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Make the calories you eat work harder for you.

Protein burn: Take advantage of the extra calorie cost associated with
digesting protein by including this macronutrient at meals and snacks.

Fiber up: It takes more effort to breakdown fiber-rich foods, which means a greater calorie burn during digestion. So get chummy with high-fiber items like legumes and vegetables.

Go nuts: Snack on whole nuts for a bounty of must-have nutrients.

Be label savvy: Look beyond the calorie count and pay attention to the form of their ingredients. Whole blueberries are good, blueberry muffin mix not so much.

Avoid the sweet stuff: Calorie for calorie, added sugars seem to be particularly efficient contributors to weight gain.

Natural selection: Focus on eating more single ingredient foods like fish, whole seeds and kale, which require your body to work harder to handle them, and in turn burn more calories.

Solid state: Consume more of your daily calories from solid foods and less from liquids.

Raw power: Include more high-burning raw foods (like raw sunflower seeds and veggies) into your menu. Larger quantities of raw food require more laborious chewing which expends additional energy and also encourages satiety.

Eat bugs: The bacteria in your gut may play a part in how you digest food and how many calories you derive from it. Keep your microbiome in calorie-burning shape by including a daily supply of fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut.

Start early: Consider making your morning meal more substantial and then tapering down calorie intake as the day progresses.

Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of Belvoir Media Group, LLC. EnvironmentalNutrition.com.

© 2019 Belvoir Media Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.