Episode 60: 10 Foods that Boost Your Calorie Burn
Welcome back to the Coaching Corner Podcast! I’m Jayd Harrison, your go-to guide for all things fitness, nutrition, and sustainable fat loss. In this week’s episode, we’re tackling a hot topic that comes up all the time: Which foods can actually help with fat loss?
Spoiler alert: it’s not just about eating fewer calories. The real magic happens when you include foods that naturally boost your metabolism and increase calorie burn during digestion.
Fat Loss Isn’t Just About Eating Less
Yes, maintaining a calorie deficit is essential for fat loss—but not all calories are created equal. Certain foods can actually give your metabolism a helpful nudge, making it easier for your body to burn fat. In this episode, I highlight 10 metabolism-boosting foods that also come with additional health perks.
Here’s a sneak peek at what I cover:
Protein-rich foods – for muscle preservation and high thermic effect
Spicy foods – like chili peppers that raise your body’s calorie burn
Green tea – packed with antioxidants and metabolism-enhancing compounds
Coffee – in moderation, it can increase fat oxidation
Water – simple but powerful for satiety and metabolic function
Seaweed – a surprising source of iodine for thyroid support
Whole grains – for sustained energy and digestive health
Apple cider vinegar – may help with blood sugar control and appetite
Lentils & legumes – loaded with fiber and plant-based protein
Dark leafy greens – nutrient-dense and low-calorie
Each of these foods plays a role in helping your body burn more calories, stay fuller longer, and support your overall wellness.
Practical Tips for Your Fat Loss Journey
In addition to the food breakdown, I also talk about how to:
Build meals that support a calorie deficit without feeling deprived
Stay mindful of portions and hunger cues
Combine smart nutrition with consistent exercise for the best results
If you're looking to take your results to the next level, be sure to check out my Healthy Diet Makeover. It’s a guide that walks you through how to optimize your eating for both muscle building and fat loss, without fad diets or restriction.
Links:
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Jayd (00:00):
I think what a lot of people do in their approach to fat loss is they focus on, oh, I need to eat low calorie foods. But I think that you can greatly improve your fat loss success by also placing the focus on foods that are actually going to burn more calories for you to digest things that actually boost your metabolism. And so this is like a little list that you can kind of refer to, maybe add a little bit more, squeeze a little bit more out of your diet. Hey there. Welcome to the Coaching Corner podcast. I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. I've created this podcast to share some of the tips and tricks that I share with my personal training clients. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and I've created this podcast to share the tips and tricks that I share with my personal training clients to help them build muscle, get strong and burn fat.
(00:57)
In today's episode, I'm sharing 10 foods that you can add into your weekly meal plan to boost your metabolism and burn more fat. I myself am on a fat loss journey right now and I'm making a couple of different changes to how I eat in order to maximize fat loss while also retaining the muscle that I've built over the last year of bulking. If you like the tips and tricks that I'm sharing in this podcast episode, make sure that you check out my Healthy Diet Makeover book, which you can buy on Amazon or you can download the ebook from my website. This is a step-by-step guide on how to clean up your diet and eat healthy to maximize your fat loss and build muscle and get strong. So you can purchase this from the links in the video description below. If you're watching on YouTube, you can also find links to it in the show notes. Without further ado, let's get into the episode and take a look at 10 foods that you should add to your diet to boost your metabolism and burn more calories.
(02:01)
Now that I am in my cut phase, I figured this is a great time for us to talk about changes that I'm making to my diet that maybe can be helpful for you if you are in a fat loss phase. Specifically what I want to talk about today are foods that you can eat to boost your metabolism. When we use the phrase boost your metabolism, what we're actually referring to is getting your body burning more calories because when it comes to fat loss, we want our body burning more calories than what we're eating every day. The main way that we get ourselves into a calorie deficit where our body's burning more calories than what we're eating is one, we are controlling what we're eating and being mindful of what we're eating, making sure that we're eating less than our maintenance level of calories, which is the amount of calories that our bodies need to stay the same.
(02:51)
So eating a calorie deficit by tracking what you eat or following a meal plan that is for the number of calories that your body needs in order to burn fat. The other ways that we get our bodies burning more calories is through exercise. Cardiovascular exercise can help your body to burn calories during the workout, and resistance training can boost your overall everyday calorie burn by building more muscle. Muscle building is a calorie expensive activity and your body burns more calories when you have more muscle, but you can take it a step further and in addition to being mindful of the calories that you're eating, some foods that you eat can actually get your body burning more calories. Now it's a small amount, but that adds up over time. So you can choose foods that take more energy for your body to break down or that boost your metabolism, boost the amount of calories that your body burns in some way.
(03:46)
So I have a list of 10 foods that you can eat to boost your metabolism and get your body burning more calories to help push you along in your fat loss and accelerate it a little bit. So one of course is protein rich foods. This is a must have for any fitness-based diet, whether you're trying to burn fat or build muscle protein is so important because it is the building blocks of your muscle. When you eat protein, your body breaks that protein down into amino acids and then reconstructs them into actual muscle protein and adds it into your muscles to make your muscles grow bigger and stronger. So eating plenty of protein is a really great way for you to boost your metabolism because that process of breaking the food down into its protein and then breaking the protein down into amino acids and then rebuilding using the amino acids to rebuild into muscle protein, that's a lot of steps and every process that your body runs requires energy.
(04:50)
It's like electricity, right? Any process that your computer runs takes electricity to run, and if you don't have your computer plugged in and you're running high energy taking processes on your computer, your computer battery is going to go down really fast, right? Similar thing happens when we eat foods that can boost our metabolism. When we give our bodies multiple steps that they have to go through in order to break that food down and then turn it into muscle or turn it into energy that you can use that makes your body burn more calories. So protein-rich foods, things like poultry, chicken, right? Turkey. Turkey is my favorite. Fish eggs and then vegetarian sources of protein, things like Tempe, tofu, legumes, beans. These are all really great sources of protein that your body can use to build muscle and also burn more calories during digestion. It's not just about building muscle, but it's also when you're eating enough protein, your body doesn't actually crave sugary types of foods.
(06:02)
You don't feel that low energy as much. I noticed with a lot of my clients who need to make that switch to eating more protein, if their diet is a lot of carbohydrate or fat-based foods and they're not eating enough protein, they often feel low energy. So eating protein rich foods covers a lot of bases. It reduces your hunger cravings between meals. It's more satiating, so you feel more full from eating high protein foods and also your body burns more calories, breaking down protein and turning it into muscle or using it for energy. Then foods that are like simple sugars, right? Number two, spicy food. So spicy foods contain a compound called capsaicin, which can slightly increase calorie burning and also reduce your appetite. So if you can handle eating spicy food, adding hot sauce or chopped peppers to your meals and to your snacks can boost your metabolism and get your body burning more calories a little bit and also reduce your cravings.
(07:04)
So adding more spicy food into your diet, definitely a good approach when you're trying to increase your calorie burn. Of course, caffeine is another thing that can help boost your metabolism. Drinking green tea in particular, which is our number three food, green tea has a lot of metabolism boosting properties. One of course it has the caffeine and caffeine can support fat burning, but it also helps to reduce your appetite as well. And it also has antioxidants, which are good for everything, boosting your metabolism as well as boosting your immune system to keep you healthy overall. So green tea is one of those foods or drinks that I think is a really great thing to add into your diet, even if you're not in a fat loss phase, but especially when you're burning fat, when you're in a fat loss phase. Green tea can help, even the decaffeinated green tea can be good to add into your diet because again, you get those antioxidants, but the caffeine helps quite a bit as well.
(08:10)
And then of course, coffee, which is my main source of caffeine that I drink every day because it has that caffeine in it, it can temporarily increase your metabolic rate and also give you a feeling like you have energy to get up and get moving and do more stuff too. That's the other benefit of caffeine, right? Without caffeine in the morning, I kind of feel a little bit lazy and I don't want to get up and moving, but when I have caffeine in my system, I'm more likely to get up and moving. So that also helps me to burn more calories through meat, my non-exercise activities, so my non-exercise calorie burn goes up when I have enough caffeine. Just be careful with the caffeine. Know your limits. Everybody's body is different. For mine, I can stand to have four cups of coffee a day, and that's what I usually do.
(08:59)
For some people, they can't handle more than one cup, and that's fine. Listen to your body and you don't have to do caffeine, but if you like caffeine and your body does fine on caffeine, using caffeine during your fat loss phase can be helpful. And number five, something that somebody in chat already mentioned. Water, drinking plenty of water, your body needs water. It is mostly made up of water, and I would argue that most people are chronically dehydrated. Most people do not drink as much water as they need, but it's essential for your body's functioning for you to feel healthy. But it also, if you are trying to burn fat, drinking water is a huge boost for that, especially if you drink cold water because your body has to bring whatever you're drinking, it has to bring it to a temperature that it can absorb, and if you drink cold water, your body has to spend some extra calories warming the water up so that your body can absorb it. So drinking cold water is a great way to kind of just slightly increase your daily calorie burn.
(10:07)
But of course, hydration supports your cellular functioning, which includes your fat metabolism, so drinking plenty of water. Also, I think that a lot of people have a tendency to snack or crave sugary salty foods when they're dehydrated. It's not uncommon to mistake your body's thirst signals for snack ishness. So drinking plenty of water can kind of reduce the amount of snack ishness and hunger that you feel between meals or between snacks, and it can decrease your total calorie intake through the day because when you drink plenty of water, your belly is going to feel more full, more often because it's literally full of water. So staying hydrated is a great way to keep your calorie burn high. Another one, if you're a sushi fan, if you like Asian food, number six, seaweed. Seaweed is a natural source of iodine, which is really important for healthy thyroid function, and your thyroid regulates your metabolism.
(11:13)
So keeping your thyroid healthy and happy should be a priority at all times, but especially when you're in a fat loss phase and you're trying to boost your metabolism. Now, sushi in general is higher calorie because it's like a lot of rice, but you can snack on seaweed. They have these little seaweed strips that you can buy. They're crunchy. Some people will use that kind of like the way that they would use a wrap or a chip, but just be mindful of how much you're eating though, don't overdo it. Number seven, whole grains especially anything that's going to have a lot of dietary fiber in it, dietary fiber is going to make you feel fuller because it's going to expand in your belly, especially if you drink enough water. So it'll make you feel fuller, keep you set more satisfied between meals, but also all grains are basically seeds, right?
(12:07)
They're the seeds of the wheat plant or rice plant, and refined grains have gone through a process where they remove the outer shell of that seed or the husk. Whole grains are when the outer husk or shell is still intact. So things like oats, brown rice versus white rice, whole wheat versus refined wheat or white wheat. These are examples of grains that contain that outer husk and that outer husk has more fiber in it. It also is a good source of iron as well, but it takes your body longer to digest whole grains than it does refined grains because your body has to break through that outer shell, that husk. You have to do that within your digestive tract. Remember, anytime your body has to run an extra system to break down food, then that burns more calories. So you not only are making yourself feel fuller by increasing your daily dietary fiber, reducing your cravings between meals because your belly is more full, but also while you're digesting that food, your body is burning more calories.
(13:17)
Another thing about whole grains that's really helpful is that they stabilize your blood sugar and they reduce your cravings. So you've probably experienced when you eat a high sugar or a food that has a lot of refined sugar, where you get that boost of energy and then that big dip in energy. A lot of times that big dip in energy that happens usually in the middle of the day or between meals is a dip in your blood sugar levels. When you eat a lot of refined sugar or refined grains, you might see more drastic dips in your energy levels, but eating more whole grains and food that is complex carbohydrates versus simple carbohydrates is a great way to keep your blood sugar more stable. Now, number eight, apple cider vinegar. There are some studies that suggest that apple cider vinegar may support fat loss and help to control blood sugar levels, which does impact your metabolic function.
(14:15)
However, I do want to say as a caveat, we talked about before on the podcast, certain scammers who were pushing apple cider vinegar as this panacea wonder food super food that was going to solve all of your problems. It's not going to solve all of your problems. It is one thing that can help, can help, but it's not going to be just start drinking apple cider vinegar, which is kind of like, I don't know if it's so much these days, but a couple of years ago, about 10 years ago, it was like all the rage, and you saw so many people on social media who were just like, you just need to drink a shot of apple cider vinegar and not really change anything else about your life. It's not going to change your life, but it's something that can help. Number nine, lentils and legumes are a great choice for your veggies.
(15:02)
If you follow the healthy plate model and you aim to eat lots of veggies throughout the day, which you should, even if you're not in a fat loss phase, you should still be aiming to eat lots and lots of vegetables, but especially choosing things like lentils and legumes. One, they're higher in protein, which we already talked about how protein, eating higher protein foods can help boost your metabolism. They're also high in dietary fiber, which can help reduce your calorie intake, reduce cravings. They take longer for your body to digest, so that also boosts your metabolism. So try to aim for including some lentils and legumes a couple times throughout the week in your meals. My gosh, I love lentils. They're my favorite. And actually right now in my garden, I'm going to have a couple of beans ready to harvest that you know I'm going to be snacking on.
(15:54)
I have a bunch of snack peas, a bunch of just garden beans, so yummy to just snack on or add two salads or pasta dishes, that kind of thing. And number 10, dark leafy greens, things like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard. These guys, they cover a lot of bases for us to help our bodies to burn more calories. They support thyroid function. They're rich in iron, magnesium, and B vitamins, which are all things that support your thyroid function. And again, your thyroid is what determines your metabolism, or it impacts your metabolism. So you can boost your energy expenditure by eating foods that support your thyroid function, like dark leafy greens. And with these, you might have salads, right? That's always a good option. It's an easy meal prep option is to just build out a bunch of salads and eat them throughout the week. But you can also add these dark leafy greens to things like smoothies, so you can have kind of a sweet but high veggie intake type of meal.
(17:06)
You can add them to omelets or little egg cups. That's one of my favorite things. Make little egg cups that are like muffins made of eggs with some added ingredients, including leafy greens or stir fries. All of these are really great options. You can use leafy greens as wraps instead of using a tortilla, you could use a couple of kale or large spinach leaves. That's another thing that I'm growing in my garden right now. Super easy to just go out there and like a cow. So those are 10 foods that you can add to your diet if you want to increase your daily calorie burn just through the food that you're eating. Those are changes that I'm making to my diet to help my body reach my fat loss goal faster. And also notice how all of the foods that we have mentioned besides coffee and green tea, all green tea has its benefits, but all of them have other benefits as well to your health. So it's good to be including these foods anyway, even if you're not burning fat. But if you are trying to burn more fat and you want to increase your total calorie burn, add these 10 foods into your diet.
(18:26)
Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of the Coaching Corner Podcast. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. If you're interested in working with me or learning more about the products and services that I offer, head to my website, Jaydigains.com. And don't forget to check out my Healthy Diet Makeover book, which you can buy from Amazon or download from my website to start the process of cleaning up your diet in five easy steps. You'll find links for that in the show notes. If you're listening to this podcast or in the video description, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you're on YouTube so that you always get the latest videos that I drop. If you're listening, make sure that you have followed the show so you always get the latest episodes delivered right to your device. I'll see you in the next episode. And in the meantime, make sure that you eat your veggies, eat your protein, stay hydrated, and take good care of yourself. I'll see you next time.
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