“Healthy” Fat Burners?

1. EAT MORE Hot Stuff

Cayenne, chili peppers, and jalapenos all contain a wonderful compound known as capsaicin. Capsaicin has benefits not only to your digestive system and lean body mass, but also protects against infections, can help clear up sinus infections, reduce inflammation, and even reduce pain.

Maybe that’s because it’s the compound that literally puts the HOT in your tamale…and oftentimes where there is heat, there is life.

When ingested, capsaicin has been shown to:

• increase satiation during meals
• suppress appetite
• reduce cravings
• speed your metabolism

Let’s talks about that last item on the list. What does it mean that this spicy compound speeds metabolism?

A “fast metabolism” basically means a speedy digestive system. Your metabolism is not just energy production but all of the digestive processes involved in breaking down food, assimilating nutrients, and performing countless functions all of which require calories (energy).

If your metabolism is sluggish, then you are not using these calories efficiently and instead of being used for bodily functions and physical activities…that energy is getting stored for later use.

A sluggish metabolism/digestive system can equate to lower energy, less movement, more fat, less muscle, inefficient nutrient uptake which leads to injury, sickness, slow recovery, and the list goes on.

Bottom line: you want to do everything you can to fire up that digestive system and get it humming!

With a robust metabolism, your body more rapidly converts food to energy. Food becomes fuel more efficiently, making you feel more energetic, which causes you to move more and burn more energy…

…and since the food is fast becoming fuel, it’s also not turning to fat.

That is, with a revved up metabolism you use more and store less.

People often say a fidgety or “hyper” person has a “fast metabolism” and this is probably true. (Ever heard of N.E.A.T. for faster fat loss?) A strong, healthy digestive system keeps things moving, especially you. 

Either the food you just ate…

…or the glycogen stored in your muscles from yesterday’s dinner…

…swiftly turns to usable fuel telling your muscles it’s time to MOVE!

Suddenly, you want to walk around, get up and pace, talk faster, click your pen, have better workouts, and the like. With children of course this is most obvious. Twenty minutes after they eat they are “zooming” around the house, screeching and playing like wild animals and this is because their little bodies are operating with a robust digestive system and that food visibly becomes energy right before your very eyes. You are not that different. When your body is ignited by a humming digestive system (ie metabolism)…it becomes harder to stay sedentary.

According to this study,

“Within 30 min after consumption of 5 g of Capsicum frutescens, plasma glucose level during the absorption period was significantly inhibited. The metabolic rate was also immediately increased after ingestion and sustained up to 30 min.”

Thirty minutes of extra hot metabolic boost? I’ll take it!

There’s another fat burning effect we get from that hot sauce on your eggs. It creates heat inside your body, which activates your body’s cooling mechanisms, which costs energy and, thus, burns more calories.

You can find capsaicin in the supplement aisle often in the form of cayenne, or you can simply enjoy some jalapenos, chili peppers, or up to a teaspoon of cayenne with your meals. If you want to try a dynamic fat burning duo that I personally attest to, add it to your vinegar-based dressing over salad or marinades.

2. EAT MORE Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is not the only vinegar shown to mildly inhibit fat storage. Note – I say “mildly” because I don’t want you to eat a bag of donuts, then take an ACV shot, and think those donuts won’t stick to you. They will.

…but I digress…

All common vinegars do appear to have an inhibitory effect on fat storage. I mention ACV because it also has so many medicinal benefits that you will want to incorporate it into your daily for life, regardless.

To name just a few of its wellness benefits, ACV “with the mother” is shown to lower blood sugar and manage diabetes naturally. It helps your body metabolize and therefore lower cholesterol. It reduces acidity to achieve a lower PH/alkaline state; it improves immunity, eases a sore throat, fights fungus and fungal infections, detoxifies the body, brightens skin, and provides probiotics…and all that with just a couple tablespoons per day. I love to add it to salad dressing along with a little cayenne pepper or tabasco sauce.

As for fat burning, ACV is shown to:

• dramatically reduce sugar cravings
• increase satiety during meals
• reduce overall hunger
• inhibit the formation of fat cells
• encourage conversion of fat tissue to energy (aka fat burn)

Some like to dilute ACV in water or tea and sip it. Others prefer to make a “shot” with other ingredients such as OnGuard essential oil or other cinnamon/spice blend along with sweetener. These can be nice. Personally I prefer it in dressings and sauces. One of my favorite, super fast go-to’s is ACV + Monk Fruit + a little Water tossed with Kidney, Pinto, Black, Green, and Wax Beans. Yeah. Love language right there.

 3. EAT MORE…Ashwaghanda?

Okay…you say. I was with you on the spicy. I was leery but tracked with you on the vinegar…but Ashwa-what?

Or maybe you’ve heard of the herb, but you mostly know it as an “adaptogenic” herb that counteracts stress in the body.

People have for thousands of years enjoyed its support against stress and anxiety, not to mention…like hot chili peppers and ACV…a whole list of other benefits.

Ashwaghanda is celebrated for its support in these key areas:

• lowers blood sugar in both healthy adults and those with diabetes
• lowers cholesterol
• reduces inflammation
• improves brain health and function
• improves sleep
• alleviates symptoms of depression
• lowers stress and anxiety
• decreases cortisol (stress hormone)

It is that last point which puts it on our list today…

…because that hormone called cortisol is not only associated with the body’s stress response…

Cortisol is also associated with fat storage…particularly in those stubborn areas of the thighs and belly.

Ashwaghanda has been shown not only to decrease cortisol, but overall fat storage. It also helps you develop lean, fat burning, fuel-efficient muscle:

This study reports that ashwagandha supplementation is associated with significant increases in muscle mass and strength and suggests that ashwagandha supplementation may be useful in conjunction with a resistance training program.

The study also reported “a significantly greater decrease in body fat percentage” thanks to intake of the same dosage of ashwaghanda.

I have two ways I love to take ashwaghanda.

My favorite is the Slim & Sassy Trim Shake by doTERRA. They have a few great flavors but I love the Vegan “V-Shake” because lately my body abjectly rebels against dairy.

You’re wondering what the Trim Shake has to do with ashwaghanda?

In a stroke of sheer genius, doTERRA incorporated ashwaghanda into their Slim & Sassy line by putting it in their Trim Shake protein powder. Not only is lean protein itself a great contributor to your fat loss success (which we’ll discuss next), but with the ashwaghanda you enhance its “trimming” support with cortisol-lowering, fat burning, lean muscle enhancing, belly fat and thigh fat targeting benefits while enjoying a yummy shake or smoothie for dessert, meal, or post workout nutrition (instead of cookies, cakes, pies, or other friendly foes to transforming your body).

My second favorite way to enjoy ashwagandha is in a superfood mushroom powder by Four Sigmatic. I am a huge fan of medicinal mushrooms. They are phenomenal for the immune system, lowering cell-damaging inflammation that ages you prematurely, and some are even energizing and improve exercise and sports performance (See my Instagram post about all-natural pre-workouts to fire up your training seshies.

Personally I do both. I get my ashwagandha in my evening dessert smoothie, and in my morning superfood mushroom coffee.

4. EAT MORE Lean Protein

Well…don’t force yourself to eat your bodyweight in protein. The nutrition industry has lately gone nuts with “protein guilt”…constantly worried about losing muscle mass for not eating protein before, during and after every hike, long walk, or workout.

Fasting and even training fasted is highly effective…and unless you’re an athlete or doing intense exercise for 4+ hours per day you probably don’t need to worry about such advanced techniques as eating 6 meals per day, meal timings, or heavy supplementation.

As a rule of thumb, enjoy a palm sized portion of lean protein with every meal. The bulk of your plate should still be greens and veggies.

As for fat burning, most people know or at least have noticed that enjoying some lean protein helps you feel fuller for longer.

You might have also heard that digesting protein “costs” more calories than digesting carbohydrates or fats.

Whereas your digestive system expends about 8% of calories consumed from carbohydrates during digestion, and 3% from fat, it torches a whopping 30% of calories from protein just to break down and assimilate it. Let me say that one more time for funsies:

Your body uses only 3% of calories from fat to digest fat…compared to 30% of calories from protein to digest protein.

For years I avoided protein powders and shakes because, frankly, I much more enjoy real food that involves actual chewing…and saw no need for powders…

…until I discovered just how enjoyable a nighttime dessert smoothie can really be!

I do like sweets with tea at night and have found this 10x’s the health and fitness benefits of my evening routine. The way it’s evolved, I now get beneficial collagen plus lean protein plus a high quality vitamin C (which enhances absorption of the collagen)…and DESSERT!! Here’s what I do:

1 scoop doTERRA’s Slim & Sassy Trim Shake
1 scoop flavored Collagen Powder
1 handful frozen berries
1 serving flavorless Vitamin C powder
2-3g Xanthan Gum
Water
Ice
Ninja
BAM

I also usually pair it with a Mushroom Superfood Hot Cocoa or cup of hot herbal tea. Because I’m a lush. But as of the writing of this post, I’m still shredded. So…I’m a shredded lush.

Other ingredient ideas you can play with —  PB2 powder, a banana, monk fruit sugar free sweetener, a drop of mint or wild orange essential oil, and for an extra dose of decadence + antioxidants…unsweetened cocoa powder.

So that’s our short list for today. Four food-based fat burning techniques to fire up your fat burning while also delivering multiple other health benefits. Most importantly, all four are non-toxic, non-addictive, and pose no threat your heart (unlike most pill-form fat burners). To the contrary…these are all nourishing and in some way support long life and well-being.

Don’t look for overnight results but focus on CONSISTENCY.

As you add these strategies to your daily lifestyle and trust the process, you will eventually find that you have many more factors working for rather than against your fat burning dreams. You will, to use my favorite analogy, have formed “the perfect storm” for a leaner, stronger, healthier, sexier body…FOR LIFE!