These are foods that start winnowing your waistline the moment they leave your fork and enter your mouth. They build muscle, promote fat burning, or simply use energy (i.e., burn calories) just to digest them! Stock up today.

BY SELENE YEAGER

photo: Hemera/Thinkstock

Almonds and other nuts (with skins intact)
Build muscle, reduce cravings

Dairy products (fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese)
Build strong bones, fire up weight loss

Eggs
Build muscle, burn fat

Turkey and other lean meats
Build muscle, strengthen immune system

Berries
Improve satiety, prevent cravings

Enova oil (soy and canola oil)
Promotes fullness, not easily stored as fat

Peanut butter 
Boosts testosterone (a good thing even in women), builds muscle, burns fat

Fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna, mackerel)
Trigger fullness, fire up fat burning

Grapefruit
Lowers insulin, regulates blood sugar and metabolism; be sure to eat the fleshy white membranes

Green tea
Fires up fat burning

Chili peppers
Spikes metabolism

Spinach and green vegetables
Fight free radicals and improve recovery for better muscle building

Whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, whole grain cereal)
Small doses prevent body from storing fat

Beans and legumes
Build muscle, help burn fat, regulate digestion

Whey
Builds muscle, burns fat

(Source: womenshealthmag.com)

man. yesterday i was having some crazy butter-sugar-concoction cravings. i warded them off for the day (yay) and as i went to bed, resolved to whip up some yummy sweet smoothie for myself in the morning. 

initially i had planned to make the banana-date smoothie that i think i have somewhere highlighted in another post here, but alas, no bananas are to be found at my house at the time. and so, i came up with the blueberry-date smoothie instead.

its 133 calories for one serving (the recipe makes 2)— instead of the two tablespoons of honey the link calls for, i used one tablespoon of honey and three deglet-noor dates (the smaller ones). (DATES ARE MY MAGIC SMOOTHIE INGREDIENT NOW!) and as usual, used soy milk instead of skim milk, and non-fat plain yogurt instead of yucky refined sugar filled low-fat vanilla as in the recipe. in my culinary opinion the tartness of plain yogurt goes well with the blueberries anyway… so yeah ignore all the weightwatcher whiners in the comments of the link because we aren’t following the same recipe anyway…

My next endeavor is to dust off our ice cream maker and try out these smoothies in ice cream form. I’ll let y’all know how it goes :)

btw- my smoothies turned out even brighter and bluer than the picture! SO DELICIOUS with the eyes and the mouth. 

For those who want to skip the link altogether and just check out my transcendant recipe:

Ingredients

Makes two 8-ounce servings

• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 deglet noor dates

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in the jar of a blender, and process until smooth. Serve immediately in tall glasses.

Sweetened with dried dates and a touch of honey, a banana smoothie makes a quick, nutritious breakfast.

[I substituted Vanilla Soymilk for the buttermilk]

Read more at Wholeliving.com: Buttermilk Banana Smoothies 

SO GOOD and the most healthy recipe for something sweet I’ve ever seen. You don’t need to add the Stevia packet/syrup — i did at maybe about a half teaspoonish of salt to bring out the natural sweetness of the Sweet Potato. SO GOOD.

drew this up for the clients to help restock fridge and to restock life with all the right stuff! well not ALL but— PLENTY ;p

hit ASK or SUBMIT up above if there’s any questions/comments :)

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