6 winter foods to cut belly fat and aid weight loss

Losing weight has never been easy, but the task becomes even more challenging when the temperature takes a sharp dip.

If you are looking for ingredients to lower your scale count, including these foods in your daily diet may help shed extra kilos, naturally.

1. Carrots

Carrots are packed with fibres, which take time to break down and digest, keeping you full for a longer spell. If you feel satiated, you would naturally binge less. Carrots are also very low in calories and non-starchy in nature. You can have them as is, or add them to your smoothies, salads or soups.

2. Sunflower seeds

These portable seeds make a great healthy snack. Just a handful can help suppress your appetite and provide your body with plenty of magnesium, selenium, and vitamin E – the body’s primary fat-soluble antioxidants.

3. Pink lady apples

Baked apples are one of my favourite winter treats when topped with whipped cream and pecans, Metsovas says. “Apples are rich in pectin fibre and antioxidants like vitamin C, making them a perfect addition to your winter dietary intake, especially if your cravings for sugars are increased.”

4. Cinnamon

The warm and woody spice is an intrinsic part of many winter preparations. Turns out that this wonder spice could also help you lose a few kilograms. Cinnamon helps rev up metabolism naturally. According to a study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology, cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon stimulates metabolism of the fatty visceral tissue and speeds up weight loss.

5. Meyer lemons

A cross between a lemon and an orange, this fruit could help rev up your metabolism! According to research done at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, the d-limonene found in this fruit can help improve your liver’s ability to break down metabolism – slowing toxins by up to 30 percent.

6. Blood oranges

Researchers in Italy found that the antioxidants that give these oranges their bright colour may also aid in weight loss. According to their study, animal subjects who were given a daily dose of blood-orange juice lost up to 13 percent of their body weight in just three months (without making any other changes). But don’t just drink their juice; eat the fibre-rich blood oranges to make them even more effective for weight loss.

If you’re planning on losing weight, make sure you consult your doctor or dietitian to ensure that you’re making wise choices.