How Eating Certain Foods Helps to Burn Fat! When it comes to losing fat, and building muscle, eating less food is not the answer to getting lean and cut. Drastically dropping your calories more well below your baseline and/or skipping meals altogether will cause you to retain more body fat and have decreased muscle/ strength gains due to your metabolism coming to a screeching halt.
Thousands of studies have shown that eating smaller meals more frequently cuts down on cravings, binges, low energy levels, mood swings, endless suffering and hunger pangs. What is known as the “Thermic Effect of Food” Thermic Effect of Food represents the energy required for the digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism and storage of all the foods you eat and accounts for approximately 10 per cent of the calories you burn daily.
How this works is when you put food inside your stomach, you get a boost of energy. After each meal, your metabolism goes up soon after you start eating and peaks two to three hours later as your body needs to do a tough job (which requires calories to do) to process the nutrients you supplied, digest them, metabolize and deliver to the needing tissues. In short, turning food into energy within the body creates heat and burns calories. So, eating itself is thermogenic. Each bite of food creates caloric energy that boosts your metabolism through the action on hormones, enzymes, and engagement of all body systems.
The overall “thermic effect of food” can range between 2-3 per cent and up to 25-30 per cent depending on the size of the meal and the types of foods eaten. Larger meals tend to have greater TEF than smaller portions. The “thermic effect of food “largely depends on what types of foods are in each meal. Proteins, especially animal proteins will have the most profound thermic effect between, 25-40 percent.
Protein is probably the most complex macronutrient. The reason protein demands so much energy and has such a high metabolic cost can be found in all the hormones, enzymes and other metabolites involved in processing the amino acids for utilization within the body. High protein foods are essential for muscle gain and fat loss. Eat protein with every meal and snack, at least one gram of protein per pound of lean body weight, spreading it evenly throughout the day. This can easily be achieved by using a protein powder supplement.
Carbohydrates are between 5-30 percent. This large window comes from whether the carbohydrate sources are high glycemic (processed sugars, dextrose, glucose), Or are low glycemic (starches, yams, brown rice, potatoes etc.) Carbohydrates provide your body with the energy needed so that you can get the workout you need. They are energy source for your muscles during workouts. Carbohydrate Supplements can be beneficial also. Although all carbohydrates have four calories per gram, some carbohydrate-rich foods have a higher “thermic effect of food”. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains. Fibrous fruits and vegetables have a TEF is about 20 per cent. These outstanding additions are loaded with vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants. Besides burning more calories than most other foods, veggies also help in the digestive process by stimulating various enzymes needed for proper nutrient absorption.
Fats are the most concentrated source of energy, they provide nine calories per gram of fat compared with four calories per gram for protein and carbohydrates. Keeping certain levels of fats in your diet is necessary, but fats tend to be high in calories and have a low thermic effect. Fat has the lowest “thermic effect of food” and requires the least amount of energy to be digested. But if you eat fat, it may take hours before the fatty acids reach the blood stream, which is due to slowed digestion, which keeps you full, longer. In other words, eating fat is the only known natural way to curb your hunger and maintain blood sugar levels for many hours after your workout. Adding essential fats such as CLA (conjugated linolenic acid), fish oils and omega fats to your nutrition plan can help you stay healthy and keep your metabolism going. Stop by your local fitness club and talk to a fitness advisor about CLA, fish oil and omega supplements today!
Finally, if you want to boost your metabolism, shrink your fat cells and have plenty of energy to build additional muscle mass, you must eat more. You need all nutrients. A proper nutrition plan should not only be varied and provide adequate nutrients throughout each day, it should be flexible and adaptable depending on what you like, what you have, and how you feel on a particular day and based on your physical output/energy requirements.