How To Burn Fat With Food

HOW TO BURN FAT WITH FOOD
By Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
http://www.burnthefat.com

"Burn fat with food?"

What the heck am I talking about? Food doesn't "burn fat", food is what makes you fat, right?
Not necessarily...

Food can burn fat or food can turn to fat.

There is actually a way that you can eat more food and eat more often, which will turn your body into a "metabolic furnace" that literally incinerates body fat and calories like tissue paper thrown into a bonfire!

The secret lies in choosing the right foods and in combining "5 food factors" that stimulate a process called "dietary thermogenesis" and optimize your body's metabolic and hormonal fat burning machinery.

However, before you can ever make use of these PHYSIO-logical factors that speed up your metabolism, you must address the crucial PSYCH-ological factors first.

Listen: You absolutely must re-frame way you look at and perceive food.

What does food MEAN to you?

What images, thoughts, and emotions do you associate with food?

***What do you think food is FOR?***

If you're struggling with body fat, I can almost guarantee that you're thinking about food in the wrong way.

You may be thinking of food like this:
• Food is the reason I'm fat
• I have to starve and eat hardly any food to lose fat
• I have to eat bland, tasteless "rabbit food" to lose fat

Other beliefs to consider include:
• Food is only for my own pleasure and "tastebud satisfaction"
• Food is the only thing that makes me feel better when I'm feeling bad
• Food is primarily for social occasions

And these are just a few common belief systems about food that may be programming you for failure.

Yes, it's true that food can be one of life's pleasures and is a focal point for social and family occasions.

The trouble is when that's the only thing food means to you, and you fail to realize the amazing power of food to transform your body and your health.

I want to suggest, as a first step, a shift in your mental attention and thoughts when it comes to food. You must redefine or "Reframe" what food means to you.

Here are four of the beliefs you must adopt if you want this to work for you:
• Food is for boosting energy (food is fuel)
• Food is for building muscle (food is construction material)
• Food is for burning fat (food is a metabolic stimulator)
• Food is for creating optimal health (food provides essential nutrients)

When you adopt these four beliefs about food as your dominant thinking, I assure you there will be a profound difference in your behaviors and your results.

If you don't adopt these beliefs as your dominant thought patterns, I can assure you that no Diet or workout will ever be of much use to you because you will continue to trip over your own self limiting beliefs. When you reframe what food means to you, it is often remarkable how quickly you stop wanting foods that are not good for you (and you learn how to achieve a healthy balance between social and "for taste" eating and eating to develop your body).

Most people struggle with food and emotional eating issues their entire lives, so they believe food is their biggest problem...

The truth is,
• Food is not your problem.
• Food is your solution.

Once this realization hits you, then and only then are you ready to learn the specifics about what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, how often to eat and what to eat with what.

These are "the 5 food factors.", 5 food factors for burning body fat:
1. Quantity of food
2. Quality (type) of food
3. Combination of specific foods with other foods
4. Frequency of eating
5. Time of day food is eaten

Too much of ANYTHING will turn to fat - that is food factor number one - quantity of food.

However, it is absolutely true that some foods are more likely to turn into fat than others due to the way they affect your hormones and your metabolic rate.

Some foods burn fat, some foods turn to fat, largely because of a process known as "thermogenesis." Actually ALL foods are "thermogenic" because the body must use energy to digest food. This is known as the "thermic effect of food" (TEF), "the specific dynamic action of food" or "dietary thermogenesis."

Here's the s e c r e t: Some foods are MUCH more thermogenic than others. For example: if you eat a chicken breast with 300 calories, because the food is natural lean protein, your body must work much harder to digest the food, break it down into its constituent amino acids and deliver them to the cells where they are needed. Its possible that 25% or even more of the calories contained in that chicken breast are burned off in the process of digestion, that leaves a net of only 225 calories.

Lean meat such as chicken breast is an example of a food with a high thermic effect. By choosing foods with a high thermic effect, you increase your metabolism and you can actually eat more food and burn more body fat.

Combine thermogenic lean protein foods with the right amounts and types of essential fats, add in plenty of green vegetables and right amount of natural starchy carbs and whole grains to match your carb tolerance, and your body will literally turn into a fat burning machine as your hormonal and blood sugar response to the food is optimized.

That's food factor #3: the combination of lean proteins, natural carbs and the right types of fats in the proper ratios.

Food factors #4 and #5 are frequency and timing of the food you eat.

It is common knowledge among the fitness-savvy (such as bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors), that eating small, frequent meals increases metabolic rate, increases gains in lean body mass and increases fat loss more than larger, infrequent meals.

It seems hard to believe that you can actually eat more often and lose more fat, but it's absolutely true. Pick natural foods with a high thermic effect keep your portions small and eat approximately every three hours and your metabolism will begin to speed up almost immediately.

Naturally, of course, there is much more to this process of using food to burn fat, and it would take an entire book to cover every factor in intimate detail. But by now, you understand the essentials you need in order to get started, including those four important beliefs you MUST adopt about food.

You can learn even more about natural thermogenesis using real food (not pills or powders) in my Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book.

Also, for a limited time, you can get two three free reports about fat burning foods when you order the Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book:

(1) Foods That Burn Fat,
(2) Foods That Turn to Fat, and
(3) The A Food B Food Lecture: How To get Good Grades on Your Food Choices.

Your friend and coach,
Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
http://www.burnthefat.com