We try different diets and we try to reduce our portions or reduce the amount of meals we have on a day, or we try to count the calories and exclude all our favorite food from our daily diet, but nothing seems to work: We just can’t get rid of that gorgeous (not really) belly fat of ours! Well, maybe the problem is exactly there, on depriving yourself from certain food.

I know, I know! You probably heard that before, the “eat more, activate your metabolism!” thing. Yes, it is widely known now that what makes you lose fat and lose weight is activating your metabolism and making your body actually burn the excess fat by itself.

Fat isn’t a bad a bad thing for our brains. It is an energy storage and your brain like to hold on to it in case you need it when winter comes; if you activate your metabolism, you will be making your body use more energy for everything you do and your brain will think that you need to use that stored energy and you will start noticing some difference on that scale!

With that said, you know you need to eat more and you probably know that eating lots of cookies won’t do it! The key here will be to know what things you must incorporate in your diet in order to make your body burn that belly fat.

You probably notice that when you gain weight it shows in some areas first and in some other areas later, and that when you lose weight it goes away in certain areas of your body first. That happens because our brain uses the “energy storages” in a very smart way, our brain sees the different “energy storages” in different ways. So there is a way to trick your brain into using the energy of one specific area more than others, though it will be very subtle, as everything on our bodies should be when we are healthy.

Here are three examples of compounds that will help you burn fat specifically from your belly area and where you can find them:

Capsaicin: This is an active component present in chili peppers, known to increase calorie burn, especially if using cayenne pepper. If you are sure you are not allergic or sensitive to chili peppers, this can be a good way to help your body burn extra fat naturally; there are studies that found that capsaicin can help to break down belly fat and make it easier for your body to process and get rid of! Of course you don’t have to eat too much of it, adding a little pepper to some recipes can be both gastronomically interesting and healthy for you and your family.

Polyphenols: “polyphenol antioxidant” is a type of antioxidant (which we know to be good for your skin and for aging!) found in a wide variety of foods, like grapes, berries, green tea, cocoa and even coffee (careful with that one!). The most interesting “polyphenol” for you to look for is resveratrol found in the skin and seeds of dark fruits like dark purple grapes and blackberries. Resveratrol is known to activate the AMPK enzyme (this is your “fat burning activity enzyme”) and reduce fat cells inflammation, which might help you loose weight it added to the right diet.

Nootkatone: We saved the best for last: Nootkatone is found in nature only in grapefruits and it is known in increase significantly the AMPK enzyme activity and help reduce fat accumulation!