Which Spices Can Give Your Weight Loss a Boost?
Weight loss is (and should be) a personal experience. If you’re exploring tactics to make your journey easier, you may have come across mentions of using spices and herbs for weight loss. Let’s get this straight upfront: You won’t see pounds coming off magically by just adding specific ingredients to your diet. “While spices may elevate fat burn, they cannot be used as a solo answer to weight loss,” says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, an obesity medicine physician and clinical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Some spices are “known to improve metabolism, fat loss, and decrease appetite, however, they need to be coupled with other lifestyle measures—optimal diet and physical activity—to have significant impact,” she says. That means you can start sprinkling more cayenne pepper (a popular seasoning that may have some weight-loss benefits) on your favorite chicken dish, but that alone is unlikely to make a difference.
That said, spices may indirectly help you lose weight by making healthy food taste better, says Keri Gans, RD, a New York City-based nutritionist and author of The Small Change Diet. “Spices are a great way to add flavor without extra calories, hence, making a bland meal way more exciting,” she points out.
Excerpted from Women’s Health
