6 Delicious Foods That Help Burn Fat

Does the quarantine have you packing on pounds? Trim down fast with these tasty treats.

Leafy greens boost sugar burn.

Leafy greens, like spinach and kale, already offer a host of body benefits, and UCLA researchers say you’ll slim 40 percent faster if you add one cup of them to your daily diet! Thanks goes to a unique compound (lipoic acid) that helps shuttle blood glucose into muscle cells so it can be burned for fuel before your liver can convert it into body fat.

Avocados supercharge metabolism.

Avocados are brimming with nutrients (omega-9 fatty acids) that switch on metabolism-boosting genes inside cells. That’s why investigators at the University of California, Riverside, say enjoying one medium avocado a day could trim up to 10 pounds off your figure in two months. Bonus: Omega-9s also increase your brain’s production of the mood-boosting hormone serotonin, helping you feel 30 percent sunnier.

Macadamia nuts melt abdominal fat.

Nibble on two servings of macadamia nuts (that’s about 20 to 24 nuts) as an afternoon snack daily, and you’ll shed up to four inches off your waistline by summer, say University of Hawaii investigators. Turns out macadamias are brimming with nutrients like magnesium and palmitoleic acid that activate fat-burning enzymes inside your body’s abdominal cells.

Shrimp switches off hunger signals.

Shrimp’s omega-3 fats improve your brain’s ability to use the appetite-controlling hormone leptin. No wonder researchers at Massachusetts’ Inflammation Research Foundation say eating six ounces of shrimp chases away hunger for up to three hours, and enjoying two servings weekly helps you drop eight pounds in one month.

Red grapes curb stress hormone release.

Snacking on one cup of red or purple grapes daily can double your fat loss on any diet, Canadian scientists say. These gems contain a trio of powerful nutrients (resveratrol, cyanidin, and vitamin C) that calm adrenal glands, cutting their production of the fat-storing stress hormone cortisol by 33 percent.

Coffee releases trapped fluids.

Your brain produces a hormone (vasopressin)that helps you retain water-sometimes too much! The good news: Vanderbilt University researchers say coffee compounds (polyphenols)dial down vasopressin release, helping you shed up to four pounds of trapped fluids in a month if you sip three cups daily. Hint: Regular or decaf both work, but avoid sugar for best results.