Diet Tips: Ten Delicious Foods that Melt Fat

Let's start with one of everyone's favorite comfort foods: mashed potatoes! Some people pass this great comfort food by when trying to lose weight. That turns out not to be such a good idea after all. Mashed potatoes are can be key for curbing hunger. When boiled, potatoes are the most filling food around, they are actually three times more filling than bread. So the upside to having them is that they make you feel satisfied faster and longer so you consume fewer calories during the meal or later on.

Shrimp cocktail may be a splurge but it can be a very healthy splurge! Some super skinny models say that they eat a lot of this seafood, and it's not hard to why. Just four large shrimp provide about 10% of your daily protein needs, which makes them great at controlling appetite. Plus they are very low in fat and calories. Scarf down a dozen, and you'll consume a mere 66 calories and less than a gram of fat. As for the cocktail sauce, it adds only 28 antioxidant rich calories per ounce.

Here is another surprise: Oatmeal cookies control hunger. Oatmeal, whether in cereal or a yummy cookie, is a dieter's best friend. Like all whole grains it helps regulate hormones that affect hunger, but oatmeal stands out because it is more filling than other grains. So go ahead even if your dieting have a cookie, an oatmeal cookie of course!

Next food and tip: honey! Of course you should cut out the sugar but you can have honey and it wont effect your diet at all. It is just as good or better than artificial sweetener. An added bonus honey may improve blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, which helps control appetite and weight.

Peanuts are a snack that many of us already enjoy but now we can feel even better about it, because they can boost metabolism. Common sense tells us that a food with 160 calories and 14 grams of fat in every handful would pile on the pounds. Why then do peanut eaters tend to be thinner than non peanut eaters? The key is to nibble them before meals, they are very filling and as a result we eat fewer calories. Also the unsaturated fat in peanuts boosts metabolism, helping us blast fat all day long. An added bonus is that peanuts are heart smart. Eating them regularly is shown to lower triglyceride levels by 24%.

Milkshakes are something we all enjoy but they can also help burn fat. That's right they can be creamy delicious and slimming! For one thing they load you up with calcium, which plays a crucial role in making fat cells burn more fat. And when sweetened with a vitamin C rich fruit, such as kiwi, mango or orange, they will help prevent the buildup of abdominal fat. Try making one like this: in a blender combine 1/3 cup light orange juice, 1/4 cup low fat vanilla yogurt, 1/4 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 cup ice and you have a tasty healthy treat.

Beer is next. Yes I said beer, as hard as it is to believe. Women who drink one or two glasses a day of beer, wine or spirits average a 15% lower body mass index than non drinkers. Alcohol appears to help regulate insulin levels which help regulate weight. Just don't overdo it. More than two glasses a day can cause weight gain and increase your risk of disease.

Next we have steak. Steak builds muscle. Women who eat 10 oz. of lean beef every day lost more weight than women who ate the same number of calories, but less meat. It turns out that meat contains an amino acid that helps maintain muscle. And the more muscle you have , the more calories you burn. Meat eaters also feel fewer hunger pangs. Protein helps stabilize insulin levels which keeps you feeling satisfied longer.

Who doesn't love a bowl of good chili? The great news is that chili is full of fat fighting ingredients. Chili powder contains capsaicin, which speeds your metabolism for up to three hours after you eat it and has an appetite suppressing effect shown to help you cut 200 calories out of your day without even trying. Another added bonus, chili's red beans chock full of antioxidants that fiddle with fat cells in a way that helps curb obesity.

And finally consider soup, which is so satisfying. Whether you prefer it made with cream or broth, having soup before lunch and dinner is so satisfying it can reduce your daily calorie intake by as much as 20%.

So yes even though we may be dieting we can still indulge in many of our favorite comfort foods and not only will they not hurt they can help in many ways.