Veggies and Red Peppers for Reducing Body Fat

Veggies and Stomach

Calorie Contents of Vegetables

Most vegetables are naturally low in calories, so building your daily diet around veggies can lower your calorie intake. Replacing some high calorie foods and side dishes with vegetables can cut hundreds of calories from your meals. For example, 1 cup of broccoli, sweet peppers, zucchini or mushrooms contain less than 35 calories, while a cup of cooked macaroni or rice has more than 180 calories. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when you reduce your food intake by 500 calories every day for a week, you will lose 1 lb.

Water and Vegetables

Many vegetables, such as cucumbers, lettuce, celery and tomato, also contain lots of water and help fill your stomach without providing any calories. Fill at least half of your plate with fresh or grilled vegetables or add plenty of vegetables to casseroles, sauces, omelets and other meals. This will help reduce the calorie intake of your meal and promote weight loss.

Effect on Metabolism Rate

Red peppers, such as chili, cayenne, jalapeno and habanero, contain capsinoids that can increase your metabolic rate. A study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 2009 showed that consuming 6 mg of capsinoids every day helped burn abdominal fat and increased fat oxidation. Adding fresh red peppers, hot sauces or dried red peppers to your meals can temporarily boost your metabolism and promote belly fat loss.

Peppers Burn Body Fat

Many popular green peppers, such as habanero, jalapeno, bell pepper and anaheim, are actually red peppers of the species Capsicum. These peppers contain a molecule that not only gives them the "hotness" but also affects your metabolism and fat burning. Adding green peppers into your meals can promote fat burning, but not all green peppers have the same effect
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Scoville Unit

The amount of capsaicins varies between different green peppers. All red and green peppers are rated by their "hotness" with a Scoville unit. Peppers with high ratings have higher thermogenic effects and thus can boost your fat burning more than peppers with low ratings. Habanero has the highest rating of 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units, jalapeno has a rating of 2,500 to 5,000 and anaheim peppers have a rating of 500 to 2,500 Scoville units. Green bell peppers have a rating of 0 Scoville units, meaning that they do not contain any significant amounts of capsaicins.

Effect on Metabolism Rate

Metabolic rate describes your body's energy use. Metabolism is a process of converting the foods and liquids you consume into energy in your body. Your body is metabolically active even at sleep, using energy to perform functions such as blood circulation, breathing, hormone level adjustments and cell repair and growth. Thermogenesis is a metabolic process during which your body produces heat by burning energy. Exercise, diet and environmental temperatures induce thermogenesis.