A lot of research has gone into the best ways to lose weight and take care of your wellness, so why do you still feel in the dark about the whole thing? Some of the findings have been, to put it mildly, counter-intuitive, even suggesting completely new ways of dieting. So, if you’ve struggled to lose weight in the past – and, let’s face it, who hasn’t? – then have a go at some new methods, based on the latest research, that work with your body rather than against it.
1. Eat on alternate days: The problem with cutting calories on a daily basis is that you’re constantly hungry and miserable. However, you can still lose weight and protect your wellbeing against health concerns without being in a permanent state of semi-starvation. A few years ago, a study at the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore revealed that giving rats very little food one day and allowing them to eat plenty the next showed virtually all the benefits of a permanent calorie restriction diet. According to Dr. James Johnson, who has set up a website with information on how to do it, the same goes for humans. In fact, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have just published the results of a ten-week trial on obese patients, which showed that those on the alternate-day diet lost ten pounds to two stone.
2. Turn the heating down: If you’ve been dieting for a while, you may remember a dieter’s dream that went by the name of brown fat. In mice, brown-fat tissue was shown to burn off excess energy to keep you warm – unlike the undesirable white stuff that stores excess energy as fat. Because researchers couldn’t find much brown fat in humans, it kind of fell out of the scene. However, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has put brown fat back on our radar by exposing people to cold temperatures. If you’re cold, your body makes more brown fat and your weight drops. Women kept at 22˚C used up 27 more grams of body fat a day than those at 27˚C – cool!
3. Check your testosterone levels: Sorry, this one’s just for the lads. Middle-aged men with a spreading middle area may be producing too much oestrogen. Both men and women produce testosterone and oestrogen – using the former to make the latter – and this is particularly significant for older men. The ageing process causes older men to make less testosterone, as well as turning more of it into oestrogen. This encourages your body to lay more fat around your middle area, which is the place of fat storage that is connected to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Exercising can give you the energy and muscle you need to boost your testosterone and you can also get a prescription for testosterone supplements if your level has become very low. Drinking too much makes your liver less efficient at getting rid of the extra oestrogen, so you might want to consider cutting back at the pub.
4. Get more vitamin D: Whether you get out in the sun without sun block, eat more fortified foods or start taking supplements, vitamin D is a superstar for lowering your risk of heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatism, as well as your weight. In 2008, a University of Minnesota researcher conducted a small trial which showed that those with more vitamin D in their blood lost more weight. For every extra nanogram per millilitre (ng/ml) they lost an extra half-pound.
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