Category: Weight Loss

This diet is a very effective weight loss strategy for diabetic patients and those with prediabetes.

People with type 2 diabetes are often obese or overweight and have high blood pressure.

However, to combat this metabolic syndrome, the first step is to lose weight.

There are several effective diet plans to help people with this condition but what dieting strategy works best remains unclear.

A study on adults with type 2 diabetes has found that time restricted eating (TRE) is more effective than the daily calorie restriction (CR) strategy.

TRE is a type of intermittent fasting that only allows an eating window of 8 to 12 hours and water fasting during the remaining hours each day.

The TRE group in this study were allowed to eat between noon to 8pm while the other group followed the CR approach.

Participants on the TRE regime lost more weight and body fat, and saw an increase in HDL (good cholesterol) compared to those who ate fewer calories.

However, blood sugar levels were similarly improved in both groups.

Ms Vicky Pavlou who presented this research at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, said:

“Many people find counting calories very hard to stick to in the long term, but our study shows that watching the clock may offer a simple way to decrease calories and lose weight.

Although time-restricted eating is becoming increasingly popular, no other studies have looked at an eight-hour eating window in people with type 2 diabetes.”

Professor Krista Varady and the team wanted to know if diabetic people would gain more benefits from the TRE strategy than the CR diet plan.

57 overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes were divided into calorie restriction, time-restricted eating, and control groups.

The TRE group were allowed to eat for 8 hours (noon to 8 p.m.), the CR group could eat at any time but counted their daily calorie intake, but the control group could eat whenever and as much as they liked.

When compared with the control and the CR groups over six months, participants on the TRE diet lost about 4 percent of their weight, equivalent of losing 5 kg for a person weighing 125 kg.

Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were tested for blood sugar, the normal range is 4 to 5.6 percent but the levels in people with diabetes were 6.5 percent.

The results show that the HbA1c levels for the TRE group reduced by 0.91 percent and for the CR group by 0.95 percent.

To see any improvement in cardiometabolic risk factors a minimum 5 percent weight loss is required.

Since this was not achieved, the team could not assess them.

Ms Pavlou added:

“Our study shows that time-restricted eating can be a good alternative for those with type 2 diabetes who want to lose weight and improve their blood sugar.

However, there are multiple types of medications for those with type 2 diabetes, some of which can cause low blood sugar and some that need to be taken with food.

Therefore, it is important to work closely with a dietitian or doctor when implementing this dieting approach.”

Related

• Intermittent fasting causes mild to moderate weight loss.
• A 14-day break from dieting increases weight loss by 50%.
• Intermittent fasting can lead to the same amount of weight loss as regular calorie restriction.
• Continuous dieting and intermittent fasting weight loss techniques are equally effective.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Boston (Pavlou et al., 2023).

People who consume their daily calories in this way can double weight loss.

Eating high quality proteins like eggs, Greek yogurt and lean meats for breakfast can boost weight loss, research finds.

Having more calories for breakfast has even been linked to more than doubling weight loss, one study has found.

Consuming more calories at breakfast is linked to a greater chance of losing weight and reducing the waistline.

Even having a desert at breakfast, such as a cookie or piece of chocolate cake, was linked by the previous study to lower levels of insulin later on and healthier triglyceride levels.

In general, people who consume their daily calories earlier in the day can double weight loss.

Despite this, more than half of young people skip breakfast, researchers find.

This is what inspired Dr Heather Leidy, co-author of the current study:

“This study examined if the type of breakfast consumed can improve weight management in young people who habitually skip breakfast.

Generally, people establish eating behaviors during their teen years.

If teens are able to develop good eating habits now, such as eating breakfast, it’s likely to continue the rest of their lives.”

The study included 28 overweight teens, half of whom were fed a high-protein breakfast (35g) and half a normal-protein breakfast (13g).

Normal protein breakfasts involved milk and cereal while high-protein breakfasts included eggs, dairy and lean pork.

All the teenagers in the study reported skipping breakfast almost every day of the week.

Dr Leidy explained the results:

“The group of teens who ate high-protein breakfasts reduced their daily food intake by 400 calories and lost body fat mass, while the groups who ate normal-protein breakfast or continued to skip breakfast gained additional body fat.

These results show that when individuals eat a high-protein breakfast, they voluntarily consume less food the rest of the day. In addition, teens who ate high-protein breakfast had more stable glucose levels than the other groups.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity (Bauer et al., 2015).

People in the studies lost weight without dieting or changing their lifestyle.

Eating beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas all help people lose weight, a review of the research finds.

People in the studies lost weight by adding a single daily serving of these foods, without making any other changes to their diet or lifestyle.

In other words, they did not reduce their calorie intake, skip meals or track what they ate.

They just added around three-quarters of a cup of these foods to what they normally ate each day.

The group of foods, known as pulses, are effective because they increase feelings of fullness by 31%, studies show.

Other pulses include:

• Runner beans,
• black-eyed peas,
• broad beans,
• kidney beans,
• and butter beans.

Dr Russell de Souza, who led the Canadian study, said:

“Despite their known health benefits, only 13 per cent of Canadians eat pulses on any given day and most do not eat the full serving.

So there is room for most of us to incorporate dietary pulses in our diet and realize potential weight management benefits.”

The research analysed the results of 21 separate clinical trials.

The combined results showed that people lost an average of a half-a-pound in six weeks, without dieting.

Pulses have a low glycemic index, meaning the body takes a while to break them down.

This helps people feel more full, said Dr de Souza:

“This new study fits well with our previous work, which found that pulses increased the feeling of fullness by 31 per cent, which may indeed result in less food intake.”

Pulses have the added benefit of reducing the levels of bad cholesterol in the body by around 5 percent.

They also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr de Souza said:

“Though the weight loss was small, our findings suggest that simply including pulses in your diet may help you lose weight, and we think more importantly, prevent you from gaining it back after you lose it.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Kim et al., 2016).

The simple diet change to help you lose belly fat and improve health.

A higher intake of fibre and lower intake of saturated fats can help to lower belly fat, research concludes.

Belly fat is the fat that surrounds the vital organs, deep in the belly.

Unfortunately, there is no miracle food that can reduce belly fat on its own.

However, eating a heart-healthy diet high in fibre can help to reduce abdominal fat.

Soluble fibre, such as that in fruit and vegetables, turns to a gel during digestion.

This helps people feel more full and may also lower blood sugar levels and help bowel movements.

Dr Kari D. Pilolla, the study’s author, writes:

“…research has shown that dietary trans and saturated fats are positively associated with abdominal obesity, whereas fiber, especially soluble, is negatively associated.

Thus, a great start to preventing and reducing abdominal obesity is to follow a diet that encourages foods high
in fiber such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains and limits foods high in trans and saturated fats, such as fatty meats, baked goods, and highly processed foods.”

Over 50 percent of Americans are thought to be abdominally obese.

High levels of belly fat are linked to fatty diabetes, liver disease and high blood pressure.

Abdominal obesity raises the risks of a variety of disease, said Dr Pilolla:

“Independent of body weight, a larger waist circumference increases risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

In fact, it has been estimated that approximately 84% of people with abdominal obesity are metabolically
unhealthy.”

The study compared the evidence for a variety of different diets, including the ‘paleo’ diet, intermittent fasting and those involving green tea.

The best evidence that is currently available in terms of fighting obesity supports two diets:

• the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet,
• and a Mediterranean-style diet.

Here are ten typical ingredients of the MedDiet:

• Green leafy vegetables,
• other vegetables,
• nuts,
• berries,
• beans,
• whole grains,
• fish,
• poultry,
• olive oil
• and wine.

The MedDiet also has relatively little red meat, little dairy and uses olive oil as the largest source of fat.

The DASH diet is reasonably straightforward and involves eating lots of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

It also includes:

• fat-free or low-fat dairy products,
• fish,
• poultry,
• beans,
• nuts,
• and vegetable oils.

It recommends limiting intake of sugar, fatty meats, full-fat dairy, palm oil and foods high in saturated fats.

The study was published in the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. (Pilolla et al., 2018).

The diet can lead to 5.5 more pounds of weight loss.

Vegetarian diets produce the most weight loss, research finds.

Diets that do not contain meat are linked to significantly more weight loss.

Vegetarian dieters typically lose around 4.4 pounds more than those following diets that include meat.

A vegan diet is even more effective for losing weight, with an average weight loss of 5.5 pounds more than those eating meat.

Vegetarian diets are particularly effective for weight loss because of the high intake of fruits, whole grains and vegetables.

Vegetables and whole grains typically have a high glycaemic index, meaning they do not cause a spike in blood sugar levels.

Fruits are rich in fibre and contain many antioxidants and minerals that naturally protect the body.

Fibre helps to slow down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, which stops people from feeling hungry.

Eating more fibre is repeatedly linked to weight loss by research.

The conclusions come from a review of 12 separate studies including 1,151 participants in total.

The studies all compared people who were dieting on vegetarian diets with those dieting while still eating meat.

There are two types of vegetarian diets, the authors write:

“The two major types of vegetarian diets are the lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, in which meats are avoided but consumption of milk and eggs is allowed, and the vegan diet, in which all products originating from animals are avoided.”

The results showed that vegetarian diets were superior for weight loss.

The study’s author explain the results:

“Vegetarian diets appeared to have significant benefits on weight reduction compared to non-vegetarian diets.

Further long-term trials are needed to investigate the effects of vegetarian diets on body weight control.”

Another study has found that vegetarian diets can double weight loss.

The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (Huang et al., 2019).

A weight loss drink that is very easy to incorporate in the daily routine.

Drinking a low-sodium vegetable juice can quadruple weight loss, research shows.

People in the study who drank one or two glasses of vegetable juice each day lost four times as much weight while dieting.

A vegetable juice could be a simple way for people to boost their intake of essential nutrients and increase weight loss.

Vegetables help with dieting because they are low in energy-density.

This means they tend to make people feel fuller and they contain more nutrients, but without containing as many calories.

Dr John Foreyt, study co-author, said:

“Making vegetable consumption easy is critical because it has so many benefits, from disease prevention to weight management.

We have a lot more work to do in finding ways for people to improve their health, but providing them with something simple like vegetable juice is a step in the right direction.”

Included in the study were 81 overweight people with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions including high blood sugar, blood pressure, excess body fat and abnormal cholesterol levels.

One group in the study followed the DASH diet and drank one or two servings of vegetable juice daily for 12 weeks.

The results showed that those drinking vegetable juice lost four pounds in comparison to only one pound among people who only did the DASH diet.

People drinking vegetable juice daily also had higher levels of vitamin C and potassium.

Professor Carl Keen, study co-author, said:

“This study suggests that it’s not enough to just educate people on the importance of vegetables, you need to show them ways to easily incorporate them into their daily routine.

What we found was that something as simple as drinking your vegetables can be an effective tool in achieving behavior change.”

The study was published in the Nutrition Journal (Shenoy et al., 2010).

Up to 40 percent of the population have a vitamin D deficiency.

Taking vitamin D supplements is linked to losing four times as much weight, research finds.

People who took a vitamin D supplement also doubled the number of inches by which they reduced their waistlines.

As many as 40 percent of the population have a vitamin D deficiency.

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

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.

Being deficient in vitamin D is repeatedly linked to being overweight and obese.

The conclusions come from a study of 400 obese and overweight people, all of whom had a vitamin D deficiency.

All were put on a low-calorie diet, but they were split into three groups, with each given different amounts of vitamin D supplementation.

One had none, another had 3,000 IU per day and the remainder had 800 IU per day.

After six months, the results showed that those taking the highest amount of 3,000 per day had lost 12 pounds.

Those taking 800 IU per day had lost 8 pounds and those taking none lost just 2.6 pounds.

The study’s authors explain the results:

“The present data indicate that in obese and overweight people with vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation aids weight loss and enhances the beneficial effects of a reduced-calorie diet.”

The results also revealed that vitamin D helped people lose more from their waistlines.

The group taking 3,000 IU per day lost two inches in comparison to just 1 inch in the control group.

The researchers conclude:

“All people affected by obesity should have their levels of vitamin D tested to see if they are deficient, and if so, begin taking supplements.”

The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity, 2015 (Vigna et al., 2015).

A natural supplement for weight loss that is found in many healthy foods.

Taking certain supplements has been shown by research to increase weight loss.

Inulin, a natural fibre available as a supplement, can even quadruple weight loss, one study has found.

Inulin is a fibre found naturally in many foods, including leeks, wheat, onions, bananas and asparagus.

The natural fibre works by reducing appetite.

It has a creamy consistency and is sometimes used in the food industry as a substitute for fat.

Inulin is low in calories, high in fibre and it can improve the health of the digestion.

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

A recent study on mice fed them either a high-fat diet on its own or a high-fat diet with a fibre supplement.

After four weeks on this regime, the results showed that inulin — the fibre supplement — reduced obesity resulting from weight gain.

The size of fat cells was also reduced by supplementation with inulin.

Dr. Andrew Gewirtz, study co-author, said:

“We found that manipulating dietary fiber content, particularly by adding fermentable fiber, guards against metabolic syndrome.

This study revealed the specific mechanism used to restore gut health and suppress obesity and metabolic syndrome is the induction of IL-22 expression.

These results contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie diet-induced obesity and offer insight into how fermentable fibers might promote better health.”

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of problems including excess belly fat, high blood pressure and low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol.

Inulin also reduced bad cholesterol levels and helped to keep blood sugar more stable.

The balance of the microbes in the gut was restored by taking inulin.

The study was published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe (Zou et al., 2018).

As NAFLD treatments are limited, scientists looked into whether diet and exercise can improve patients’ lives.

Five days a week of alternate-day fasting along with exercise for three months is a good treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a study reveals.

Nutrition researchers compared the effects of fasting or exercise alone with alternate day fasting and exercise.

Patients with NAFLD who were also obese saw significant improvements in their health after following a 3-month alternate-day fasting diet with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.

Their diet plan consisted of 500 calories a day and eating with no restrictions next day along with five hours aerobic exercise every week.

Participants experienced reductions in weight and waist circumference, improvements in insulin sensitivity, reduced fat in the liver, and decreased alanine transaminase (an enzyme in the liver and a marker of liver damage) levels.

Warning signs of NAFLD

Accumulation of fat in the liver can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition seen in overweight or obese people.

NAFLD is not caused by alcohol, but if untreated could lead to cirrhosis resembling the liver damage from too much drinking.

NAFLD patients are more likely to develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, also many obese adults have this condition.

The condition if not treated can lead to more serious issues such as inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.

The warning signs appear when it progresses to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or fibrosis in which the liver has become inflamed.

A person with NASH may feel:

• extremely tired,
• fatigued,
• a pain in the top-right of the belly over the lower-right side of the ribs,
• and losing weight for no reason.

Diet and exercise

As NAFLD treatments are limited, scientists looked into whether diet and exercise can improve patients’ lives.

Professor Krista Varady, the study’s co-author, said:

“When we compared the results of our study groups, we saw clearly that the most improved patients were in the group that followed the alternate-day fasting diet and exercised five days a week.

The people who only dieted or only exercised did not see the same improvements, which reinforces the importance of these two relatively inexpensive lifestyle modifications on overall health and on combating chronic diseases like fatty liver disease.”

The authors highlighted:

“Our findings also indicate that the combination intervention was effective for reducing body weight, fat mass, waist circumference, ALT, fasting insulin, insulin resistance, and increasing insulin sensitivity, among patients with obesity and NAFLD, versus controls.”

Avoiding drug side-effects

Besides improvements of metabolic indicators, alternate day fasting and exercise appeared to be safe thus the authors think it is a good option for those who want to overcome NAFLD without taking drugs that have side-effects.

Professor Varady said:

“Alternate-day fasting and exercise interventions can be difficult for people to stick to and in prior studies we have seen significant dropout.

It was very interesting to see that in this trial we had very high adherence to the interventions.”

Foods and beverages containing alcohol or sugar can aggravate the condition, so the advice is to limit intake.

Related

• Drinking any type of coffee — no matter if it is caffeinated or decaf, instant or ground coffee — has been linked to lowering the odds of liver disease and related liver problems.
• The Mediterranean diet has been shown to protect subjects from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism (Ezpeleta et al., 2022).

A weight loss fruit that makes you feel full, improves your gut health, and reduces absorption of fats.

Having an avocado every day as part of your diet increases healthy gut bacteria and reduce the absorption of fat.

The fruit is rich in fibre and monounsaturated fat, a healthy fat that lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol in the blood.

A study has found that people who eat avocados have higher levels of the gut microbes responsible for breaking down fibres and producing a number of metabolites (short-chain fatty acids) that improve gut health.

Ms Sharon Thompson, the study’s first author, said:

“We know eating avocados helps you feel full and reduces blood cholesterol concentration, but we did not know how it influences the gut microbes, and the metabolites the microbes produce.

Microbial metabolites are compounds the microbes produce that influence health.

Avocado consumption reduced bile acids and increased short chain fatty acids.

These changes correlate with beneficial health outcomes.”

Bile acids are produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and released into the intestine for breaking down fats from foods we eat.

Western diets are higher in fats causing more production of bile acids which can alert the gut microbiota population and cause intestinal inflammation.

The study recruited 163 overweight or obese participants and divided them into two groups, both receiving a normal diet.

The only difference was that one ate fresh avocados (175 g for men or 140 g for women) as part of a meal every day for 12 weeks and the other group had a similar diet but no avocados.

Dr Hannah Holscher, study co-author, said:

“Our goal was to test the hypothesis that the fats and the fiber in avocados positively affect the gut microbiota.

We also wanted to explore the relationships between gut microbes and health outcomes.

Despite avocados being high in fat, the avocado group absorbed less fat compared to the other group.

Dr Holscher said:

“Greater fat excretion means the research participants were absorbing less energy from the foods that they were eating.

This was likely because of reductions in bile acids, which are molecules our digestion system secretes that allow us to absorb fat.

We found that the amount of bile acids in stool was lower and the amount of fat in the stool was higher in the avocado group.”

Types of fats found in foods affect the gut microbiome differently, for example, avocados contain monounsaturated fats which are considered heart-healthy.

On top of that, avocados are high in soluble fibre: an average avocado contains 12 g of fibres which is a big portion of the daily recommended fibre intake (28 to 34 g).

Dr Holscher said:

“Less than 5% of Americans eat enough fiber.

Most people consume around 12 to 16 grams of fiber per day.

Thus, incorporating avocados in your diet can help get you closer to meeting the fiber recommendation.

Eating fiber isn’t just good for us; it’s important for the microbiome, too.

We can’t break down dietary fibers, but certain gut microbes can.

When we consume dietary fiber, it’s a win-win for gut microbes and for us.”

People shouldn’t worry that avocados are high in calories as it is more important that it is a nutrient-dense food that contains micronutrients like fibre and potassium that we don’t get enough of.

Related

• Avocados contain a fat molecule that could help prevent diabetes and maintain a healthy weight.

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