background

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Thermogenic Foods


I lost 3lb! Ok, that's nothing, and I should be losing a lot more, but I just realized today that I'm eating a lot more fat than it is allowed in the Dukan Diet. I'm not curbing my cheese intake, and I'm cooking with oil. I guess from now on I'll be bringing out that can of PAM...



I've been really interested in thermogenic foods. They (supposedly) accelerate your metabolism, making you spend more energy (calories!) to process the food you eat - which may kill you a little faster, but that's a subject for another post. Which means that if you normally spend 15 calories to digest a 100-calories slice of bread, if you have a thermogenic food with it you will spend, say, 20 calories instead. Sounds like a small change, but it's a total freebie!

So here is a list of my favorite thermogenic foods:

  1. Coffee: it's also diuretic, and helps with digestion - have a little espresso after lunch and you'll see! I limit it to 2 cups a day, especially if I have a green tea.
  2. Ginger: supposedly helps with, um, flatulence. Not that any of us fancy ladies have ever had a problem with that... I have green tea with ginger - mostly because the ginger gives it an interesting flavor - or if I'm home, I make ginger tea from fresh ginger root. Or... I mix ginger powder with water and a packet of Splenda and down it like medicine (not fun, but if I am feeling lazy, it only takes 30 seconds and I'm done!)
  3. Apple Cider Vinegar: I'll try to hide it in any food that can handle a tablespoon of vinegar - as in, don't try to add it to your hot chocolate, unless you want curdled milk. I've been told to drink a tbsp diluted in water before lunch and dinner, but when I tried that, I almost cried. So gross. 
  4. Green Tea: For the price of a latte, you can buy a month's worth of green tea - a box with 20 bags. Keep it in a drawer at work, and make yourself some green tea right after lunch, when your salty mouth is begging for dessert. There, you just saved some money and kept yourself out of trouble! (I am not a big fan of the taste of green tea, so I get it with peppermint or ginger.)
  5. Red Pepper: Who among us didn't try the master cleanse when it was a thing, only to quit halfway through the first day because, well, that was just crazy?! So get that jar of cayenne pepper that has been sitting in the back of your pantry, and sprinkle cayenne pepper on everything you make! It doesn't have to be a lot, or even enough to make the dish hot if that's not your thing. Any other pepper - even black cracked pepper - will have the same effect.  
  6. Cinnamon: Sprinkle on everything that's sweet. Enjoy. Cinnamon is maybe the only delicious food that actually makes you lose weight! It's God's way of saying "I love you." 
The only pure protein "dessert" I was able to come up with has a thermogenic in it!

Hel's Dukan-Friendly Cannoli Cream:

Because you might as well just have the best part of the cannoli!
  • 1 container part skim ricotta cheese
  • 6 packets Splenda 
  • 1/2 tbsp cinnamon 
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients with a spoon, then whip with a beater - just so the cinnamon doesn't fly everywhere. Don't overmix - it will get to a sticky consistency. It tastes better after another hour in the fridge. 


No comments:

Post a Comment