Around Hayward

FOODS THAT MELT FAT!

Less belly fat = less hunger!

- Blast belly fat with pears.

- Turn off hunger with ricotta cheese.  Use low-fat ricotta cheese in place of cream cheese on bagels and toast, mix it into scrambled eggs or add it to lasagna!

- Blunt blood-sugar spikes with buckwheat tea!  Find it in health food stores.

- Maintain muscle with black-eyed peas.  Really a bean, the "peas" can be prepared as a side dish or tossed into soups.  Black-eyed peas are one of the highest sources of leucine, an amino acid that prevents your body's muscles from shrinking as you lose weight.

-  Feel full faster with barley!  Folks who started their day with bread made from barley grain felt less hungry for the next 10 hours.  Switch from white toast to a multigrain that contains barley - such as Pepperidge Farm 15-Grain bread.

- Fire up your fat burners with guava!  Twice the amount of Vitamin C than an orange.  Vitamin C helps the body make L-carnitine, an amino acide that ushers fatty acids into your body's cells where they're burned for energy.  Eat the fruit fresh, if it's available or spoon up the canned variety, which is on supermarket shelves year-round.

- Red bell peppers

-  Strengthen muscles with sardines which are naturally rich in Vitamin D.