Let’s face it, in a nation where over 42% of adults are obese, a lot of us are looking for healthy, natural ways to trim down the pounds.

If that’s you, there are a few options. The goal is to run a caloric deficit, which means you consume fewer calories than you expend each day. When this happens, there’s no excess fat to be stored around the body.

Here’s a surefire way to hit a caloric deficit –

• Reduce the calories you eat with a fat burning diet
• Increase your daily exercise to burn more calories
• Take a fat burner to assist with both

First, let’s look at fat burning foods –

You’ve got thermogenics which raise your body’s internal temperature, slightly increasing the calories burned during daily activities. This category includes stuff like cayenne pepper, turmeric.

Metabolism boosters support your body’s natural metabolic processes, ensuring that fat and sugar are efficiently broken down and burned as energy. Protein-rich foods, vitamins are good examples of foods in this category.

There are also appetite suppressants which reduce feelings of hunger, helping you to eat less. This category includes dietary fibres like glucomannan, slow-release grains like oats, and plenty of others.

Thankfully, all of these occur naturally, meaning you don’t have to rely on synthetic prescription weight loss drugs.

Here are our top five natural fat burners –

Glucomannan – natural appetite suppressant

If you’re wondering how to curb hunger, you’ll be interested in glucomannan.

This dietary fibre is a great natural appetite suppressant. It’s renowned for an ability to crush cravings by promoting feelings of fullness, and reducing the amount of food you feel like eating.

The effects of glucomannan make it a commonplace in fat burner dietary supplements. Taking a daily dose of this ingredient is correlated with fewer calories consumed and greater weight loss results.

You can eat glucomannan in dishes like shirataki noodles, or in a diet pill where the fibre is extracted and consumed in powdered form. Both will achieve the same effect of reducing cravings and helping you to eat less.

Cayenne pepper – natural thermogenic

If you’ve tried cayenne before, you’ll know that it packs quite a punch! This spice is used worldwide to lend a bit of heat to all sorts of dishes.

But maybe you’re not aware that it’s a natural fat burner?

Cayenne contains capsaicin: One of the chemicals that give spicy foods their spice. A lot of research indicates that cayenne is a natural thermogenic, meaning it raises your internal temperature slightly and facilitates more calories being burned.

Sprinkling a dash of cayenne – or any other spicy sauce – onto your dinner is one way to tap into this thermogenic effect, but if you’re less keen on the spice sensation, a capsaicin supplement brings the same benefits.

You can find dedicated capsaicin supplements, or fat burners with cayenne as one of the ingredients in their formula.

Green tea – appetite suppressant tea

You’re probably not surprised to learn that green tea has health benefits, but perhaps you weren’t expecting fat burning to be in the list.

Green tea is linked with increased metabolism, increasing the efficiency with which fat is broken down and burned for energy during exercise.

So, a cup of green tea is a great way to give your metabolism a nudge in the right direction and to burn a few extra calories each day. As with cayenne, you can drink green tea by itself, or look for a green tea fat burner (it’ll be listed as ‘green tea extract’ on the ingredients list).

Vitamins B6 and B12 – metabolism booster vitamins

Everyone knows vitamins are healthy, but far fewer people know why.

This mysterious category of organic substance is present in pretty much everything we eat. Vitamin A is plentiful in carrots, vitamin C is abundant in citrus fruits, and meat and fish have a lot of D.

The B vitamins, however, and most specifically B6 and B12, are of special interest as metabolism boosters.

As we’ve seen, metabolism is your body’s natural process for storing, breaking down, and burning fuel. Fatty acids are one such fuel, and a more efficient metabolism means fat is burned more readily.

By eating foods high in vitamin B like grains, eggs, seeds, nuts, beans, leafy veg, fruit, and more, you help your body toward more efficient metabolism. It’s not hard to see how foods in that list can be incorporated into a healthy diet, either!

B6 and B12 are also common in fat burner supplements thanks to their metabolism-boosting effects – another great reason to consider supplementation alongside regular exercise and a healthy diet.

Water

Clean and simple, a glass of water before mealtime will help you to eat less.

One of the concepts of achieving a caloric deficit is eating less. Some fat burning ingredients like glucomannan expand to take up space in your stomach, reducing the volume of food you can intake before feeling full. Water does the exact same thing, and drinking a glass before mealtime is a helpful way to eat smaller portions.

You can also have a glass of water during the day when the snack cravings start to set in. Just be sure not to have too much, as over-hydrating can be dangerous. Six to eight glasses of water, around 8oz each, is considered a good amount.

And remember

Weight loss comes down to running a caloric deficit: i.e, more calories out than in. A healthy diet with plenty of natural weight loss ingredients, combined with a good amount of exercise, is more than enough to get you over this line.

If you’re looking for a helping hand, dietary supplements like fat burners are a great shout. These are designed to support and encourage natural weight loss.

And the truth is, the vast majority of people don’t have a medical need for prescription weight loss pills. Building your diet around the right foods and taking a fat burner that works is the combo you need to hit your goals.