(Fitbie.com–) Believe it or not, your body actually doesn’t want to store fat. And the secret to lasting weight loss does not come down to complicated calorie-counting and weight-loss gimmicks. Instead, it’s about working with your body’s natural hunger and sleep rhythms to curb cravings, burn fat and send your energy levels soaring.

Fish

Another day, another study about the benefits of eating fish—and for good reason. We know from animal studies that when your diet is deficient in omega-3s, the natural rhythms of your pineal gland—the pea-size gland in the center of your brain—are thrown off, leading to alterations in the production of melatonin, your sleep hormone. Animals with an omega-3 deficit don’t sleep during their usual rest periods—they’re up and spinning in their wheels the same way that humans with insomnia do. A diet rich in omega-3s, on the other hand, can boost heart health, lower your risk of dementia, and improve your moods. As for weight loss, many omega-3 carriers are rich in protein. (Video: Surprising Belly Flattener) And study after study confirms: Protein makes you feel full. You even burn more calories digesting protein than you do when you eat fats or carbs.

Nuts

As if you needed another excuse to eat nuts, these fatty legumes are a great source of mood-boosting magnesium. Without enough magnesium in your body, the part of the brain that regulates melatonin is thrown off, disrupting your sleep. An uptick in magnesium is what tells animals it’s time to hibernate—for us, not having enough of it may play a role in seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the depression—and carb-craving—condition brought on by the low light of winter.

Milk

While the link between calcium and weight loss is still feeble (in some studies it promotes greater weight loss, in others it’s a wash), it turns out that milk may really do a body good when it comes to belly fat.

A 2010 study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that, among a group of more than 100 premenopausal women, fat was significantly reduced in those who consumed the most calcium-rich foods. In fact, for every 100 milligrams of calcium they consumed per day (that’s 1/2 cup of soft-serve frozen yogurt), they lost an inch of intra-abdominal fat—that’s the really bad stuff tucked in and around your internal organs that has been linked to higher rates of heart disease and cancer.

Tart Cherries

Around bedtime, munch on a few tart Montmorency cherries. These cherries are one of a number of plant-based sources of melatonin, the sleep hormone. (Bananas and corn have it, too.) While there’s no evidence that they’ll help you nod off, studies have found that foods like these can raise melatonin levels in the body. (Search:Foods containing melatonin) Not only does melatonin help you sleep, but it’s a powerful antioxidant that can protect your cells from free radical damage, the kind that leads to cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. That should help you sleep easy.

This is Jon Jung of the Jungle and I’m out…

Jungle Fitness, Orange County’s Best Personal Trainers now offers Personal Training in various cities within Orange County, CA

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