7 Scientific Weight Loss Tactics
Use a food diary. Writing down what you eat each day can help you double the amount of weight you lose, reports Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, OR. It increases awareness so you tend to eat fewer calories, researchers say.
Cut fructose. This form of sugar can turn to fat in your body with surprising speed, show new tests at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Researchers’ advice: Limit processed foods and beverages sweetened with fructose. Fruit is OK.
Have soup. Girls ages 5 to 10 who regularly eat vegetable soup are at less risk of being overweight, reports a Portuguese study. Also, Penn State University finds that adults who eat vegetable soup (chunky or puréed) before a meal eat 20% fewer total calories at the meal. Soup makes you feel full.
Eat slowly. Gulping food makes you eat more, says a new University of Rhode Island study. Women who ate slowly, compared with those who ate quickly, consumed about 70 fewer calories and felt more satisfied later.
Beware Saturday. Even diligent dieters overeat then, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Drink water. Tests by Virginia Tech show drinking 2 cups of water a half-hour before breakfast cuts caloric intake by 13% in older Americans who are overweight. More exciting: German research says water burns calories! Drinking 2 cups of water revved metabolism 24% in overweight subjects in an hour. Cool water is best.
Grab breakfast. Kids who eat breakfast cereal daily are less apt to be overweight, says new Greek research. Go for high-fiber, whole-grain cereal. Also, overweight dieters who ate two eggs a day lost 65% more weight in eight weeks than those who ate equal calories in bagels, says research by Saint Louis University.
This EatSmart column is reprinted from USAWEEKEND Magazine and is copyrighted by Jean Carper. It cannot be reprinted without permission from Jean Carper.
