If you love cooking and food, the idea of skipping certain ingredients in order to enjoy a healthy diet is probably your worst nightmare. After all, how can you get enjoyment from a meal if everything in it is pretty much flavourless?

We’ve got some good news for you, though; you don’t need to survive on plain chicken, rice and vegetables, as some spices can actually help support your healthy diet. Whether you’re trying to lose weight, maintain your current weight or just be healthy, there are some spices that can help you achieve your goal.

While they won’t have a huge impact — there are no miracle cures here — they can make food more enjoyable, pack in more flavour and maybe give you a bit of a boost. Here are five spices you need to add to your diet:

Turmeric

This yellow spice has been in the news a lot recently, with people praising its properties when it comes to diet, as well as skin care. It seems that it actually deserves all the hype, though, as turmeric offers a number of benefits when it comes to burning fat.

Turmeric contains the active ingredient curcumin, which helps to increase body heat and ultimately burn off more calories by boosting the metabolism. This doesn’t mean you’ll start dropping pounds just like that, as a healthy diet and exercise are still needed, but it could support your efforts.

Try adding it to more dishes or even giving a turmeric latte a try, which seems to be the latest trend.

Cayenne

Another warming spice that works in a similar way to turmeric is cayenne, which also helps to boost your metabolism. This spice is really versatile too, serving as a great alternative to paprika and chilli powder as it has a nice smoky-yet-spicy flavour.

It’s really versatile so try it in soups, dressings, curries, pasta dishes and even on cheese on toast for an extra kick and help to support your healthy diet.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon works differently to cayenne and turmeric as rather than boosting your metabolism by warming your body up, it actually helps you feel fuller for longer and reduce food cravings. This is because it works to maintain your blood sugar levels, balancing them throughout the day.

This means adding more cinnamon to your food, especially breakfast and snacks, could help you eat less during the day and allow you to avoid dips in energy. It’s a really tasty spice too, working particularly well with sweet foods. Try adding it to yoghurt, porridge and tea.

Garlic

While you may not be able to eat much garlic bread as you’d like, adding garlic to your food could help with your weight loss goals. Eating more garlic can help burn fat while also protecting your heart.

To top it off, garlic can instantly transform a bland meal so it could be a great addition to your food.

Black pepper

We all add salt and pepper to our food, but it could be a good idea to ensure you’re using black pepper, especially if you’re grinding it fresh at each meal. This is because it has properties that help burn fat.

However, black pepper has also been shown to block the formation of new fat cells, meaning it could be beneficial in stopping weight gain. While you can add it to almost any savoury meal, you can actually eat black pepper with a number of things, as many people experiment with using it in sweet dishes.