Category: Weight Loss

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).

Compared to a Mediterranean diet, this diet works better for weight loss and blood glucose levels.

A head-to-head comparison of the vegan diet with the Mediterranean diet shows that the vegan diet is superior for weight loss.

A low-fat vegan diet can cause weight loss, improve body composition, reduce cholesterol levels, and lower blood sugar levels more than a Mediterranean diet.

A study put a group of overweight adults on either a Mediterranean diet or low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks.

The low-fat vegan diet was completely free from animal products and consisted of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes.

They also received vitamin B12 at a dosage of 500 µg per day during the entire study period.

The energy content of the vegan diet was from carbohydrates (75 percent), protein (15 percent), and fat (10 percent).

The Mediterranean diet plan was similar to the PREDIMED study (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet).

It consisted of low-fat dairy, legumes, fruits and vegetables, nuts or seeds, extra virgin olive oil, whole-grain cereals, eggs, and fish but saturated fats and red meat were avoided or limited to one serving per week.

All participants continued their routine exercises and didn’t need to change their regular medication unless told by their doctors.

Here is a summary of findings:

• The Mediterranean diet didn’t cause any changes in weight but when participants followed the vegan diet they lost 13 pounds (6 kg).
• The low-fat vegan diet led to a greater reductions of fat mass by 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg).
• The vegan diet also caused a 315 cm3 reduction in visceral fat.
• The vegan diet led to a reduction of total cholesterol and LDL (“bad” cholesterol) by 18.7mg/dL and 15.3 mg/dL respectively whereas the Mediterranean diet didn’t cause any changes in cholesterol levels.
• Both diets caused lowered blood pressure with the Mediterranean diet being more effective than the vegan diet, 6.0 mm Hg compared to 3.2 mm Hg.

Dr Hana Kahleova, the study’s co-author, said:

“Previous studies have suggested that both Mediterranean and vegan diets improve body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors, but until now, their relative efficacy had not been compared in a randomized trial.

We decided to test the diets head to head and found that a vegan diet is more effective for both improving health markers and boosting weight loss.”

The researchers suggest that the weight loss from the vegan diet is related to its fewer calories, higher fibre, and lower fat intake.

Dr Neal Barnard, the study’s author, said:

“While many people think of the Mediterranean diet as one of the best ways to lose weight, the diet actually crashed and burned when we put it to the test.

In a randomized, controlled trial, the Mediterranean diet caused no weight loss at all.

The problem seems to be the inclusion of fatty fish, dairy products, and oils.

In contrast, a low-fat vegan diet caused significant and consistent weight loss.”

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (Barnard et al., 2021).

Belly fat reduced by 11 percent in just one week.

A very low calorie or ‘crash’ diet can lead to losing 5 percent of body weight in just one week, research finds.

The diet can also reduce belly fat by 11 percent across the first week.

People in the study went on a crash diet, involving eating just 600 to 800 calories per day.

This is around one-third, or less, of the recommended daily intake of calories.

To achieve this calorie intake, people often replace normal meals with shakes, soups and bars that are specially formulated.

In addition, crash diets involve drinking a lot of water, milk and possibly taking fibre supplements.

However, people with heart problems should be wary of rapid weight loss as it can reduce heart function initially, the researchers found.

Dr Jennifer Rayner, the study’s first author, said:

“Crash diets, also called meal replacement programmes, have become increasingly fashionable in the past few years.

These diets have a very low calorie content of 600 to 800 kcal per day and can be effective for losing weight, reducing blood pressure, and reversing diabetes, but the effects on the heart have not been studied until now.”

The study included 21 obese people who ate just 600 to 800 calories per day.

After one week they had lost 6 percent of their body weight, 11 percent of their visceral fat and 42 percent of their liver fat.

Set against this, fat content in the heart had increased by 44 percent, which led to a deterioration in heart function.

After the full eight weeks of study, though, heart function had returned to normal.

Dr Rayner explained:

“The metabolic improvements with a very low calorie diet, such as a reduction in liver fat and reversal of diabetes, would be expected to improve heart function.

Instead, heart function got worse in the first week before starting to improve.

The sudden drop in calories causes fat to be released from different parts of the body into the blood and be taken up by the heart muscle.

The heart muscle prefers to choose between fat or sugar as fuel and being swamped by fat worsens its function.

After the acute period in which the body is adjusting to dramatic calorie restriction, the fat content and function of the heart improved.”

Dr Rayner advises checking with your physician before starting a intense diet if you have a heart problem:

“If you have heart problems, you need to check with your doctor before embarking on a very low calorie diet or fasting.

People with a cardiac problem could well experience more symptoms at this early time point, so the diet should be supervised.

Otherwise healthy people may not notice the change in heart function in the early stages.

But caution is needed in people with heart disease.”

The study was presented at CMR 2018 in Barcelona (Rayner et al., 2018).

Two of the most popular diets were compared by researchers.

Two of the most popular weight loss techniques are equally effective, recent research concludes.

Both continuous dieting and intermittent fasting are effective and lead to the same amount of weight loss, the study finds.

People on either diet lost around 6 percent of their body weight across six months.

Continuous dieting involves cutting down on calories each day by around the same amount — this is a classic diet.

Intermittent fasting involves dieting heavily for a period and then stopping for a period.

The periods of fasting and eating normally vary:

• one diet recommends 5 days of fasting followed by two days off,
• another involves 16 days fasting, followed by 8 days off,
• and another recommends fasting on alternate days.

Continuous diets may be easier for people to stick to, though, this study found.

For the research, 100 obese adults were split into three groups.

One group reduced their calorie intake by 75 percent one day and then feasted on an extra 25 percent of their normal intake of calories the next day.

The other group followed a ‘normal’ diet, by just restricting their calorie intake by 25 percent every day.

Effectively, both groups ate the same amount of calories.

The results showed that both groups lost the same amount of weight compared to a third control group.

The study’s authors conclude:

“The results of this randomized clinical trial demonstrated that alternate-day fasting did not produce superior adherence, weight loss, weight maintenance or improvements in risk indicators for cardiovascular disease compared with daily calorie restriction.”

However, people found the traditional continuous diet easier than intermittent fasting, so this may prove a better option for many.

The authors write that:

“…these findings suggest that alternate-day fasting may be less sustainable in the long term, compared with daily calorie restriction, for most obese individuals.”

The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine (Trepanowski et al., 2017).

Up to 50 percent of people may have a deficiency in this vitamin.

Taking vitamin D supplements can boost weight loss, help shed belly fat and control blood sugar levels, research finds.

Previous studies have shown that people who are dieting lose 20 pounds more when they have high vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D at higher levels in the body is also associated with burning belly fat.

One study has shown that drinking milk, which contains calcium and vitamin D, can double weight loss.

Up to 50 percent of people may have a vitamin D deficiency.

A deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to increased inflammation in the body.

Foods rich in vitamin D include eggs, oily fish like salmon, mushrooms, dairy and foods that are fortified with it, including cereals and juices.

The current study included 121 women with vitamin D deficiency and pre-diabetes.

Half were given vitamin D supplementation of 60,000 IU once per week over eight weeks.

After their vitamin D levels were returned to normal, they were given 200 IU per day to keep them at a healthy level.

The other half were given a placebo.

The results showed that women taking vitamin D lost more belly fat and demonstrated better glucose regulation.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“In this carefully designed randomized control trial of 18 months duration, we show significant decrease in the following; FBG [fasting blood glucose], 2-h blood glucose post OGTT [oral glucose tolerance test], HbA1c, and truncal subcutaneous fat [belly fat] (as measured by skinfolds) with vitamin D intervention.”

Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium.

Higher calcium levels appear to reduce the desire for food.

A deficiency in calcium, though, can drive the appetite as a way of obtaining more of the essential mineral.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Bhatt et al., 2019).

Study participants lost weight without dieting or making other lifestyle changes.

Taking a vitamin D supplement is repeatedly linked to weight loss by studies.

People taking vitamin D lose weight without dieting or making other lifestyle changes.

Adding in dieting and exercise can help to boost weight loss even more.

One study has shown that people drinking more milk, which contains vitamin D and calcium, can double weight loss.

The new study included 50 overweight and obese women.

Half of them received doses of vitamin D equivalent to almost 10,000 IU per day over six weeks.

The study’s authors write:

“Previous studies had shown that the vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent in obese people and there was an inverse association between vitamin D, body mass index, and weight.”

The other half received a placebo that they were told was vitamin D, but was in fact inert.

The researchers measured people’s weight, waist and hip circumference, cholesterol and other biological markers, before and after supplementation.

The results showed that people taking vitamin D lost 3.5 pounds after taking vitamin D for six weeks.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“The findings of this double-blind clinical trial study in obese and overweight women aged 20–40 years showed that supplementation of the vit D with dozes 50,000 IU/w for 6 weeks reduced significantly the mean BMI [body mass index], weight and on the other hand, it increased significantly the level of vit D in comparison with the control group.”

The average weight loss was around 3.5 pounds in the vitamin D group compared with no change in the control group.

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

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.

The study was published in the International Journal of Preventative Medicine (Khosravi et al., 2019).

People eating this fruit lost four pounds in 12 weeks without making other changes to diet or lifestyle.

Eating prunes could increase by 50 percent the amount that people lose off their waistline, research suggests.

People felt more full and lost one-third more weight when they ate prunes, compared with not eating them.

Study participants lost weight without making other changes to their diet or lifestyle.

Prunes probably help weight loss because of their fibre content and dried fruit is easy to add to the diet.

Fibre increases feelings of fullness and reduces calorie intake.

Researchers repeatedly find that increases in fibre intake can help with weight loss.

The study included 100 obese and overweight people who were tracked for 12 weeks.

All the people in the study initially ate less fibre than is recommended.

One half were just given general advice about the types of snacks that were most healthy.

The other half were told to eat 15 or more prunes each day.

The results showed that those eating prunes lost an average of 4.4 pounds, compared with 3.3 pounds in the group who were not eating prunes.

Dr Jo Harrold, who led the research, said:

“These are the first data to demonstrate both weight loss and no negative side effects when consuming prunes as part of a weight management diet.

Indeed in the long term they may be beneficial to dieters by tackling hunger and satisfying appetite; a major challenge when you are trying to maintain weight loss.”

Professor Jason Halford, an expert on eating behaviours, said:

“Maintaining a healthy diet is challenging.

Along with fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit can provide a useful and convenient addition to the diet, especially as controlling appetite during dieting can be tough.”

The research was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Study identifies belief that could be crucial to inspiring healthy eating and weight loss.

People who believe they have control of their weight — and they were not ‘born fat’ — eat more healthily, a study finds.

Believing that DNA does not totally determine weight is also linked to higher personal well-being.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Health Education & Behavior, explain:

“If an individual believes weight to be outside of the influence of diet and exercise, she or he may engage in more behaviors that are rewarding in the short term, such as eating unhealthful foods and avoiding exercise, rather than healthful behaviors with more long-term benefits for weight management.

By fighting the perception that weight is unchangeable, health care providers may be able to increase healthful behaviors among their patients.” (Parent & Alquist, 2015)

The study of almost 10,000 people found that with age, believing you are in control of your weight was linked to more healthy eating behaviour.

People who felt in control took more notice of nutrition labels on food and were more likely to have fruit and vegetables at home.

They were also less likely to eat frozen meals, unhealthy restaurant food and ‘ready-to-eat’ foods.

People who thought their weight was controllable also took more exercise and had higher well-being.

The study found little difference between men and women:

“Although previous research has found gender differences in weight as a motivation for exercise and healthful eating, we did not find evidence that gender affected the relationship between health beliefs and physical activity or healthful eating.

However, we found evidence that the relationship between belief in weight changeability and exercise, healthful eating, and unhealthful eating differs by age.”

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One dietary ingredient can help boost weight loss.

A high-protein, low-calorie diet is one of the most effective for weight loss, research suggests.

People consuming more protein as part of a calorie-controlled diet lost 18 pounds, on average, over six months.

In addition, the older adults in the study maintained their muscle mass and bone density.

Previous studies have shown that adding more lean meats and low-fat dairy boosts weight loss compared with just restricting calories.

Higher protein intake is thought to make people feel more satisfied, so decreasing calorie intake.

Diets containing more protein have been linked to better sleep, which can benefit weight loss.

Sticking to around 30 percent of calories from proteins also helps to lower blood sugar and lipid levels.

Dr Kristen Beavers, study co-author, said:

“Doctors hesitate to recommend weight loss for fear that losing muscle and bone could cause mobility issues or increase the risk of injury.

This study suggests that a diet high in protein and low in calories can give seniors the health benefits of weight loss while keeping the muscle and bone they need for better quality of life as they age.”

The study included 96 older obese adults who were put on one of two diets.

Half were put on a six-month low-calorie diet with extra protein.

People ate 1 gram of protein each day for each kilogram of their body weight.

Participants were also given adequate levels of calcium and vitamin D, which have also been linked to weight loss.

The other half were put on a weight maintenance diet.

The results showed that those on the high protein diet lost 18 pounds, largely of fat.

The fat loss was mostly in areas that are important for decreasing cardiovascular risk — around the centre of the body.

Study participants also preserved their muscle mass.

The study was published in the journal Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (Serra et al., 2019).

This drink helps fight obesity plus offers other health benefits.

Yerba mate tea is a herbal tea which is an excellent source of flavonoids, amino acids, vitamin C, B1 and B2 , and minerals providing several health benefits.

This traditional southeastern Latin American tea is sold as a stimulant due to its caffeine and methylxanthines content.

Yerba tea can decrease fat cells and help fight obesity, improve insulin sensitivity, reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and other cardiovascular risk factors, and also promote the immune system.

Mate tea contains a naturally occurring substance called methylxanthines, which is similar to caffeine and theobromine.

Theobromine is the bitter part of yerba mate, cocoa products, green and black teas which have also been shown to lower blood pressure and “bad” cholesterol (LDL).

According to a recent study, the caffeine in mate tea can decrease storage of fat in the cells, lower triglyceride production, and help weight loss.

In this study, rats were fed a high-fat plus high-sucrose diet with 0.1 percent of caffeine extracted from mate tea.

Consuming coffee was highly effective as it reduced the side-effects of this obesogenic diet in rats.

They gained 22 percent less body fat and 16 percent less weight compared to other rats that had decaffeinated mate tea instead.

Drinking 4 cups of brewed coffee per day is equivalent to the 0.1 percent caffeine that was used in this study.

Mate tea contains more caffeine than tea but less caffeine than black coffee.

The caffeine content of mate tea per cup is about 80 mg whereas a cup of coffee contains, on average, twice the amount caffeine.

Dr Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia, study co-author, said:

“Considering the findings, mate tea and caffeine can be considered anti-obesity agents.

The results of this research could be scaled to humans to understand the roles of mate tea and caffeine as potential strategies to prevent overweight and obesity, as well as the subsequent metabolic disorders associated with these conditions.”

The research team also found that storage of fat in various cells and tissues dropped by 20 to 41 percent in rats no matter whether they were fed mate caffeine extracts, synthetic caffeine, or black coffee.

In addition, they looked at the effect of some of expression of genes linked to lipid metabolism and obesity.

These were lipoprotein lipase (LPL ) and fatty acid synthase (FASN) genes.

Dr de Mejia explained:

“The consumption of caffeine from mate or from other sources alleviated the negative impact of a high-fat, high-sucrose diet on body composition due to the modulation of certain lipogenic enzymes in both adipose tissue and the liver.

The decreased expression of Fasn and Lpl brought about lower synthesis and accumulation of triglycerides in the adipose tissue.”

The study was published in Journal of Functional Foods (Zapata, et al., 2019).