15 Beyond Simple Nutrition Hacks To Live Leaner, Burn Body Fat, And Keep It All Off For Good

7. Douse Your Food In Liquid Smoke

Liquid Smoke adds MASSIVE hickory/mesquite/charcoal grill-like flavor to chicken, eggs, steak, veggies, guacamole, fish, rice, hummus, pasta, and dips — all with ZERO calories, sugar, fat, or artificial sweeteners/flavors. Those are just a few staple options, but it works in basically anything your imagination can cook up.

Yes, it’s actually a real-life thing in regular supermarkets — look for it, I swear it’s there.

8. Re-Vamp Your Tuna Salad

Tuna and mayo aren’t married. Nix it for any combination of hummus, mustard, avocado/guacamole, hot sauce, Liquid Smoke, or balsamic glaze (or everything muddled together).

You’ll deeply gash calories, improve the fat profile, and diversify its flavor palate.

2 tbsp of mayo contributes an unsavory 200 calories and 20g fat — swap that out for mustard and Liquid Smoke and you’ve knocked those numbers all the way down to ZERO.

9. Open Up Your Sandwich

Make your sandwiches open-faced (think bruschetta style) — it slices 100-200 calories and a ton of processed carbs (unless it’s Ezekial’s bread or anything sprouted grain). Plus it exposes the complex flavors, which are typically suffocated by two gargantuan slices of wheat.

Two other sandwich options:

• Make lettuce wraps — surround sandwich contents in a big sheath of lettuce; no calories whatsoever.
• Use apple slices as bread — this works particularly well for PB&J, but it’s a nice way to add a touch of sweetness, infuse extra fiber, and stay au natural. About 30 calories for 2 chunky slices.

10. Scoop It Out

You shouldn’t be eating bagels, but most people are little rebels and do it anyway. Likely because they’re insanely delicious (see point 5, bagels are great candidates).

If you’re indulging, always ask for your bagel “scooped out” to mitigate some of the damage (or do it yourself).

Excavating the bagel’s guts carves out a massive 200+ calories — that’s literally ½ of what’s in the entire thing — and a heap of refined carbs, yet still leaves the irresistible outer casing in tact. That’s the best part in my book, anyway.

11. Oatmeal is Best Served Plain

NEVER, NEVER, EVER, EVER buy pre-packaged, flavored oatmeal. It’s an insidious, sugary, artificial abomination disguised as a health food.

Always make oatmeal plain — I like Coach’s Oats — and the flavor it up with your favorite combo of fresh fruit, cinnamon, goji berries, flax/chia, almond butter, cocoa, and/or a dash of salt.

12. …So Is Greek Yogurt

Drop flavored Chobani and FAGE from your vernacular — start with plain 0% or 2% as a foundation and flavor it up with all of the fresh ingredients you’d stick in oatmeal (a la point 12).

Use one of our 14 explosively flavorful recipes to get the inspirational juices bubbling.

13. Drink Your Coffee Brown

That is, sprinkle in a few dashes of antioxidant-rich cinnamon or nutmeg in lieu of sugar, artificial sweeteners, or even milk.

It adds thickness and density, mild sweetness, pleasant aromas, and a nice festive flavor to coffee; sans calories or artificial ingredients.

14. Combat Hunger the Smart Way

Hunger is unbelievably mental.

Whenever your stomach feels ravenous: 1) STOP thinking about it, 2) do ANYTHING to take your mind off of it, and 3) chug a big glass of water, cup of green tea, or seltzer.

All three drinks are cal-free and, when combined with a little cognitive fortitude, can peel back hunger long enough to hold off overeating .

15. Chug a Protein Shake Before Bed

Downing a solid source of protein — from a shake or protein-rich whole foods — before crashing can slowly fuel your body overnight, enhance protein synthesis, and galvanize muscle recovery and growth.

One study found that a pre-bed protein drink can enhance protein synthesis by up to 22% — that means less soreness and stronger muscles in the AM.¹

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References, Notes, Links

1. Res PT, Groen B, Pennings B, Beelen M, Wallis GA, Gijsen AP, Senden JM, VAN Loon LJ. Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Aug;44(8):1560-9. doi [↩]

• About
• Latest Posts

Bryan DiSanto

Owner & Editor-in-Chief at Lean It UP

Bryan DiSanto is the Owner & Editor-in-Chief of Lean It UP, a culinary student at Le Cordon Bleu – Paris, an ACE-CPT & CSN, NYU graduate, ex-fat kid, and all-around fitness/nutrition nutjob.

He also contributes to Men's Health Magazine.

When he’s not working on his (or somebody else’s) abs, whipping up Eggocados, or running a Tough Mudder, he’s probably off yelling at a Carolina Panthers game somewhere.

Latest posts by Bryan DiSanto (see all)

• Perk Up Your Derriere With The Build-A-Butt Workshop Glute Workout Plan [Workout Plans] - September 8, 2015
• The 40 Best Body Weight Exercises To Build Muscle & Blast Fat ANYWHERE [Exercise Lists] - September 1, 2015
• The Elite Six — 6 Advanced Six-Pack Ab Exercises To Build An HD, Razor Sharp Core - August 31, 2015

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