The first thing a person tends to do when wanting to lose fat is to eat less. Though one of the primary reasons why a person gains weight or becomes obese is taking in excessive amounts of energy in the form of calories, depriving oneself of food is not supposed to be an option. The fat is stored in specific areas of the body like on the surface of organs, visceral fat, and the layers of the skin as subcutaneous fat.

It’s normal to have fat in the body but only to a certain amount. Stored fats act like emergency energy cells in the absence of other food sources. A normal body fat index for men is 1 to 3 percent of the total body weight while women need 10 to 13 percent.  This is according to the American Council on Exercise. An obese individual, on the other hand, will have more than 32 percent in women and 25 percent in men.

Starving oneself in order to get rid of excess stored fats in the body is inappropriate and dangerous. There are many safer ways to get rid of excess fat. The best way to do it is through healthy dieting and exercising. This means eating the right kinds of food in the right amount. And while the body is being nourished properly, exercise serves to burn the stored calories in a healthier way than by depriving the body with energy. Having a few misplaced inches in the waist or thighs may seem like a big problem. But a bigger health problem is obesity.

Obesity is a major health concern and the condition has been linked to the increased risk of developing chronic and degenerative diseases. Millions of people around the globe are suffering from the condition and its direct influence on overall health and well being. The treatments for obesity range from pharmaceutical drug intervention to surgical procedures. But these are limited and only a few of them have been proven effective in most conditions. Medical experts will advise patients with obesity problems to undergo lifestyle and diet intervention. The method starts by determining any of the person’s habits that might have had constituted to the increase in weight. He will then be asked to follow a strict program tailor-fitted to his needs and weight-loss goal. This method will include a diet and exercise plan.

Obese individuals or anyone who wants to lose wait can take advantage of the natural fat-burning and metabolism-optimizing properties of some plants and fruits. Numerous studies have shown that certain plant compounds have the ability to stimulate the body’s metabolism rate and burn excess stored fat. Some may even have beneficial effects to the health condition that commonly accompanies obesity -- insulin resistance diabetes.

Yellow Peas against Diabetes in Obesity

A team of researchers from Canada has found that the supplementation of yellow pea flour can improve the body’s response to insulin and glucose metabolism of fat. In effect, this can reduce abdominal fat and reduce the risk in developing diabetes in obese women. The body’s lack of effective response to insulin and the lack of sufficient insulin production can significantly affect the body’s liver and muscle cell’s fat metabolism. But the supplementation of pea flour to diet can influence the process. The study was published in the British Journal of Nutrition and was performed by researchers from Richardson Center for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals University of Manitoba in Canada. This is in relation to a previously conducted study on the benefits of pea flour and its potential in the production of low GI foods.

Pulses like yellow peas hold great interest from food manufacturers due to its high availability and cost-effectiveness. They are also known to contain significant amounts of protein, antioxidants and fiber. Their low fat content and influence over glucose metabolism makes them a potential natural weight loss ingredient. But the use of pulse flour is limited due to its unfavorable sensory characteristics. The earlier study on pulse flour was published in the Journal of Food Science and aimed at discovering the influence of yellow pea flour in the reduction of blood glucose and modifying its flavor to make it more appealing to consumers.

The findings of the study support the results of the previous initiative in discovering the effects of yellow pea flour in obese men and women and in controlling cholesterol levels. Heads of the research team, Peter Jones and Christopher Marinangelia, gathered 23 study participants who agreed to eat two muffins containing white wheat flour, and whole and fractionated pea flour for a period of 28 days. The researchers explained that the daily supplementation of pea flour, whole and fractionated, complied with the standards of the United States Department of Agriculture on the recommended pulse flour intake which is 50 grams per day.

After the study period, the researchers observed improvements in study participants’ insulin levels compared to the control group who were given whole wheat muffins. In addition, they also noticed a reduction in fat deposits in the abdomen and around the waist. Jones and Marinangelia concluded that the daily consumption of fractionated and yellow pea flour in controlled measurements can reduce a person’s insulin resistance, improve the glucose metabolism and reduce the android adiposity, or the accumulation of fat, to more than twice the normal level in women.

Fat- Burning Foods

Losing weight without depriving oneself of great tasting foods is very possible. Different studies have shown that eating some of people’s most loved food ingredients can help in burning excess fat and reducing weight. These foods naturally boost the body’s metabolism.

• A study conducted by researchers from the University of Tennessee found that the consumption of 1.2 to 1.3 grams of calcium in a day can result to around 50 percent more weight loss than consuming less calcium. Drinking low-fat and calcium-rich milk everyday will also supply the body with complex carbohydrates which also helps in promoting efficient metabolism.
  
  
• Whole wheat products like whole grain cereals contain complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber that absorbs and sweeps out saturated fats from the body at the early stage of digestion and maintains desirable insulin levels after each meal. Professor Margaret McNurlan from the State University of New York said that in order to store fat, the body sends a signal to cells by slowing down the metabolism of sugars from food. This results to the storage of fat in the body. She added that the process can be averted by eating foods that stimulates faster metabolism. Other rich sources of fiber like oats and brown rice bran can also give the same effects.
  
  
• Green tea contains EGCG, a chemical known to speed up the processes in the brain and thereby speeds up metabolism as well. The fat-burning benefits of green tea can happen while you resting or fast asleep.
  
  
• Chicken is rich in metabolism-boosting protein. A study done by Danish researchers revealed that eating protein-rich chicken in place of one-fifth of the body’s carbohydrate requirement resulted to an increased burning of calories by 5 percent.

Sources
nutraingredients.com
healthscout.com
nydailynews.com
hospimedical.com