How to Stock Your Kitchen With Healthy Carbs

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Potatoes

Stock up on: Baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, potato chips

Why they help with weight loss: In addition to fiber and Resistant Starch, potatoes are a natural source of a proteinase inhibitor, which appears to increase levels of satiety hormones and reduce appetite.

One serving of potato chips provides 1 gram of Resistant Starch, and they also satisfy your need for crunch while at the same time providing you with some fiber. If you’re going to have a snack chip, then potato chips (baked, preferably) are the chips you should reach for.

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Beans

Stock up on: White, black, and garbanzo beans

Why they help with weight loss: These are true stars of the carb world. Not only are they rich in Resistant Starch, but beans and legumes are also your weight-loss secret weapons because they’re one of the few foods that pack both types of fiber—soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fiber helps you feel full by absorbing water, and bulky insoluble fiber fills you up by triggering the sensation of satiety. A Brigham Young University study of 252 women found that for every 1 gram increase in the amount of fiber consumed correlated with a half a pound weight loss.

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Fruit

Stock up on: Berries, mangoes, apples, bananas, pears

Why they help with weight loss: You might have craved other sweets during your last low-carb diet. But lack of fruit probably derailed your weight-loss progress. When Israeli researchers put 322 people on either a low-carb diet, low-fat diet, or a Mediterranean diet, dieters rated fruit—not pasta, not cookies—at the top of their list of longings.

In other words, you can’t live without fruit—and, frankly, there’s no reason to try. Bananas are rich in Resistant Starch, and apples are a great source of pectin, a soluble that may block fat storage.

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Veggies

Stock up on: Celery, broccoli, artichokes, carrots, green beans

Why they help with weight loss: Vegetables are a dieter’s best friend. They contain almost no calories (a cup of sliced cucumbers has a measly 16 calories!) and are loaded with weight-reducing fiber. So eat up!

Add veggies to pizzas, sandwiches, and your favorite soups.

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Fish

Stock up on: Salmon, tuna, mahi mahi

Why they help with weight loss: Cold-water fish like salmon and tuna pack a slimming fat called omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s speed weight loss by switching on enzymes that trigger fat burning in cells. They also help to boost mood, which may help reduce emotional eating.

A French study of 27 women determined that adding 3 daily grams of fish oil (the amount in roughly 6 ounces of salmon) reduced body-fat levels by 3.5% and abdominal fat by 6%.

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Meat and dairy

Stock up on: Lean beef, turkey, low-fat cheese, Greek yogurt, and milk

Why they help with weight loss: Both foods contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fat that is thought to help blood glucose enter body cells, so it can be burned for energy and not stored as fat.

It’s also believed that CLA may promote fat burning, especially in muscles, where the bulk of our calorie burning takes place.

Dairy products are also a rich source of calcium, which is stored in fat cells, and researchers think that the more calcium a fat cell has, the more fat that cell will release to be burned.

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Bread, rice, pasta, and whole grains

Stock up on: Tortillas, croutons, pasta, rye crispbread crackers,

Why they help with weight loss: The whole-grain varieties of these foods satisfy our cravings for crunch and chewiness.

More important, they are rich in Resistant Starch and fiber, and research shows that people who consume more whole grains tend to weigh less and have less body fat than people who skip them.

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Nuts and oils

Stock up on: Almond/peanut butter, walnuts, olive oil

Why they help with weight loss: Most types of nuts and other good fats, like olive oil, are a rich source of the fat fighter called monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs).

One Danish study of 27 men and women found that a diet that included 20% of its calories from MUFAs measurably sped up 24-hour calorie and fat burning after six months. Other research shows that MUFAs are especially good at melting tummy fat.

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