Get lean with fat-loss foods

Help your body burn fat faster than ever with these four foods

1 GRAPEFRUIT

Eating more grapefruit can keep your belly at bay.

In a 12-week study overweight subjects were given half a grapefruit to eat before their three daily meals. After three months the fruit eaters had lost 1.6kg, while a placebo group lost just 0.3kg, according to the Journal Of Medicinal Food. It is thought that compounds in grapefruit prevent insulin levels from rising too high, and stable levels allow better fat burning.

2 CAYENNE PEPPER

Spicing up your meals has a duo of benefits to help your wage war on your belly. First, consuming cayenne pepper can spike your metabolic rate, according to the Clinical Nutrition journal, meaning you burn more calories without doing anything else. Second, the spice can improve rates of fat oxidation, meaning your body is better equipped to burn fat cells as fuel, according to the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition.

3 CINNAMON

Another spice with fat-burning effects is cinnamon, thanks to a compound called cinnamaldehyde. As well as giving cinnamon its flavour, the compound stimulates the release of stored fat so it can be easily metabolised, according to research published in the Journal Of Nutritional Science And Vitaminology. Add it to black coffee for a pre-workout fat-burning drink, or to yogurt for a bellybusting pudding.

4 YOGURT

Speaking of yogurt, you should be eating more if you want a smaller stomach. One study published in the journal Obesity Research found that people who consume around 1,200mg of calcium per day from dairy lost 64% more body fat than those who ate half that amount. Even better, most of that fat loss was from the belly. The weightloss effect was greatest in those who were following a calorie-controlled nutrition plan.