While many folks are obsessed with keeping their weight down, not many have been told that cutting calories is not the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Especially if you eat the typical American diet.
Many Americans are hooked on highly processed foods – particularly the stuff sold in fast food restaurants and convenience stores – which have had their healthiest nutrients replaced with large amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats.
However, a growing amount of research shows that if you eat whole natural foods – mostly plant-based – that are unprocessed, you will consume natural compounds that can help you shed excess pounds and keep them off.
Let me show you what I mean…
If you’re looking to lose a few pounds, nuts may be your best friend, particularly pecans.
#1 Nuts help you lose weight
Research at Texas A&M, in collaboration with Mexican scientists, shows that pecans contain natural compounds that can both reduce inflammation and prevent weight gain.
According to researcher Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, PhD, “we have now shown pecans are a healthy tool consumers have in their hands.”
The tests at Texas A&M demonstrate that when pecans’ phytochemicals enter your body and are absorbed, they can cause changes that lead to an increase in mitochondria – the microscopic powerhouses in cells that fuel cellular activities. Having more mitochondria means that cells create more energy from food and burn off more calories. Added to that, these tests also reveal that pecan chemicals spur mitochondria to burn extra calories from fat faster.1
That’s something you won’t get from any nutrition bar!
#2 Exotic spice helps you slim down
Research now shows that curcumin, a natural chemical from the spice turmeric, has a whole collection of effects that help stop weight gain.
Turmeric is a golden-orange spice that is used to add both flavor and color to certain dishes. It’s particularly popular in Indian cooking and hearty meals such as curries.
The curcumin in turmeric belongs to a class of antioxidant compounds in plants known as polyphenols. These compounds generally possess many health benefits. In curcumin’s case, this natural substance has been shown to help fight a variety of cancers and also defend against microscopic pathogens that cause infection. Now, researchers say, curcumin also benefits your waistline.
According to researchers, while the body doesn’t absorb much of the curcumin you consume, as the curcumin travels through the small intestine, it produces weight control benefits via its interactions with the probiotic bacteria that live in the digestive tract.2
An analysis at Texas Tech University demonstrates that these interactions can help intestinal bacteria reduce the inflammation of fat cells. When inflammation is reduced, your body can metabolize nutrients more effectively and burn off more calories.3 Plus, say researchers in Poland, curcumin has other effects that are still not completely understood but which can trigger the body to lose weight.4
This research shows that not only is curcumin important to maintaining a healthy weight, but so are probiotics. And I’m not surprised. Nutritional science is uncovering new benefits of probiotics every single day.
#3 Drink away the pounds
When you gain weight, the extra fat tissue you carry around releases signaling chemicals that can throw a monkey wrench into the way your body deals with any food you eat. That dysfunction can lead to high levels of inflammation in the body along with extra amounts of oxidative stress – caused by the build-up of toxic oxidative waste products. Your body can’t detoxify these waste products fast enough to prevent damage to the liver and other organs.
But a polyphenol found in green tea called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) can help you with your weight and these toxin issues. A review study involving researchers from around the world shows that green tea and its EGCG can help you lose pounds and reduce your waistline.5 At the same time, it can help the body become more insulin sensitive and allow your cells to absorb and use more of your blood sugar.6
My takeaway
Now, it’s important to note that the researchers who have studied these foods warn that just consuming products like green tea, pecans and curcumin won’t necessarily guarantee weight loss. Exercising and eating a whole food diet while not drastically overeating are also critical lifestyle factors you need to embrace if you want to maintain a healthy weight.
As researcher Michael Geiger, M.D. concluded in a review study of dieting for weight loss, a whole foods mostly plant-based diet is “the single healthiest diet that also appears to be the most effective diet for weight loss.”7
I couldn’t agree more.
Dr. Geiger’s research also shows that this type of diet is also the most effective for helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. I have long argued that eating heavily processed foods harms your health. And the ongoing research I’ve seen that has examined various kinds of diets gives me no reason to change my mind.
Best regards,
The Green Valley Team
