The Top 10 Foods That Burn Fat

Tom Venuto
Burn The Fat

In my last post, I wrote about the "skinny fat" phenomenon, and this obviously struck a nerve as many burn the fat blog readers chimed in with their opinion about how real this phenomenon is and how accurate this rather unscientific description ("skinny fat") really is. Others said, "OMG! You described me to a T." There were dozens of comments and I got easily as many private emails. Oddly enough, I got MORE private mail about my grocery shopping list than about the "skinny fat" commentary! Well if you really wanted to know what I eat every day, why didn’t you just ask? Here you go! I just compiled 4 top 10 lists of what I’m eating every day to burn fat, build muscle and get healthier…

Below you will see the "Top 10 Lists" of what I eat every day or almost every day. Exact quantities and menus are not listed, just the foods.

Of course my food intake varies. I aim to get as many different varieties of fruits and vegetables as possible over the course of every week and there are a lot of substitutions made, so you are not seeing my full list here. This is just what I eat the most of every day.

I also want to point out that while I don't believe that extreme low carbs are necessary or most effective when you look at the long term, I do reduce my carb intake moderately and temporarily prior to bodybuilding competition, so my starchy carb and grain intake goes down during that brief pre-competition period when I'm working on that reall y"ripped" look (lots and lots of veggies though!)

This list reflects my personal preferences, so this is not a prescription to all readers to eat as I do.

It's very important for compliance to choose foods YOU enjoy and to have the option for a wide variety of choices. In the past several years, nutrition and obesity research - looking at ALL types of diets - has continued to end with the conclusion that almost any diet that is not completely moronic can work in the short term.

It’s not so much about the hi carb low carb argument or any other debate as much as it is about compliance. The trouble is, restricted diets and staying in a calorie deficit is HARD in general, so most people can’t stick with any program and they fall off the wagon, whichever wagon that may be.

I believe that a lot of our attention needs to shift away from pointless debates (low carb vs. high carb is getting really old…like… get over it everyone, its a calorie deficit that makes you lose weight, not the amount of carbs, high or low).

Instead, our focus should shift towards building an eating program that we can enjoy more while still getting us leaner and healthier, and especially towards how can we build an eating program that improves compliance? (and that includes the emotional and psychological techniques that can improve compliance as well)

Here’s one good answer: Eat foods you ENJOY that still fit within healthy, fat-burning, muscle-building guidelines!

Here are the foods I choose to achieve this outcome. This eating plan is not difficult to stick with at all, by the way. I enjoy eating like this and it feels almost weird NOT to eat like this after doing it for so long. Remember, habits work in both directions, and as Jim Rohn Said, “Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with and good habits are hard to form but easy to live with.

These are listed in the order I frequently consume them. So for example, if oatmeal is on the top of the list, that means this is the food I am most likely to eat every single day.

My 10 top starchy carb and grains

1. Oatmeal (old fashioned)
2. Yams (almost same as sweet potatoes
3. brown rice (love basmati, a long grain aromatic rice)
4. Sweet potatoes
5. Multi grain hot cereal (mix or barley, oats, rye titricale and a few others)
6. White potatoes (glycemic index be damned!)
7. 100% whole wheat bread
8. 100% whole wheat pasta
9. Beans (great for healthy chili recipes)
10. Cream of rice hot cereal

My Top 10 top vegetables

1. broccoli
2. asparagus
3. spinach
4. salad greens
5. tomatoes
6. peppers (green and red)
7. onions
8. mushrooms
9. cucumbers
10. Zucchini

My top 10 lean proteins

1. Egg whites
2. Whey protein (protein powder supplement)
3. Chicken Breast
4. Salmon (wild alaskan)
5. Turkey Breast
6. Top round steak (grass fed beef)
7. Flank Steak (grass fed beef)
8. Cod Fish
9. Bison/Buffalo
10. Rainbow Trout

My top 10 fruits

1. Grapefruit
2. Apples
3. Blueberries
4. Canteloupe
5. Oranges
6. Bananas
7. Peaches
8. Grapes
9. Strawberries
10. Pineapple

By the way, remember - fruit is nature's candy!

And also note, I DO include healthy fats as well, walnuts, almonds, olive oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil (supplement - not to cook with), avocado and a few others that are slipping my mind at the moment.

Also, YES I eat dairy and I have nothing aginst it, nor am I lactose intolerant. I just don’ t eat as much dairy as the rest of the stuff on my lists. When I eat dairy its usually skim milk, low or non fat cottage cheese, low or non fat yogurt and low or non fat cheese (I love cheese and egg white omelettes).

Hope you found this helpful and interesting. Keep in mind, this is MY food list, and although you probably couldn’t go wrong to emulate it, you need to choose foods you enjoy in order to develop habits you can stick with long term. There are for example, hundreds of other fruits and vegetables out there…enjoy them all!

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto
Burn The Fat