Fat Burning Thai Foods

The Thai diet is replete with fattening coconut milk, fried foods and sugar. Yet somehow, Thai people are generally beautiful and slim. One explanation is that some fat-burning Thai foods may actually help you lose weight. Thai people also tend to eat fewer, smaller meals throughout the day, which boosts their metabolism.

Peppers: The Fat-Fighting Superstar

• The Thai diet includes fresh, dried and powdered chili peppers that range from moderate to extremely spicy. The key fat-fighting ingredient in peppers, capsaicin, speeds up your metabolism and burns extra calories for at least three hours after eating. New research suggests that capsaicin may also inhibit fat-cell growth and reduce your appetite.

Coconut Milk: The Fitter Fat

• Like chili peppers, coconut milk is a quintessentially Thai flavor. Coconut milk is often used as "the fat" in Thai cuisine, the analog of butter in Western cooking. Coconut milk, however, is a fitter fat than butter. Ounce for ounce, coconut milk has fewer calories than other fats. Due to the magic of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) found in coconut milk, more fat goes into making energy and less is stored.

Fresh Veggies and Rice with Small Amounts of Meat

• A Thai meal usually consists of rice served with dishes packed with fresh vegetables, herbs and only a small amount of meat or seafood. Fresh vegetables are full of phytonutrients and vitamins that help burn fat and fill you up, so you eat less.

Benefits of Rice

• The Thai people eat rice at every meal, and rarely bread. Rice replaces bread and also supplants meat. The more rice you eat, the less unsaturated-fat laden meat you will consume. In this way, rice can contribute to weight loss.

Frequent, Small Meals

• Imagine having five small meals instead of three large ones. Imagine enjoying snacks between meals, but healthy ones, like fresh fruit and nuts. This is the Thai style, and one of their secrets to staying lean.