Category: Weight Loss

The diet helps people control their blood sugar more effectively.

Going on a vegan diet accelerates weight loss and reduces harmful belly fat, research suggests.

People following a plant-based, vegan diet for 16 weeks lost an average of over 12 pounds, including almost 9 pounds of fat mass and belly fat.

More fibre is the most critical element of the diet, researchers think.

Plant-based diets contain plenty of fibre which helps to boost healthy bacteria in the gut.

The study included 147 overweight people who were randomised to a vegan diet or no change for 16 weeks.

The results revealed that a vegan diet reduced weight significantly.

A vegan diet also helped people control their blood sugar more effectively.

The study’s authors write:

“A 16-week low-fat vegan dietary intervention induced changes in gut microbiota that were related to changes in weight, body composition and insulin sensitivity in overweight adults.”

The diet also increased the health of the gut.

People with a greater abundance of critical healthy bacteria in the gut lost more weight.

Bacteria that a vegan diet boosts include Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bacteroides fragilis.

The authors conclude:

“A plant-based diet has been shown to be effective in weight management, and in diabetes prevention and treatment.

We have demonstrated that a plant-based diet elicited changes in gut microbiome that were associated with weight loss, reduction in fat mass and visceral fat volume, and increase in insulin sensitivity.”

Fibre is the key to weight loss and a healthy gut, the authors write:

“The main shift in the gut microbiome composition was due to an increased relative content of short-chain fatty acid producing bacteria that feed on fibre.

Therefore, high dietary fibre content seems to be essential for the changes observed in our study.”

The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Barcelona, Spain (Kahleova et al., 2019).

Around half the world’s population is deficient in this vitamin.

Supplementation with vitamin D could help promote weight loss, a study suggests.

Taking the supplement is linked to weight loss, lower body fat and better cholesterol readings.

Around half the world’s population is deficient in vitamin D.

One reason for the beneficial effect of vitamin D may be its link to the neurotransmitter serotonin.

Serotonin can affect everything from sleep to mood.

High levels of vitamin D may also suppress the storage of fat.

In contrast, having low levels of vitamin D in the body is linked to the storing of fat.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

For the study, 232 obese young people were followed over one year.

Half of them were given a vitamin D supplement.

They took a high level for six weeks and then continued on a lower maintenance dose for the rest of the year.

The typical level of vitamin D supplementation for an adult is around 10 micrograms per day.

The results showed that those given vitamin D supplementation had less body fat, lower cholesterol and a lower body mass index after one year.

Professor Evangelia Charmandari, study author, said:

“These findings suggest that simple vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of overweight and obese children developing serious heart and metabolic complications in later life.”

Professor Charmandari recommends considering a vitamin D test:

“Although these initial findings indicate that vitamin D could be used in the treatment of obesity, there remains a lack of evidence on the safety and long-term effects of supplementation, particularly if there is no vitamin D deficiency.

However, if your child is overweight or obese I recommend that you consult your primary care physician for advice, and consider having their vitamin D levels tested.”

The study was presented at the 57th Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology.

Stop food cravings and cut chocolate consumption in half by doing this.

A 15-minute walk is enough to stop food cravings brought on by stressful situations.

The research should help the 97 percent of women and 68 percent of men who suffer from food cravings.

The study chimes with previous research finding that a 15-minutes walk can stop food cravings for chocolate by half.

Professor Adrian Taylor, who led that research said:

“We know that snacking on high calorie foods, like chocolate, at work can become a mindless habit and can lead to weight gain over time.

We often feel that these snacks give us an energy boost, or help us deal with the stress of our jobs, including boredom.

People often find it difficult to cut down on their daily treats but this study shows that by taking a short walk, they are able to regulate their intake by half.”

Stop food cravings

The study involved 47 overweight people with an average age of 28.

All regularly ate chocolate or high calories snacks.

In the three days before the study, the participants were asked not to snack on any of their usual comfort foods.

The idea being that by the time of the study, they would be really craving a snack.

In the lab, half the participants spent 15 minutes on a treadmill, while the other half had sat quietly.

They then were given a difficult psychological test that made them stressed.

This was to cue up their food cravings.

They were then given sugary snacks to unwrap, but only ‘handle’.

The results showed that those who’d been on the treadmill had much lower food cravings than those who sat quietly.

Exercisers also showed lower physiological arousal to handling the sugary snacks.

The authors conclude:

“Short bouts of physical activity may reduce the craving for sugary snacks in overweight people.

When snacking has become habitual and poorly regulated by overweight people, the promotion of short bouts of physical activity could be valuable for reducing the urge to consume at times when the person may be particularly vulnerable, such as during stress and when snack foods are available.”

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The research was published in the journal PLoS ONE (Ledochowski et al., 2015)

Could water fasting increase weight loss and how many days consuming nothing but water is safe?

Water fasting is a type of diet plan undertaken by people who want to lose more weight quickly.

A water fast can last for five days or more and during this period a person will eat nothing but drink water and natural zero calorie beverages.

Scientists have reviewed the evidence for water fasting and Buchinger fasting, a medically supervised diet therapy consisting of taking very little food for several days to almost three weeks.

The research reveals that fasting for five to 20 days increases ketones production due to the body breaking down fat for energy, and promotes weight loss up to ten percent of body weight.

However, four months after the fast ends, the metabolic benefits such as reduced blood pressure, reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, improved insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels seem to fade.

The adverse effects were metabolic acidosis (too much acid in the body), insomnia, hunger, and headaches.

Otherwise, a water fast or a similar diet therapy where a person consumes very few calories daily did not cause any severe injury.

Professor Krista Varady, the study’s lead author, said:

“My overall conclusion is that I guess you could try it, but it just seems like a lot of work, and all those metabolic benefits disappear.”

Five days maximum

However, Professor Varady advised that without medical supervision, people should not use these type of fasts for more than five days.

The review analysed eight studies on prolonged water fasting or Buchinger fasting where fasters under medical supervision consume a tiny amount of vegetable soup, juice, tea, and water.

The findings show that the weight loss effect after a short period of time was visible.

In five days participants lost four to six percent of their weight, those on seven to 10 days fasting lost between two to 10 percent, and those on 15 to 20 days fasting slimmed down by seven to 10 percent.

After the fasting period was over, participants maintained their weight loss if they followed a restrictive calorie intake, otherwise in three months they gained the weight back.

About one-third of the weight loss was fat mass and two-thirds was lean mass suggesting that extreme fasts cause people to lose more muscle than body fat.

Professor Varady said:

“Your body needs a constant intake of protein.

If it doesn’t have that, then it draws from muscles.”

Professor Varady added she prefers those who want to lose weight to consider intermittent fasting instead of water fasting,

“Because there’s a lot more data to show it can help with weight management.”

Related

• Portion control is a better strategy for weight management than intermittent fasting.
• Continuous dieting and intermittent fasting lead to the same amount of weight loss.
• Mediterranean, low-carb, low-fat, or intermittent fasting, dieters lose the same amount of weight.
• The 16:8 diet is an effective way to lose weight.
• A 14-day break from dieting helps increase weight loss by 50 percent.
• Alternate day fasting and the 5:2 diet are more effective than time-restricted eating.

The study was published in the journal Nutrition Reviews (Ezpeleta et al., 2023).

Overweight people who took this antioxidant supplement managed to slim down without diet or exercise.

Lipoic acid, also known as alpha lipoic acid (ALA), is a strong antioxidant which helps people to lose weight.

In a clinical trial, when this dietary supplement was given to overweight or obese people, it made them lose body fat and body weight.

Patients who took 600 milligrams per day of the R form of lipoic acid (R-LA) managed to slim down in 24 weeks without changing their diet or physical activity.

Dr Balz Frei, study co-author, said:

“The data clearly showed a loss in body weight and body fat in people taking lipoic acid supplements.

Particularly in women and in the heaviest participants.”

Lipoic acid is a medium-chain fatty acid that is naturally found in plant and animal products like broccoli, spinach, and organ meats.

Our body makes small amounts of lipoic acid, which is essential for regulating the metabolism and generating energy.

Supplementation of lipoic acid seems to offer some additional benefits irrespective of its role in energy production.

Lipoic acid supplements sold over-the-counter assert benefits including blood sugar and cholesterol level reduction, and powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

It is also used as an additional treatment for diabetes, age-related cognitive decline, and heart disease.

Dr Alexander Michels, study co-author, said:

“Scientists have been researching the potential health benefits of lipoic acid supplements for decades, including how it might enhance healthy aging and mitigate cardiovascular disease.

In both rodent models and small-scale human clinical trials, researchers at the LPI have demonstrated the beneficial effects of lipoic acid on oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and circadian rhythm.”

According to Professor Tory Hagen, the study’s lead author, this research looked into two issues that have often been ignored in past clinical trials.

Professor Hagen explained:

“Many existing clinical studies using lipoic acid have focused on volunteers with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, making it difficult to determine if lipoic acid supplements simply act as a disease treatment or have other beneficial health effects.

Another issue is the formulation of the supplement.

Many previous studies have used the S form of lipoic acid, which is a product of industrial synthesis and not found in nature.

We only used the R form of lipoic acid — the form found in the body naturally.”

The research team saw that those patients who lost weight had reduced blood triglyceride levels, the main component of body fat.

Professor Hagen said:

“By the end of the study, some markers of inflammation declined.

The findings also suggest that lipoic acid supplementation provides a mild reduction in oxidative stress.

It is not a perfect panacea, but our results show that lipoic acid supplements can be beneficial.”

The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition (Bobe et al., 2020).

The drink can also reduce blood pressure and lead to better cholesterol levels.

Replacing just one sugary soda with water can lead to weight loss and improve health, research suggests.

One study has linked drinking a pint of water before every meal to losing five times as much weight.

Another has found that switching to water can lead to a loss of 5 percent of body weight.

Changing to water also decreases fasting glucose levels, which is better for weight loss and general health.

Drinking water is one of the most popular weight loss techniques used by people.

Drinking water works by making people feel more full before a meal, so that they eat less.

Water works as a natural appetite suppressant and may aid in the burning of calories and fat.

The current study looked specifically at additional calories consumed in sugar-sweetened sodas, energy drinks and sweetened coffee.

Switching these to water is not only linked to weight loss, but also to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Kiyah J. Duffey, the study’s first author, said:

“Regardless of how many servings of sugar-sweetened beverages you consume, replacing even just one serving can be of benefit.”

For the study, researchers modelled the effect of replacing an 8-ounce sugar-sweetened drink with water.

They found that this one substitution could decrease daily calorie intake and reduce obesity.

Dr Duffey explained:

“We found that among U.S. adults who consume one serving of sugar-sweetened beverages per day, replacing that drink with water lowered the percent of calories coming from drinks from 17 to 11 percent.

Even those who consumed more sugary drinks per day could still benefit from water replacement, dropping the amount of calories coming from beverages to less than 25 percent of their daily caloric intake.”

Switching a sugary drink to a non-sugary alternative will also reduce blood pressure and lead to better cholesterol levels.

The study was published in the journal Nutrients (Duffey & Poti, 2016).

Food cravings can be beaten with relatively simple tricks, according to recent research.

One of the biggest barriers to weight loss is food cravings.

The effect of food cravings on weight gain may be even greater than that of genetics.

However, food cravings can be beaten, according to recent research.

Techniques such as changes in diet, exercise and even medications can all help reduce food cravings.

One tip the study revealed was that it is better to remove a food that you crave from your diet completely.

Eating a food less frequently is proven to reduce cravings for it.

Other tips for overcoming food cravings include using your imagination, going for a walk, having a large breakfast, chewing gum and using distractions.

These and more are explained in this previous article: How To Stop Food Cravings.

Dr Candice Myers, the study’s first author, said:

“Craving influences what people eat and their body weight, but there are some components of our behavior and diet that we do have control over.

Being mindful of these desires gives us more control of them.”

The conclusions come from a review of 28 studies on food cravings.

These demonstrated that losing weight itself tends to reduce food cravings.

However, exercise tends to increase food cravings.

Dr John Apolzan, study co-author, said:

“The upside of craving is that it is a conditioned response that you can unlearn.

It’s not easy, but it can be done.”

One previous study has shown that green spaces, like gardens, parks or allotments, can help people overcome food cravings.

People who experience natural spaces have reduced cravings for unhealthy foods.

Previous studies have also shown that exercising in nature reduces cravings of all different types.

Dr Myers said:

“Food craving is an important piece of the weight-loss puzzle.

It doesn’t explain weight gain 100 percent.

A number of other factors, including genetics and eating behavior, are also involved.”

The study was published in the journal Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity (Myers et al., 2018).

Self-control can be boosted by talking to yourself the right way.

Talking to oneself in the third person helps to boost healthy eating and may aid weight loss.

For example, instead of saying “What do I want for lunch?”, you say “What does Jo want for lunch?”

People in the study who used this simple self-distancing technique made fewer unhealthy food choices.

The technique works because it boosts self-control.

Thinking in the third-person helps people ignore the most tempting aspects of unhealthy foods.

The conclusions come from a study of 244 people, some of whom were dieting.

They were then asked to chose between healthy and unhealthy foods.

Sometimes people asked themselves “What do I want?” and other times they asked themselves “[Name], what do you want?”

The results showed that dieters and nondieters who thought about themselves in the third-person chose fewer unhealthy foods.

Ms Celina Furman, the study’s first author, said:

“Reflecting on one’s decisions using one’s own name might enhance one’s ability to follow through with their goals, which can often be undermined by strong situational lures (such as tempting foods).”

Even relatively minor changes to eating can have a larger impact on people’s lives, said Dr Ashley Gearhardt, study co-author:

“We do know that even reducing caloric intake by a couple hundred calories a day can be important for preventing unhealthy weight gain and promoting weight loss.

We need to do additional studies in the future about the impact of distanced self-talk on actual caloric intake, but even small improvements can lead to big public health gains over time.”

Other effective mental techniques to boost weight loss include being reminded how difficult it is to lose weight, thinking differently and using distractions.

The study was published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science (Furman et al., 2020).

The study showed that people who did this lost twice as much weight.

One of the easiest ways to boost weight loss is also the simplest, research finds.

People who keep food diaries lose twice as much weight when on a diet, a recent study finds.

Making a note of what is consumed, even in the most informal way, helps to boost weight loss.

Indeed, studies have shown that the more careful notes people make, the more weight they end up losing.

Dr Jack Hollis, the author of a study on food diaries and weight loss, explained:

“The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost.

Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records.

It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.”

The key is consistency: not just in keeping to a diet, but also in recording food intake.

The process of keeping a diary does not have to be difficult.

It could be as simple as sending a text message or email message to keep a record.

Keeping a food diary works because it makes people more aware of what they are eating.

Awareness is one of the keys to breaking ingrained habits.

People tend to do the same things each day, like eating, without really noticing.

Bad eating habits can, little by little, lead to weight gain.

Notes raise self-awareness and help increase weight loss.

In the study were 1,685 people who followed the DASH diet for six months.

The DASH diet is designed to be heart healthy and includes many fruits and vegetables.

Thirty minutes of exercise per day was also included in the protocol.

At the end of the study, people had lost an average of 13 pounds.

The results showed, though, that people keeping a food diary lost twice as much weight.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Hollis et al., 2008).