The Food Site

Let’s continue with my fat burning food series and just like part one and two, part three will also be introducing more food that help your lose weight (or burn fat) either by filling you up, providing your body with the needed nutrients so that your body can function more efficiently or simply helps your body build lean muscle mass which is important for some fat burning action. Of course, eating these foods alone won’t help you lose weight at all if you gorge yourself with other foods. You will need to team it with a proper wholesome healthy diet and regular exercise.

Now, on to more fat burning food:

Green Leafy Vegetables

Vegetables such as kale, spinach or any other dark green vegetables are packed full of vitamins, nutrients and best of all, fiber. We all know some of them are also great cancer-fighting foods so why not add these to your diets as much as possible? Why are they fat burning foods? Well, since it is pack full of fiber, if you start a meal by eating loads of this, you will fill up pretty easily and then you tend to eat less of other foods. Green leafy vegetables are very low in fat, so no worries of eating too much of it. It is one of the foods that you can never eat too much of!

Blueberries

I’ve mentioned these sweet berries before in my heart healthy food list and how they really pack a punch as these berries contain beta-carotene and lutein (carotenoids), anthocyanin (a flavonoid), ellagic acid (a polyphenol), vitamin C, folate, calcium, magnesium, potassium and fibre. Yes, it is the fiber (about 3.6g of fiber per cup!) that makes it a fat burning food as it fills you up and at the same time prevent fat from being absorbed into your body since fiber is known to help your body rid of fat. The best part about these berries is that you can eat it as it is without any cooking or garnishing. Just wash and pop into your mouth. Easy.

Yogurt

Now I know a lot of dieters steer clear away from dairy products but I say that yogurt should not be one of those food to be avoided simply because it is full of protein,has good bacteria to help with better digestion and it is known to keep your sugar level steady, thus keeping your hunger level at bay. Besides, it is a really great breakfast food especially when teamed with fruits like raspberries and blueberries. Of course, you will need to stick to the low-fat natural sugar-free version which is not loaded with loads of sugar for the full benefits.

Quinoa

Despite its growing popularity, quinoa (pronounced as keenwah) is still not one of those normal foods we put on our tables. Gera of Sweets Foods did an interesting post on quinoa recently and it piqued my interest. So, I did some checking of my own and found that this grain is one of the super foods you simply must have in your diet. It has protein and fibre. Best of all, it is gluten-free! It is also quite versatile and can be served as an alternative to rice, can be cooked and served with fruits for breakfast and if you can get some quinoa flakes, you can even use it for gluten-free, protein rich baked food! The great thing about this grain is that it has a rich nutty flavour to it, thus it tastes pretty amazing and also fills you up pretty easily and really cuts down your hunger pangs.

Apples

Last but not least, the saying ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ really do carry some weight. Apples also contain fibre and vitamins. If you eat an apple before a meal, you will tend to eat less as the apple will have filled you up. So, instead of chowing down and keeping fruits as the dessert, why not do it the other way around? Have fruits like apples first and then only move on to the main meal. It will definitely cut down the amount of food you will eat.

And that concludes the third part of my food that helps you lose weight series. Do keep a lookout for my recipe for quinoa which is healthy, wholesome and really good too!

I’ve been meaning to post this healthy cornflake snack recipe up before Chinese New Year but I was kinda busy the last week so I didn’t have time to put this up. Anyway, we still have one day to CNY so, what the heck. Might as well post it up! This is a very simple and darn easy recipe for a wonderful snack to serve your guests during Chinese New Year or simply just to enjoy yourself.

I call it Crunchy Chili Cornflakes. It is a Malaysianised cornflake snack and no, you don’t serve it with milk. It is generally eaten as a snack, you know, like eating chips. Only, this is healthier, minus the salt and sodium and oil. You can even get whole wheat corn flakes for it to be even more wholesome. I know this is not really one of the foods that help your lose weight (as in my fat burning food list) but it has chillies in it so…it is not all that bad.

So, here is the recipe for:

Crunchy Chili Cornflakes

Ingredients

2 cups cornflakes

1 cup plain roasted peanuts

1 cup plain roasted almonds (or raw if you prefer)

1 cup plain roasted sunflower seeds / kernels (or raw if you prefer)

1 cup fresh curry leaves

4 – 6 pc dried chilies

1 tbsp butter (or for a healthier version, olive oil)

Instructions

These are the curry leaves I used

The curry leaves have this rich spicy scent that I simply love.

I used only four medium size dried chilies so that it would not be too spicy. Remember to cut it into four pieces and don't remove the seeds or else it won't be as fragrant.

And, here's the regular cornflakes I used

1. Heat up the pan / wok. Spray it with cooking spray or pour in the olive oil or the butter.

2. Then, throw in the chilies. Stir fry it till it is very fragrant.

3. Add in the curry leaves and continue to stir fry over medium heat

4. Make sure the leaves and chilies are very fragrant before you add in the almonds and peanuts.

5. Add in the sunflower kernels and cornflakes and stir fry for a few more minutes to get all the flavours mixed up and nicely fragrant.

6. Remove from heat, let it cool and then store in an airtight container. Serve as snacks.

The best part about this Crunchy Chili Cornflakes snack is that you can substitute the peanuts/ almonds/ sunflower seeds with cashew nuts or any other nuts you fancy. But I love almonds and peanuts so I used those to go with the sunflower seeds.

This snack has a tinge of spiciness with a rich spicy scent from the curry leaves. The best part is that the curry leaves (and the chilies) would have been very crispy from being fried so those are edible too! If you want it to be extra spicy, then just add more dried chilies.

This snack takes about 15 minutes to prepare so it is very easy and importantly, it is also very good. So good that I ate almost half of it while waiting for it to cool. Heheh.

Crunchy Chili Cornflakes

This is a really wonderful snack for Chinese New Year (though it definitely won’t help you lose weight!). Happy Chinese New Year to all of you celebrating it and those who aren’t celebrating it, happy holidays. Or if it’s not a holiday where you stay, well, er, happy weekend.