Can salad dressing help you keep the pounds off?
August 25th 2009 06:28
New research suggests yes -- but make your own with safflower oil and vinegar.
In a study, a small amount of safflower oil every day had a tummy-trimming effect in a special population of women with diabetes.
Slimming Safflower
The small 36-week study included women who were diabetic, obese, and postmenopausal. They ate 8 grams of safflower oil per day (about 1 2/3 teaspoon), with the exception of a 4-week break. And the results? They lost an average of about 6 percent of their belly fat -- all without changing their diets or exercise habits. Their lean body mass even increased slightly.
From: realage available free on line
Not Just Any Fat
Safflower oil is rich in an essential omega-6 fatty acid called linoleic acid, which may have some kind of positive effect on metabolism. But larger studies will be needed to confirm the results. And keep in mind that all fats contain a decent number of calories, so if you add safflower oil to your diet, kick out another calorie source.
Other Unusual Waist Whittlers
Other Unusual Waist Whittlers
Get the skinny on these additional off-the-beaten-path diet tricks:
Have a little fat you’d like to lose? Maybe now is a good time to turn on the kettle and pour yourself a cup of this: white tea.
Made from the buds and early leaves of the same plants used to make green and black teas, white tea may have special fat-thwarting powers, a new study suggests.
Fat-Blasting Brew
Fat cells increase or decrease in size, according to your weight. And in a lab study, human fat cells treated with white tea extract accumulated significantly less fat. In fact, the white tea extract reduced the incorporation of fat by as much as 70 percent! The tea also seemed to stimulate the breakdown of fat from mature cells.
Sip tea. Benefit from the special fat-thwarting powers of white tea.
Make like a turtle. Here’s why eating slowly can help you lose weight.
If dinner feels like a race against the clock, then consider this a speeding ticket from the food police.
Quickly plowing through your meals until your meter hits "full" can easily lead to extra pounds. (Maybe it already has.)
Rush-Hour Power
In a recent study, two factors were strong predictors of weight gain. The first, no surprise, was how much people ate. The second? How quickly they ate. Speedy eaters in the study who typically noshed until they felt full were 3 times more likely to be overweight than people who ate at a more leisurely pace. Speed demons also consistently consume more calories overall.
Choose the right perfume. This fruity scent can reduce your appetite
You've heard about the grapefruit diet. But can just the smell of grapefruit help melt the pounds from your body?
Seems it has some potential. Preliminary animal studies show that the scent of grapefruit oil may help reduce appetite. Eating a couple of grapefruit won't hurt your waistline, either.
Grapefruit Is a Great Fruit
That wacky grapefruit diet aside, studies have linked regularly eating grapefruit with weight loss. But now the mere smell of the stuff is good enough? Only more research will tell us for sure. Researchers speculate that the effect the oil's smell has on liver enzymes might help nix cravings and spur weight loss.
Sound too good to be true? Maybe. For a surefire way to lose weight, here's the four-step plan from RealAge doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen.
Plan your meals .
Find a diet buddy.
Walk every day. .
Track your progress.
Hmmmm - looks like I'd better get cracking at walking and slowing with eating
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