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The best superfoods for weight loss come from some surprising places...

We all know that eating less junk food and eating healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables, is what we need to do to lose weight. But there are some foods out there that help you lose weight more than others. Some of these foods are suprisingly common and would often be overlooked at the grocery store, until now. Check out these fat busting foods.

Sardines - Sardines are small fish, typically canned, that many people only eat at special occassions. Their fishy taste is pretty powerful, but so is their ability to help with weight loss. To begin with, Sardines contain high amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids. This type of fat has been found not only to reduce cholesterol and high blood pressure, but also to increase fat metabolism by reducing insulin levels, which results in weight loss. Sardines are also high in protein, which helps to stimulate metabolism and stabilize blood sugar levels. Finally, sardines are a good food to add to your diet because they are relatively cheap and contain much lower levels of mercury than other fish, such as tuna.

Bison Meat - Bison meat, also known as Buffalo meat, is very low in fat and calories compared to regular beef. The best cut of beef still contains almost 4 times as much fat than a cut of bison meat. In addition to being low fat, bison meat is also free of hormones, drugs and chemicals that are commonly found in beef. The reason for this is because Bison are very large animals and are difficult to handle so they spend their lives turned out to pasture. Bison meat is more expensive than regular beef, but is about equitable in price to finer cuts of beef and organic beef. Bison can also be purchased ground and can be substitute into any beef recipe. Bison meat tastes almost identical to beef, but is much better for you.

Pumpkin - Not many people realize that their favorite Thanksgiving and Halloween...

Okey Dokey

In the body, carbohydrates help to burn fats efficiently. During exercise, carbohydrates are broken down and one of the products of this is oxaloacetic acid. The importance of oxaloacetic acid is that it is used to breakdown stored fats into fuel, which is then used by the body for energy. In situations when you haven’t consumed enough carbohydrates, the level of oxaloacetic acid in the body is greatly reduced, making it more difficult for the body to use stored fat for energy.

Oxaloacetic acid isn’t the only method your body had for breaking down stored fat for energy, but it is the most efficient. People who consume diets low in carbohydrates will fatigue much faster and burn less fat during periods of exercise than people who consume some carbohydrates in their daily diet.

Okey Dokey

I was struggling for over two weeks to lose more weight. I was exercising regularly and was eating a healthy diet just like I was before, there were no differences in what I was doing but the pounds had become stubborn and the scale never moved. My frustration was at a height. I had come to that point that many dieters dread - a weight loss plateau .

I have experienced weight loss plateaus before during these many years of losing weight and have overcome them successfully by either mixing up my exercise program, lowering my daily calorie intake, or both (see this helpful link Overcoming a Weight Loss Plateau). But in this case, I had already done all these things and the weight was still hanging on for dear life. It was only by going against what I normally do that helped me to overcome this new plateau.

Although I do not subscribe to a set diet program, my diet is naturally low in carbs because I avoid carby foods, such as breads, pasta, potatoes, etc. But one day I had such an overwhelming urge for brown rice with vegetables that I made myself some. I savoured this dish but dreaded the scale in the morning.

To my surprise, when I weighed myself the next day my weight was down . Also, because of the carbs, I had a huge amount of energy and was able to exercise harder than ever before that afternoon.

I have started to include a few whole grains into my diet and the results have been incredible. I have started losing weight again and have so much more energy for exercise than I did before. Could it be that increasing carbohydrates in my diet helped me overcome a weight loss plateau? Definitely, yes. But why it worked is a question I will look into and let you all know.

Guinea Piggy

You see it almost everywhere in a grocery store, the promotion of "healthy" alternatives for our old favorites. Baked potato chips, whole wheat cereals, pro-biotic yogurt, low-fat cookies just to name a few examples of this new food trend. But are these health foods really that much more healthy for us ?

It turns out that many of these foods that are touted as "healthy" alternatives are just as fattening as the foods they've replaced. A perfect example of this is the choice of granola over other conventional breakfast cereals. There is no doubt that granola is a healthier choice because it contains whole grains and more fiber than processed cereals, but some brands of granola contain over 600 calories per cup, which is about 5 times more calories than a cup of Fruit Loops.

There is so much misleading advertising that will have you believe that a certain food is a "healthy" choice, only to find out that it is no better than eating a bag of Doritos. The worst of this type of misleading advertising that I have come across was found quite innocently on the back of a Diet Pepsi bottle. As I was reading the labels I saw a big, green dot on the back that stated "Smart Choices Made Easy" along with the website address smartspot.com. Ever curious about an easy way to identify healthy foods, I went to the website and was blown away by how manipulative and deceptive the "health foods" industry has become.

This is a statement directly from the Smart Spot Program site:

Meet Smart Spot-the symbol of smart choices made easy. It's a quick way to be sure that the products you're choosing are contributing to a healthier lifestyle. Foods and beverages marked with the Smart Spot symbol can help you make better choices for you and your family.
You'll find the Smart Spot logo on more than 300 products including the following brands:
- Baked! Lays®
-...

Guinea Piggy