Trying to lose weight is a tough goal to achieve for almost anyone. This is mainly because there are several factors at play, including your body type, your lifestyle, your metabolic rate and most importantly, the level of your physical activity and the quality of your diet.
Fortunately, there are some foods, which are nutritious and low in calories and thus, can help you achieve your weight loss goal in a healthy way. These foods fall into the superfoods category and they are excellent fitness companions. These superfoods don't just supply your body with many of the essential vitamins and minerals, but also contain certain compounds, which may help you burn body fat quicker.
Why You Should Watch Your Weight
The main reason for maintaining a healthy weight is to take care of one’s health. In addition to lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight can also lower the risk of many different cancers. Additionally, maintaining a healthier weight and diet can also raise your HDL (good) cholesterol and lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol. You may even start to see these health benefits just by losing a small percent of your body weight.
Superfoods to Add to Your Diet
While weight loss may be your main goal, the addition of superfoods to your diet can have many other positive impacts on your overall well-being. We’ve put together a list of superfoods that are believed to not only aid in encouraging weight loss but also can benefit you more than one way.
Matcha Green Tea
Both matcha and green tea come from the same Camellia sinensis plant. However, while green tea refers to the actual leaves, matcha is the ground powder of the green tea leaves. You can drink matcha the same way you can drink regular green tea. An amazing benefit of Matcha Green Tea is its ability to gently support weight loss due to the process of thermogenesis, and the high catechin polyphenol content it contains.
Matcha is an excellent source of the polyphenol, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is a plant-based compound with powerful antioxidant properties. Matcha contains significantly higher levels of EGCG than regular green tea, increasing its metabolism boosting and thermogenic effects in the body. Inside the body, EGCG could have beneficial effects against obesity. This is because EGCG has been found to have the highest biological activity among green tea molecules.
You can shop matcha with us here at Superfoods Australia.
Turmeric Tea
Turmeric, also known as the golden spice, is popular in Asian cuisine and has been a part of traditional Indian or Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. Most of turmeric’s health properties can be attributed to curcumin, a compound which it contains that has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. For a long time, the spice has been considered one of the healthiest foods around the world. Adding this to your daily diet provides you with a range of health benefits. Curcumin, which is the main active ingredient in turmeric, has many therapeutic properties, including helping in weight loss. It can protect the body from various disorders linked to obesity. It contains powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. It is believed that drinking turmeric tea or warm turmeric water on an empty stomach can effectively help your body burn excess fat.
Furthermore, Turmeric tea is also known to be good for the digestive system, which is key to shedding excess weight. Its anti-inflammatory properties could help suppress the spread of fat cells within the body. Another way turmeric tea is thought to help you lose weight is by regulating blood sugar levels, further preventing insulin resistance. The curcumin compound in turmeric is the fat burner that you need to speed your weight loss journey. You must include turmeric tea in your daily diet, as a refreshing tea to take with any of your meals.
Maqui Berry
The Maqui Berry is an exotic, dark-purple fruit that grows wild in South America. It’s mainly harvested by the native Indians of Chile, who have used the leaves, stems and berries medicinally for thousands of years. In modern times, maqui berry is marketed as a superfruit due to its high antioxidant content and potential health benefits, including reduced inflammation, blood sugar control and increased metabolism.
The antioxidant abilities of Maqui berry helps in eliminating and expelling the toxic substances in the body. With the effects of such toxins getting negated and nullified, the cells as well as organs in the body undergo a positive transformation. The body’s energy stores get hiked up, detoxification takes place, and unwanted fat stored in the body gets reduced, leading to weight loss. Due to this, a person would feel much healthier and more energetic, with the added effect of losing unwanted weight.
You can easily add Macqui Berry to your diet with Macqui Berry powdered extract available from Superfoods Australia. The powdered extract form makes it easy to add to smoothies, meals, and even works as a tea!
Pine Pollen
The list of benefits of pine pollen is almost endless, with some referring to it as a natural fountain of youth. Pine pollen started as a Chinese remedy, and over the course of thousands of years, it has evolved into a modern-day superfood. Pine pollen is, as the name suggests, the pollen of pine trees – and as the pollen is the male reproductive part of flowering plants, you can see why it would be packed with vitamins and minerals. There are over 200 nutrients in pine pollen, which makes it one of the most nutritionally rich natural supplements out there.
The list of benefits of pine pollen include boosting brain power, supporting hormone imbalances, and like we mentioned the fountain of youth before, it has been linked to having many anti-ageing properties. When it comes to weight loss, pine pollen can help in a few different ways. Pine pollen contains plant sterols that make it an adaptogen, and what an adaptogen can do in the body is help support areas of the body that may be in distress or experiencing long periods of stress. Adaptogens can help to provide balance to the body and ensure that you can recover and heal from these stressful periods. And the healthier you and your immune system is, the healthier your body will be too.
Pine pollen can be added to your diet in a number of different ways, including powdered extract, capsules and tinctures – check out our range available at Superfoods Australia here.
Maca Root
A staple of the Peruvian culture, maca plants are grown for their roots, and can actually come in a variety of different colours. The maca plant looks a little like a turnip and is packed with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and phytonutrients. Some of the benefits of maca include improving moods and concentration, boost physical performance and balance hormones.
When it comes to weight loss, the maca root, particularly the black variety, is believed to impact our metabolisms positively by helping to regulate glucose levels. Glucose is the sugar we get from carbs. It is also said to aid in adrenal functioning which means that it can help to boost your energy levels, while also reducing stress.
Maca root has an oat-like taste which, in the powdered extract form, makes it a simple addition to your diet in smoothies and baked goods! Shop maca root powder with Superfoods Australia here.
The Takeaway
Superfoods are great for weight loss and one’s overall well-being. The superfoods listed above are some of the best nutrients for weight loss and they have been proven to be very effective. Going on a weight loss journey isn’t an easy journey at all. It requires a lot of effort, patience, and determination. The addition of the superfoods listed above to your diet, along with a healthy diet, regular exercise, and getting proper rest, would see you being able to achieve your weight loss goal!
