The scent may fool the brain into feeling satisfied — and unlock better workout performance.
The vitamin deficiency linked to increased belly fat.
The vitamin deficiency linked to increased belly fat.
Higher levels of vitamin D are linked to reduced belly fat, research shows.
The conclusions come from a study including thousands of people.
The researchers measured people’s total body fat and abdominal (belly) fat, along with their vitamin D levels.
The results showed that for both men and women vitamin D deficiency was linked to increased belly fat.
However, for women, low vitamin D levels were linked to both increased belly fat and increased total body fat.
For men, though, low vitamin D levels were linked to more belly fat and more liver fat.
More than half of people around the world may be deficient in vitamin D.
Dr Rachida Rafiq, the study’s first author, said:
“Although we did not measure vitamin D deficiency in our study, the strong relationship between increasing amounts of abdominal fat and lower levels of vitamin D suggests that individuals with larger waistlines are at a greater risk of developing deficiency, and should consider having their vitamin D levels checked.”
It is not yet known if low vitamin D levels are causing more fat to be stored or are a result of it.
Dr Rafiq explained:
“Due to the observational nature of this study, we cannot draw a conclusion on the direction or cause of the association between obesity and vitamin D levels.
However, this strong association may point to a possible role for vitamin D in abdominal fat storage and function.”
Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and a higher chance of getting colds.
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.
That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more Northern climes.
The study was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition (Rafiq et al., 2018).
Losing weight is not the only benefit. This simple eating schedule gives the brain an unexpected boost.
A surprising mental shift that can instantly supercharge your health journey and naturally improve your diet.
A surprising mental shift that can instantly supercharge your health journey and naturally improve your diet.
People who learn to be less concerned about their weight can triple their weight loss.
This is because individuals with a healthier body image naturally make better dietary choices.
Unfortunately, overweight people often have body image problems.
Anxiety over public perception and physical appearance often acts as a major barrier to weight loss.
Conversely, learning to accept one’s body and focusing less on scale weight yields much more positive results.
The study involved 239 overweight women who followed a standard exercise and diet program for a year.
However, half of them were given sessions focused on body image.
These sessions explored how emotional states directly influence eating habits.
For example, negative moods can trigger bouts of eating to feel better, rather than eating to satiate hunger.
This is known as emotional eating.
The women were also encouraged to love their bodies.
The results of the study showed that those who improved their body image had triple the weight loss of the control group.
They lost an average of 7 percent of their body weight.
Dr Pedro Teixeira, study co-author, said:
“Body image problems are very common amongst overweight and obese people, often leading to comfort eating and more rigid eating patterns, and are obstacles to losing weight.
Our results showed a strong correlation between improvements in body image, especially in reducing anxiety about other people’s opinions, and positive changes in eating behavior.
From this we believe that learning to relate to your body in healthier ways is an important aspect of maintaining weight loss and should be addressed in every weight control program.”
The study was published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (Carraça et al., 2011).
Food cravings can be beaten with relatively simple tricks, according to recent research.
How to feel more full without eating anything.
Dieters think willpower is the problem — but this study points to something else.
People who eat the same meals regularly lose more weight than those with varied diets.
The way of thinking is linked to a 34 percent lower obesity risk.
The way of thinking is linked to a 34 percent lower obesity risk.
People who are mindful have less belly fat.
Mindfulness is linked to a reduced amount of abdominal fat and a 34 percent lower chance of being obese.
Being mindful does not necessarily mean meditating; it can just mean everyday mindfulness.
Some people are naturally more mindful, but the trait can be developed.
Many of the things people consume, they do so automatically, without attending to the consequences.
Attention to the present moment may also help overcome a common aversion to exercising.
The conclusions come from a study of 394 people who were tested for mindfulness and scanned to determine body mass.
People with low levels of mindfulness tended to agree with statements like:
The results showed a modest link between greater mindfulness and a lower risk of being obese.
Mindfulness probably helps reduce belly fat by increasing awareness of eating and drinking behaviours.
Eating is so routine that we easily zone out from the experience.
While the mind wanders, eating can continue automatically.
Studies have shown that people eat more when they are distracted, like when watching TV or talking with friends.
Unfortunately, when not focusing on our food, we tend to eat more and enjoy it less.
The positive effects of mindfulness extend to physical features such as lower blood pressure and lower cortisol levels.
In addition to its physical benefits, mindfulness has been shown to have therapeutic benefits in treating depression, anxiety, substance abuse, chronic pain and eating disorders.
The study was published in the journal International Journal of Behavioral Medicine (Loucks et al., 2015).
The mental state that makes it hard to control temptations.
The mental state that makes it hard to control temptations.
Being tired, stressed or full of worries is one of the biggest barriers to weight loss, psychologists find.
While people are in states like these, it is much more difficult for them to ignore tempting rewards, such as high-calorie foods.
In this psychology study, people whose memories were overloaded had trouble controlling themselves.
Dr Poppy Watson, the study’s first author, explained:
“Constant worrying or stress is the equivalent to the high-memory load scenario of our experiment, impacting on people’s ability to use their executive control resources in a way that’s helping them manage unwanted cues in the environment.”
In other words, it gets harder to ignore tasty foods when your mind is busy.
Dr Watson said:
“This is especially relevant for circumstances where people are trying to ignore cues and improve their behaviour, e.g. consuming less alcohol or fast food.”
For the study, people were given a test of how well they could control their attention, while they were also being given other things to think about.
For example, in one study they had to memorise a sequence of numbers.
This simulates the situation where a person has a lot of worries on their mind.
The results showed that when people had to memorise the numbers as well, they found it much harder to avoid a tempting reward.
Dr Watson said:
“Study participants found it really difficult to stop themselves from looking at cues that represented the level of reward — the coloured circles — even though they were paid to try and ignore them.”
The key is to avoid situations that involve temptation when tired, said Dr Watson:
“If you are under a lot of cognitive pressure (stress, or tiredness) you should really try and avoid situations where you’ll be tempted by signals.
You need to be in the right frame of mind to be in a situation where you can stop yourself from getting distracted and going down a path where you don’t want to go.”
The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Watson et al., 2019).
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