6 Surprising Foods with Health Benefits

Start incorporating these unlikely nutritional powerhouse foods into your diet and watch the extra inches disappear.

 Unlike most diet plans, which are laden with complex, hard-to-follow rules and verboten foods you love but have to live without, the Abs Diet lets you eat the foods you love, keeps your cravings at bay, and helps you control stress—all at the same time. Try to eat more of these 6 foods for additional health benefits.
 
Iceberg Lettuce


Did you think it was a nutritional weakling? Most people do, yet it turns out that half a head contains significantly more alpha-carotene, a powerful disease-fighting antioxidant, than either romaine lettuce or spinach.

Pork Chops

Purdue University researchers found that a 6-ounce serving daily of the other white meat helped people preserve their muscle while losing weight.

Mushrooms


When you digest mushrooms, metabolites are created that have been shown to boost immunity and prevent cancer growth, according to researchers in the Netherlands.

Red-Pepper Flakes


A Dutch study shows that by consuming about half a teaspoon of red pepper 30 minutes prior to a meal, you can reduce calorie intake by 16 percent. Plus, new research shows that the active ingredient capsaicin in hot peppers may help kill cancer cells.

Full-Fat Cheese


You know that dairy is one of the 12 Abs Diet Powerfoods, but full-fat cheese? Yes. It’s an excellent source of casein protein, one of the best muscle-building nutrients you can eat.

Vinegar


Sprinkle it on your sandwich. Scientists in Sweden discovered that when people ate 2 tablespoons of vinegar with a meal high in carbohydrates, their blood sugar was 23 percent lower than when they skipped the antioxidant-loaded liquid.