An hour later, swamped at your office, you’re gassy and bloated. You feel like you’re going to bust out of your jeans, and you’re certain that hot new assistant is starring at your muffin top while he faxes at the copying machine. At the same time you’re hungry, and you know that bag of Pirate’s Booty white aged cheddar on your desk sometimes soothes your stomach.

You’re tempted to write this discomfort off as an upset stomach, but it happens far too frequently.

You could have food sensitivities or other gut-related issues. Symptoms manifest hours or even days after you’ve finished the offending food and include joint pain, fatigue, mental fuzziness, mood swings, skin issues, constipation, diarrhea, congestion, gas, and bloating.

Take control of your digestive problems with these five strategies and never spend another afternoon stuck in the office bathroom or running to Starbucks for a brain-fog relieving grande latte.

1. Ditch the common culprits. Many so-called healthy foods can trigger food intolerances and sensitivities that develop over time as you frequently consume these foods. Try an elimination diet. For 21 days, dump the dairy, soy, gluten, corn, peanuts, yeast, sugars, and artificial sweeteners. You will survive and feel fabulous. What’s left to eat? Plenty: raw nuts and seeds, a rainbow of veggies, low-glycemic fruits, and clean, lean protein.
2. Digest well.  No more mindless eating, dashboard dining, or TV dinners.  Slow the heck down, make time for your meals, put your fork down between bites, and minimize the sparkling water while you’re eating. (Liquids dilute your stomach acids and inhibits protein breakdown.)  You’ll also benefit from a comprehensive digestive enzyme like B.P.P. from Thorne Research.
3. Search and destroy. Those pesky microbes, yeast, and parasites can extract more calories from your food and stall fast fat loss. Gut bacterial overgrowth also zaps your energy, triggers serious cravings for Sausalito cookies, and sends you running to the bathroom. An integrative health practitioner can help destroy these nasty invaders. In the meantime, garlic can help. If you want to keep your friends and not radiate bad breath, though, use Kyolic Aged Garlic Digestion Formula 102.
4. Build your defenses.  Most of your immune system exists in your gut. Boost your defenses with a high-quality whey protein (if you’re not dairy sensitive), such as Whey Protein Isolate from Thorne Research. And build gut flora with a probiotic like Bacillus Coagulans, also from Thorne Research.
5. Cool off. Make an oil change and dump the pro-inflammatory vegetable oils for wild salmon. If you’re not eating cold-water fish three or four times a week, you can get therapeutic benefits to reduce gut and overall inflammation with Omega Plus from Thorne Research.  Another gut-soothing strategy that makes a perfect mid-afternoon snack: mix freshly ground flaxseed meal with applesauce.

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies.  She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster? 

Willpower is a word synonymous with weight loss. We’re always mustering willpower not to overeat, to choose healthier food options, and to flip off Law and Order reruns and get our butts to the gym.

Let’s go way back for a minute, when we lived in caves and didn’t have McDonalds or Starbucks on every corner. If willpower had been the hot topic in every Paleo person’s conversation, we wouldn’t be around today. We were evolutionarily primed to feast so we could survive famines. Just like us, you can bet our caveman ancestors weren’t binging on leaves and seeds. Nope, they were going face down in the honey and fatty foods.

Fast forward to today. Unless you’re a contestant on one of those TV shows that throw people on some random island, you’re probably not going to face anything resembling deprivation or famine in the 21st century. On the contrary, we’re inundated with addictive foods from the moment we grab our Starbucks grande latte and ending when that 11 p.m. siren call of Chunky Monkey harkens from the freezer.

Manufacturers strategically place these addictive foods within eye’s reach, which explains why you’re salivating over that blueberry scone when you innocuously just intended to order a green tea. That’s also why grocery stores strategically place candy at the checkout aisle: so you’ll grab a bag of M & Ms without over thinking it.

What are some of these addictive ingredients that can create food allergies and other problems? Gluten in wheat and casein in milk can exert a morphine-like effect on your brain. If you’re like most Americans, you eat the same foods habitually. (Don’t believe me? Keep a food journal for a few days.)

Most likely, you’re constantly bombarded with dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, corn, and peanuts. Keep in mind these foods hide in unsuspecting places. Over time you can build up food sensitivities and cravings for them.

Many behaviors we believe lie within our control actually have strong genetic ties: snacking, decreased satiety, increased appetite, sweet tooth, eating disinhibition (more on that in a second), and increased food desire. Any of these sound familiar?

But your genes don’t have to be your destiny. When you identify your genetic tendencies for certain eating behavior traits, you can proactively put strategies in place so that you don’t fall victim to them.

For instance, let’s say you’re incredibly disciplined, but you pass a Cinnabon and those hot pecan buns grab you. You’ve just got to have one. Eating disinhibition involves overeating in response to a specific stimulus including stress, fatigue, and social situations. Maybe stressing out over your low bank account particularly creates these carb catastrophes. Rather than succumb to a gooey, sugary baked concoction, have a few squares of the richest dark chocolate you can find. You’ll satisfy your sweet tooth and those cravings will back off.

Some other defensive strategies I use to positively impact gene expression include:

1. Don’t let the cheesecake, dark chocolate, or whatever your enemy is, into the house (even healthy enemies if you overeat them)
2. Use lateral shifts – for instance, trade soda for sparkling water with Emergen-C, or cheddar cheese and crackers for goat cheese and raw almonds
3. Follow the three polite bites rule (remember to eat those bites like you’re on Oprah) and then put your fork down
4. Write down everything you eat and drink. Hire a coach to hold you accountable
5. Replace bad habits with incompatible ones – if midnight cheesecake raids are your downfall, take a hot bath instead
6. Add before you take away – add more veggies, up your fiber, and start your day with a protein smoothie [Link to article “Five things to ADD…”]
7. Don’t confuse hunger with thirst – drink plenty of green tea and water between meals

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies. She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making

And yet you curse the scales every morning as your number stagnates for the past three week

Seemingly trivial things can highjack your success. Here are five culprits that could stand in your way of your fast fat loss goals.

1. Sleep deprivation. One sleepless night of tossing and turning can sabotage fast fat loss, drown your energy levels, and leave you devouring a low-fat banana apple muffin with your morning latte.  In 17 of the 23 studies analyzed, a meta-analysis in the journal Obesity found getting too little sleep contributed to weight gain. You should aim for seven to nine hours of high-quality sleep every night to reduce hunger hormones and boost your fat-burning human growth hormone (HGH).

2.  Drinking water with your meals:  Gulping large glasses of sparkling water with your organic almond-encrusted chicken dilutes stomach acid and impairs digestion.  Otherwise, drink up. When your alarm clock blasts you awake at 7 a.m., have 16 ounces of water. Repeat about an hour before lunch and dinner. And water in the afternoon and before bed can stave off those 3 p.m. cravings for banana nut scones your assistant brought to the office. A 32-ounce Sigg bottle helps you keep track of your water intake and doesn’t inundate your body with toxins like plastic bottles do.

3.  Skipping breakfast:  You’re not really hungry anyway, so skipping a big breakfast for a Frappuccino “lite” saves calories, right? Nope. What it does do is set you up for a Starbucks low-fat apple cinnamon muffin disaster around 10:30 a.m. Breakfast sets your day’s metabolic tone, gives you steady sustained energy, and promotes fast fat loss. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed protein keeps you full and focused far better than toasted fat-free English muffins. So skip the Special K, which will set you up for a rollercoaster blood sugar spike and crash. A protein smoothie with Vegalite and Medibulk (both from Thorne Research) and So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk makes a fast, easy way to stay full and full of energy all morning.

4.  Snacking throughout the day:  You hear your coworker (who’s always on Weight Watchers) crunching one of those Nabisco 100 Calorie packs, so you decide it’s time for a mid-afternoon snack too. But every time you nosh, you raise insulin, which stores fat. Constantly nibbling on that doughnut and picking at a low-fat cranberry muffin keeps your insulin levels high and shuts off fat burning.  Aim instead every four to six hours for lean protein, healthy fats, high-fiber starches, and lots of non-starchy veggies.

5.  Overdoing endurance training:  Ever notice those people breathlessly pacing on treadmills don’t look particularly lean, muscular, or healthy? That’s because an hour or more of moderately high-intensity exercise multiple like cycling or jogging can lower testosterone, increase aging, and depress your immune system. Skip the time-killing elliptical machines and aerobics classes for burst training, which raises growth hormone and improves fast fat loss.  Or try my 4 x 4 Workout to fast fat loss in just 15 minutes. Either way, you can dump that time excuse.

Sources:

Blom WA, et al. Effect of a high-protein breakfast on the postprandial ghrelin response. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb;83(2):211-20.

Patel SR, et al. Short sleep duration and weight gain: a systematic review. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 March; 16(3): 643–653.

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies.  She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster? 

How do you make sense of the hype and hoopla?

Foremost, stick to the grocery store’s outer aisles, which carry mostly unprocessed (or least processed) foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and other perishable products. These are the foods without bar codes that our ancestors hunted or plucked, and they’re the foods your body best recognizes.

Many foods in the center aisles, on the other hand, have a sell-by date of forever thanks to added high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and other additives you most certainly don’t want in your kitchen or your body.

Many such products also list assorted government-approved health claims so you’ll buy these products, not because manufacturers care about your health.

Keep this list handy next time you visit Safeway and you’ll never again become frustrated determining whether a no-sugar-added or sugar-free product is better.

Reading ingredient lists and nutrition info

1. Manufacturers list ingredient by weight, from most to least. So a product would contain more of the first ingredient than second, and so on.
2. Know the many guises of sugar. While high fructose corn syrup is the worst, all sugars – including so-called healthy ones – can contribute to heart disease, accelerated aging, diabetes, and obesity.
3. Read the fine print about serving sizes. Manufacturers keep them low so they can claim their product contains lower calories, carbs, and fat. You might easily eat two or three servings.
4. Know your fats. See the words “partially hydrogenated” on the ingredients? Put it back. Even if the label says “zero trans fats,” these are trans fats. Choose extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, avocados, cold-water fish, and raw nuts and seeds as your principle fat sources.
5. “All natural” does not equate to healthy. As my friend Robert Crayhon used to say, gasoline is all natural, and you wouldn’t want that in your body.

Manufacturers can get away with certain claims on labels, such as:
1. Eating enough calcium may help prevent osteoporosis.
2. Limiting the amount of sodium you eat may help prevent hypertension.
3. Limiting the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol you eat may help prevent heart disease.
4. Eating fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain dietary fiber may help prevent heart disease.
5. Limiting the amount of total fat you eat may help reduce your risk for cancer.
6. Eating fiber-containing grain products, fruits, and vegetables may help prevent cancer.
7. Eating fruits and vegetables low in fat and good sources of dietary fiber, vitamin A, or vitamin C may help prevent cancer.

The government exempts certain foods from labeling. These include fresh, unprocessed supermarket foods like raw fruits, vegetables, and fish, meat, and poultry products, and restaurant foods. Ignorance is no excuse; so know your numbers when you buy these foods.

What the words mean:
Dietary Fiber
You need 25 – 35 grams of fiber a day in our diet. Most people only get four to 13 grams. These guidelines can help you increase your fiber quota:
• High fiber – 5 grams of fiber or more per serving
• A good source of fiber – 2.5 g – 4.9 g of fiber per serving

Welcome to fast food nation, where we engulf McRibs driving 80 miles an hour on the freeway and mindlessly devour half a pint of chocolate chocolate chip in the kitchen while flipping through US Weekly.

The results aren’t pretty.

Let’s have a short, painless anatomy and physiology lesson about digestion. I promise it will be less boring than your tenth-grade teacher’s lecture.

It takes about 20 minutes before a hormone called CCK tells your brain to stop eating. When you engulf a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and fries, you don’t give CCK enough time to relay the message to your brain, and you eat too much.

There’s more. You also raise fat-storing insulin levels. You don’t give your gut enough time to digest the food, which results in heartburn and indigestion. Your gut contracts, which sends you running to the bathroom and prevents nutrient absorption. (Not that that burger gives your body many nutrients to work with.) Weak digestion weakens your immune system, and a vicious cycle plays out.

Skip the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and slow the heck down. When you don’t fully swallow a bite before you chomp the next one, take that as a giant red flag you’re eating too quickly.

Digestion begins in your mouth, when that first taste of ketchup and bun saturate your taste buds and your teeth bite down into the juicy burger. Chewing grinds food into small bits so you can easily swallow the food. When you chew well, your digestive juices in your stomach coat the food, and consequently your body more effectively assimilates those nutrients.

Thoroughly chewing your food also allows your tongue to recognize the food. Your brain gets the message, which signals the digestive system to release the right juices to break down that food.

Have I lost you?

Here’s the short version: for every bite, check at least 20 – 25 times.

You can also shift gears to slow down with these nine strategies:

1. Don’t dashboard dine. Many states ticket you if you’re talking or texting while you drive. Let’s get a similar law for drivers who engulf Egg McMuffins and grande lattes on the freeway.
2. Eat during a regularly appointed time at your designated eating area. Eat your almond-crusted chicken and Brussels sprouts at the dining room table at 6 p.m., not while watching Cosby Show reruns on the sofa. And keep the bed for sleep and sex, not an 11 p.m. rendezvous with Ben & Jerry.
3. Be mindful and savor your food. Pretend like you’re dining with monks at a Zen monastery or the Queen of England.
4. Use chopsticks. Good luck slamming your food down with these guys!
5. Shrink your plate to shrink your stomach. Your stomach holds about a quart of food. Can it handle the amount you’ve got piled on your 14-inch plate?
6. Five to 10 servings of non-starchy veggies will fill you up and prove almost impossible to overeat.
7. Put your fork or chopsticks down between bites and chew.
8. Make your dining mantra “smaller bites, increased chewing.”
9. Get your enemies out of the house. You might have a will of steel mid-afternoon, but come 11 p.m., the Sausalito cookies have a way of luring you in without your consent.

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies.  She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster? 

Sure, these (and many other carb/ fat/ sodium bombs) contribute to America’s obesity problem. But we’ve got a far bigger problem: we live in a fast-paced, super-sized culture that places no emphasis on slowing down and enjoying food.

Our society thrives on convenience. Let’s look at a typical day, which begins with those low-fat blueberry muffins Starbucks strategically places when you order your morning latte. When you get a mid-morning or 3 p.m. sugar crash, you probably head to a bagel cart, bodega, or snack machine to satisfy your cravings. And why bother prepping and preparing dinner anymore? Food manufacturers know we’re busy and are only too happy to help with microwave-in-a-bag meals, Hamburger Helper, and to-go Value Meals.

Our kids pick up on these habits. Rather than prepare a vegetable omelet for breakfast, for instance, we nuke a Pillsbury toaster strudel and hand them a Capri Sun to wash it down. Or we let them out the door with nothing, thinking school will somehow step in and provide a healthy meal.

Convenience foods also pack an addictive fat-sugar-salt combo that makes mindless overeating far too easy. We’re not eating real food, so our bodies don’t know when to stop eating.

I get it. We’re all busy these days with the economic downturn, pressure to create overachieving kids, and endless homework, PTO meetings, and after-school activities. But what’s more important than the nourishment healthy foods can provide you and your loved ones?

Let’s jump off the fast train and create mindful eating habits with these five strategies:

1. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking. I want you to get a balance of protein, healthy fats, non-starchy veggies, and high-fiber carbs. For instance, try turkey and veggies on a lettuce wrap or cage-free organic eggs (if you don’t have food sensitivities) with fresh veggies. Stop it with the time excuses. You can make a protein smoothie in minutes with VegaLite and Medibulk, both from Thorne Research, in So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk. Toss in some chia or flax seeds and maybe some berries, and you have a fast, filling meal that keeps you and your kids focused for hours.
2. Focus on friends and family, not food. When you gather with friends or family, you’re often tempted to load up on food to celebrate. Instead of planting yourself in front of the buffet table and piling your plate with three-cheese lasagna and cream cheese brownies, sit down and catch up with a friend or relative. Focus on sensible, filling foods like veggies and hummus or raw fruit. Skip the creamy dressings, fatty meats, and anything fried or cheese-filled. If you simply can’t resist your mom’s gooey raspberry triple-decker cheesecake, have three polite bites and step away from the table.
3. Get kids involved in meal planning. Trade your hectic weekday dinners for a more relaxed family meal. Skip the sodium-packed canned sauces, for instance, and make your own. Let kids help chop veggies or stir pots to foster a curiosity and interest in healthful foods. Turn off the TV, put away your iPhone, and enjoy dinner together.
4. Skip the soda. Many people I know rely on soda for mid-afternoon pick me ups. Soda advertisements make all kinds of bogus claims, from refreshment to increased energy. Trust me, the 10 teaspoons of sugar in a 12-ounce Coke will only give you a sugar crash. Swap the soda (even diet ones) and those 100% fruit juices for sparkling water with an Emergen-C packet.
5. Make lateral changes. Cutting out junk food doesn’t mean deprivation. Instead, edge out the bad foods with healthier options. Rather than PB & J, for instance, give your kids organic apple slices with almond butter. Instead of Chunky Monkey, mix frozen berries into Greek yogurt. And skip the deep-fried foods for fun healthier finger-food alternatives like almond-encrusted chicken fingers and sautéed green beans.

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies.  She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster? 

Sources:

Astrup A. The satiating power of protein—a key to obesity prevention? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 82, No. 1, 1-2, July 2005.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/30/beware-of-the-agave-nectar-health-food.aspx

Despite what you hear, your ultimate weapon against the dreaded cold/ flu season isn’t a flu shot. You can’t just stop by your Walgreens for a shot, continue your crappy diet and sedentary behavior, and expect to be flu-free all winter.

Get proactive and boost your immune system naturally. Besides sailing through the season with nary a sniffle, you’ll create healthy habits that carry you beyond cold/ flu season with these five powerful strategies.

1.  Eat your vegetables. Load up on broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage, which come packed with immune-boosting sulfur. Likewise, spinach packs beta-carotene, vitamin C, and plenty of other antioxidants to stave off a cold even at your immune-challenged office. (Wouldn’t it be nice to take a sick day and not actually be sick?) Skip the chicken noodle soup for an organic chicken broth packed with vegetables. And eat your veggies with good fat: olive or coconut oil helps your body absorb their fat-soluble nutrients.
2.  Optimize your vitamin D.  Researchers at the University of Copenhagen found vitamin D activates your immune defenses. Without sufficient vitamin D, your immune system can’t fight serious infections. Get 20 minutes of sun without sunscreen a few times each week. Even with the sun, most people aren’t making enough vitamin D these days, so a supplement proves your best strategy to guarantee optimal levels. Thorne Research makes vitamin D capsules and liquid in various dosages to match your needs.
3.  Stress less. A meta-analysis of 300 studies showed chronic stress – whether a few days or several years – dramatically weakens all aspects of immunity. Researchers found that “long-term or chronic stress, through too much wear and tear, can ravage the immune system.”  Stress lowers natural killer cell activity, raises fat-storing cortisol, and depletes vitamin C.  You can’t change the economy or fire your boss, but you can change how you respond to stress.  Watch a silly comedy with your girlfriends, have a venti decaf green tea at Starbucks (theanine in the tea helps you relax), create a gratitude list, and take some daily me time for a hot bath and calming meditation.
4.  Sleep more.  Just one night of poor sleep raises stress hormones and impairs immune function. Poor sleep also increases appetite, cravings, and aging. (That’s one reason why late-night party girl starlets start looking older than they are at a certain point.) You need seven to nine hours of high-quality sleep each night.  Sleep doesn’t just happen: you’ve got to prepare your body for rest. Power down your laptop and your body the hour before bed with a hot bath, a sleepy time tea, and some soothing music.
5. Exercise. A study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine showed moderate exercise can increase your body’s macrophage production. These Pac-man guys destroy harmful bacteria and strengthen your immune system. You may be surprised to learn that running, aerobics classes, and treadmill marathons all raise cortisol and actually weaken your immune system. Ditch those hours making yourself sick for burst training, which lets you get a four-minute workout in your own home and boosts fast fat loss.

Sources:

Nieman D. Exercise, Infection, and Immunity. Int J Sports Med 1994; 15: S131-S141

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7379094/Vitamin-D-triggers-and-arms-the-immune-system.html

http://www.apa.org/research/action/immune.aspx

© 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies.  She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your “Healthy” Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster? 

Sources:

http://www.thatsfit.com/2010/06/15/fit-or-fiction-does-exercising-in-hot-weather-burn-more-calorie/

Auvichayapat P, et al. Effectiveness of green tea on weight reduction in obese Thais: A randomized, controlled trial. Physiol Behav. 2008 Feb 27;93(3):486-91.

Nedeltcheva AV, et al. Insufficient Sleep Undermines Dietary Efforts to Reduce Adiposity. Annals of Internal Medicine October 5, 2010. Vol. 153, no. 7. 435-441.

Rolls BJ, et al. Provision of foods differing in energy density affects long-term weight loss. Obes Res. 2005 Jun;13(6):1052-60.

The reality is a cookie is a cookie, period. (Yep, even that silly Cookie Diet.)

Any time you remove something from a food, you’ve got to add something else. Manufacturers compensate low-fat yogurt, for instance, with added sugar. Low-carb foods, likewise, often come packed with artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, and higher amounts of saturated fat.

Rather than buy supposedly healthier versions of junk foods, I want you to fill up on whole foods so you have no cabinet space (let alone appetite) for the Entenmann’s Crumb Coffee Cake and Pirate’s Booty aged white cheddar popcorn.

Before you take away, I want you to add these five things to your diet for fast fat loss:

1. Fiber. Want the number one nutrient that, hands down, gets fast fat loss? Fiber slows stomach emptying and suppresses ghrelin, a hormone your stomach produces to remind you to eat. More fiber means you’re less likely to go down in those walnut blondies you made for your daughter’s class. A study in the journal Nutrition Review showed people who got just 14 grams of fiber last four pounds over four months without any additional food restrictions. (I’m not giving you permission, by the way, to load up on fiber and still eat a brownie.) Fiber also helps you detox, lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL cholesterol, and helps support a healthy gastrointestinal tract. If you’re not meeting your fiber quota from food, Medibulk from Thorne Research provides a therapeutic eight grams of fiber per serving.

2. Xylitol. Dump the aspartame and all those other artificial sweeteners that create calorie dysregulation and make you fat. Xylitol is a natural sweetener found in fruits and vegetables that supports bone health, reduces cavities, and helps boost fast fat loss. Like fiber, xylitol suppresses ghrelin. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who used xylitol at meals became satiated with fewer calories.

3. Vegetables. Let’s get this out first: corn, potatoes, peas, and carrots are not vegetables. That said, you could eat bushels of spinach and still not tally up many calories. Vegetables – particularly green, leafy ones – are nutrient- and fiber-packed powerhouses for very few calories. Be creative: even your most finicky kid will love Brussels sprouts sautéed in olive oil with a little organic bacon. (Some good fat will help you absorb the veggie’s fat-soluble vitamins.) If you’re not meeting your five-to-10 veggies serving quota, find creative ways to incorporate them like a mixed-green salad or a hearty winter soup.

4. Fish. Fat helps you burn fat? I know, it sounds crazy. But omega 3 fatty acids in wild, cold-water fish can shunt fat away from fat cells and allow your body to burn it for fuel. A study in the journal Appetite concluded eating fish suppresses post-meal hunger longer. Omega 3s also increase insulin sensitivity and raise your metabolism, both of which help you burn fat. A study in the Journal of Nutrition showed that mice that got fish oil with their high-fat diet metabolized more fat and gained significantly less weight than the high-fat mice that didn’t get fish oil.

5. Green Tea.  You know all those fast fat loss supplements that celebrities endorse? Almost every one contains a compound in green tea called EGCG, which boosts metabolism and helps you burn more fat. Skip those overpriced supplements and your afternoon latte for a venti hot green tea. A study in the journal Physiology & Behavior concluded people who drink green tea burn more fat than non-tea drinkers. Green tea also contains theanine, which reduces stress, cortisol levels, and your waistline.

Sources:
Auvichayapat P, et al. Effectiveness of green tea on weight reduction in obese Thais: A randomized, controlled trial. Physiol Behav. 2008 Feb 27;93(3):486-91.

Howarth NC, Saltzman E. Dietary fiber and weight regulation. Nutr Rev. 2001 May;59(5):129-39.

Mori T, et al. Dietary Fish Oil Upregulates Intestinal Lipid Metabolism and Reduces Body Weight Gain in C57BL/6J Mice. American Society for Nutrition. J. Nutr. 137:2629-2634, December 2007.

Parra D, et al. A diet rich in long chain omega-3 fatty acids modulates satiety in overweight and obese volunteers during weight loss. Appetite. 2008 Nov;51(3):676-80.

Shafer, R.B., et al., Effects of xylitol on gastric emptying and food intake. Am J Clin Nutr, 1987. 45(4): p. 744-7.