By Mark Taylor

Let’s be real for a minute now – when it comes to losing weight, there’s no actual “magic” involved. It’s all about burning off more calories than you take in. Undeniably, exercise helps tremendously but let’s have a look at a few foods considered “magical” as they can aid you in achieving your weight loss goal.

Generally speaking, weight loss food is supposed to make you feel fuller without adding those malicious empty calories. If you add some of these foods to your diet on a regular basis, you might just shed those pounds faster. Here are some top contenders:

1. Beans are a definite all-time winner for multiple reasons. They have a nice variety which makes them versatile and when prepared correctly, totally the opposite of boring to eat. They are low in fat yet scrumptious, packed with protein and plenty of fiber, which aside from making you feel full also reduces the risk for several diseases.

Watch out for re-fried beans that have extra fat added or canned beans too high in sodium. Do yourself a favor and try eating any variety of dried beans as well.

2. Whole grains – if there’s one great change you can make regarding your diet, that’s to stop eating refined grains. Refining them means they get rid of most of the helpful stuff, making them void of nutritional value and that’s why they have to re-add nutrients to complete the process. All this waste so that your bread and rice can be as white as possible. Quite frankly, it’s ridiculous so start using those whole grains to absorb their full nutritional potential.
3. Olive oil or any other oil high in monounsaturated fat. As surprising it may seem, especially considering how fatty it is (9 calories per gram), that good type of fat adds to the feeling of fullness as well as a pleasant flavor to other types of foods. The fat in olive oil is one of the healthiest kinds out there so don’t shy away from it due to the calorie count. Some calories you’ll eat after one meal prepared using this, will

surely be less than what you’re used to.

4. Oatmeal is another great weight loss food, not to mention it’s been proven to help reduce cholesterol. Did you know it has about the same amount of soluble and insoluble fiber? With that being said, it clearly helps you feel fuller and is low in calories. Most people consider oatmeal a breakfast-type treat but its flavor works great with many other kinds of foods, so keep that in mind and try incorporating it into other types of dish throughout the week.

Without a doubt, there are many more weight loss foods, but the four we’ve mentioned so far are guaranteed to ease your journey towards losing weight. Pluck out the bad foods while increasing the healthy ones and your waistline, as well as general health, will thank you later.