Are You Losing Smart? Learn the best ways to lose weight for good. By Sheila Buff Reviewed by Susan Weiner, RD, MS, CDE, CDN. 5/12 1) Eating breakfast helps you lose weight. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "true." People who have lost a lot of weight and kept it off tend to be breakfast eaters, and breakfast eating is associated with lower body mass index (BMI), according to research. Why? It's likely because eating a good breakfast fuels you for the day. Skip it and you're sure to be ravenous by midmorning. And what's easiest to grab then? Donuts, bagels, mini peanut butter cups -- high carb, blood sugar spiking foods that are there for the quick and easy taking. If you truly can't find the time in the morning for a hard-boiled egg, some Greek yogurt, or another protein food, stock up on some low carb protein bars you can eat on the run. If you're one of those people who isn't hungry in the morning, check your nighttime eating habits. Unless you've overconsumed calories before going to bed, the fast between evening and morning should result in a good appetite. Finally, a healthy breakfast can put you on track for better food choices the rest of the day. SOURCES: Raynor HA, Jeffery RW, Ruggiero AM, Clark JM, Delahanty LM; Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Research Group. Weight loss strategies associated with BMI in overweight adults with type 2 diabetes at entry into the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial. Diabetes Care. 2008 Jul;31(7):1299-304. Epub 2008 Mar 28. Wyatt H.R., G.K. Grunwald, C.L. Mosca, M.L. Klem, R.R. Wing, J.O. Hill. 2002. Long-term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National Weight Control Registry. Obesity Research 10(2):78-82. 2) To lose weight, cut out all between-meal snacks. (NEXT)    

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a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "false." Although high-carb, processed snack foods can sabotage weight loss, healthy snacks between meals can control hunger and keep blood sugar and energy on an even keel. And when mealtime comes, those snacks mean you won't be as hungry, so you'll eat less and make better food choices. A small apple, berries, and raw veggies all make great snacks; they'e high in nutrients, and packed with fiber that makes you feel full. For optimal blood sugar control and weight loss, combine a carbohydrate snack with some protein, such as a handful of nuts, cheese, sliced meat, or a piece of leftover chicken. Plan your snacks and pack them if necessary so you don't end up starving and grabbing the first convenience food you can find. 3) Eating low glycemic index foods can aid in weight loss. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "true." Because low-GI foods such as fruits, vegetables, and most whole grains are high in fiber, they help make you feel full. That helps you stick to your diet without hunger pangs. That fiber also moderates the rise in blood sugar from carbohydrate-containing foods, so you don't end up with spikes and the blood sugar-insulin rollercoaster that can result in excessive fat storage. But don't think that low-GI is a free pass. There are plenty of unhealthy foods that rank low; for example, M&Ms, potato chips, and pound cake are all ranked as low-GI! So stick to low-GI foods that are also low in carbs and high in nutrition. 4) Avoid nuts while you're dieting -- they're high in fat. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "false." Nuts are indeed high in fat, but it's good fat that satisfies your appetite and protects your heart. In fact, you could be warding off a heart attack by adding nuts to your diet. A number of studies have shown that eating nuts several times a week lowers your risk of a heart attack by up to 50 percent. Eating nuts has also been associated with better weight management. Also, eating nuts can keep you from reaching for high-carb, nutrient-empty (NEXT)    

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pretzels or potato chips. You do have to watch how much you eat -- especially when nuts are salted, they can be hard to put down. Fill a small ramekin or snack-size resealable bag and put the rest away. A one-ounce serving (about 20) of dry-roasted almonds has 160 calories, 6 grams of protein, 5 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of fat, almost all of it monounsaturated (the kind that's best for your heart). The best nut choices are almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. (Yes, peanuts are technically legumes, but for all practical purposes they're nuts.) SOURCES: Bes-Rastrollo M, Wedick NM, Martinez-Gonzalez MA, Li TY, Sampson L, Hu FB. Prospective study of nut consumption, long-term weight change, and obesity risk in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jun;89(6):1913-9. Epub 2009 Apr 29. Ros, E. 2010. Health benefits of nut consumption. Nutrients 2(7): 652-82. 5) Lowfat and sugar free versions of foods have a lot fewer calories. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "false." It's easy to fall for the claims on packages and buy lowfat and sugar free treats. If it's lowfat or sugar free, people figure, it must be low in carbs and calories, too. Sadly, in almost every case, that's just not so -even in foods most consider healthy. One cup of full-fat yogurt has 138 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 11 grams of carbs. A cup of the nonfat version has 127 calories, 0.4 grams of fat, and 17 grams of carbs. You save hardly any calories with the nonfat version, but you do get a big bump in the carb count. Check the nutrition labels of other "healthier" versions of your favorite foods and you'll probably see the same thing. If the calories really are lower, chances are the carbohydrate grams are still the same or even higher. The reality is that modified versions of most foods are no better or are worse than their originals. SOURCE: Brian Wansink, Mindless Eating; Wansink, Brian and Pierre Chandon. 2006. Can "low-fat" nutrition labels lead to obesity? Journal of Marketing Research, 43(4): 605-17 (NEXT)    

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6) Losing weight can make your bones thinner. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "true." If there's a downside to losing weight, it's that dieting may lead to thinner bones. In older women, for instance, losing weight may lead to an increased risk of osteoporosis (thin, brittle bones that break easily) and hip fracture. An older, overweight woman who loses weight by dieting has a hip fracture risk that's about twice that of an older woman whose weight stays the same, even if she's overweight. Fortunately, there's a way around this problem: Combine exercise with a healthy diet that has plenty of calcium and other bone-building vitamins and minerals in it. You can lose weight while building your muscles and keeping bone loss and lean muscle loss to a minimum. The bonus is that exercise improves your strength and balance, too, making a bone-breaking fall less likely. SOURCE: Ensrud K.E., et al. 2003. Intentional and unintentional weight loss increase bone loss and hip fracture risk in older women. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 51(12):1740-47; Villareal D.T. et al. 2006. Bone mineral density response to caloric restriction-induced weight loss or exercise-induced weight loss: a randomized controlled trial. Archives of Internal Medicine 166(22):2502-10. 7) Switch to lowfat or nonfat dairy products to save calories and speed up weight loss. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "false." Here's another case where lowfat or nonfat could mean low or no weight loss. People are often told to consume lowfat or nonfat dairy products as a way to cut calories and get less saturated fat. That turns out to be very misleading. The calorie difference between full-fat and lowfat or nonfat dairy products usually isn't that great, and losing the fat may actually hinder your weight loss. Full-fat dairy products contain plenty of oleic acid (the same fat in heart-healthy olive oil). They also contain a fat called conjugated linoleic acid (NEXT)    

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(CLA) that may actually help with weight loss. In a major study of nearly 20,000 Swedish women approaching menopause, those who regularly consumed full-fat dairy gained less weight over nine years than women who ate only lowfat dairy products or didn't eat dairy products at all. SOURCE: Magdalena R., M.N. Hakansson, A. Wolk. 2006. Association between dairy food consumptions and weight change over a 9 y in 19,352 perimenopausal women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 84(6):1481-88. 8) Sticking to mostly the same foods while you're dieting will help you lose more. a) True b) False Correct, the answer is "true." According to research from the National Weight Control Registry, people who lose a lot of weight (30 pounds or more) and keep it off seem to do it by eating mostly the same limited number of foods. The study looked at the diets of over 2,000 participants and found they don't have a lot of variety in their diets. You might not want to limit your diet too much in the long run, but while you're working to lose weight, sticking to a relatively small number of healthy foods might speed up the process. SOURCE: Champagne, C.M., S.T. Broyles, L.D. Moran, K.C. Cash, E.J. Levy, P.H. Lin, B.C. Batch, L.F. Liend, K.L. Funk, A. Dalcin, C. Loria, V.H. Myers. 2011. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 111(12):1826-35. Raynor H.A., R.W. Jeffery, S. Phelan S, J.O. Hill, R.R. Wing. 2005. Amount of food group variety consumed in the diet and long-term weight loss maintenance. Obesity Research13(5):883-90. 9) Getting more sleep will help you lose more fat while you diet. a) True b) False (NEXT)    

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Correct, the answer is "true." People who need to lose weight are usually advised to diet and exercise. Turns out there's another piece of advice they should be getting: Sleep more. In an intriguing recent study, 10 overweight people agreed to live in research center for two two-week periods. They all ate the same diet and exercised the same amount, but some had their sleep restricted. The participants who slept only 5.5 hours a night felt hungrier and lost less body fat and more muscle than people who slept 8.5 hours a night, even though they were eating identical diets and exercising. When you're losing weight, you want to lose as much body fat and as little muscle as possible, so being sure to get good sleep. With the array of sophisticated sleeping pills on the market today, you can find one that will work just right for you. SOURCE: Nedeltcheva, A.V., J.M. Kilkus, J. Imperial, D.A. Schoeller, and P.D. Penev. 2010. Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity. Annals of Internal Medicine 153:435-41. Results You got ___ out of 9 correct. 0 to 3 correct: Now we know why the needle isn't moving on your scale (or the hole on your belt). 4 to 6 correct: You're well on your way to healthy weight loss! 7 to 9 correct: Are you at your weight goal yet? If not, you will be soon!

   

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