and related disorders. This thought to be due to the large amount of “non-digestible compounds” they contain.
What that means in practice is that apples are full of things like fibre and polyphenols which survive the digestion process and then ferment in the gut and promote the growth of healthy bacteria colonies. Those healthy bacteria then improve digestion and overall health, with one benefit being a reduction in chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is intimately tied to an increased risk of obesity.
Salmon
Inflammation in the body is known to cause insulin resistance, which in turn promotes obesity and makes it harder for your body to properly deal with the energy you’re taking in.
Salmon, and other oily fish, are great sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3’s just so happen to have powerful anti-inflammatory properties[4], while also being known to combat metabolic disease[5] and improve overall metabolic function.
Fish is also a great source of the chemical iodine, which plays a variety of important roles in the body, such as maintaining a healthy metabolism.[6]
As study after study has found that large numbers of people across the globe are suffering from differing degrees of iodine deficiency[7], you should look at salmon as a valuable health tonic as well as a delicious meal.
Hollie Miles, GM and Nutritionist
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20359164
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25675368
[3] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814614005251
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20500789
[5] http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57132
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074887/
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18590348
