#WellnessWeds: Want to Be on the Fast-Track to Weight Loss? A Recent Study Shows How

Julia DuBois

| 2 min read

Weight Loss
It’s not exactly a weight-loss secret that you need to eat smaller portions in order to lose those extra pounds. But a recent study at Harvard University has found that cutting down the size of your meals isn’t the most important part of weight-loss.
So what is? Remember that old adage “You are what you eat”? Well, according to this study, eating smaller portions of the same unhealthy foods like French fries just isn’t going to get you that much change on the scale. What you really need to get on the fast-track is healthier food.
“This study shows that conventional wisdom — to eat everything in moderation, eat fewer calories and avoid fatty foods — isn’t the best approach,” Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said in an interview. “What you eat makes quite a difference. Just counting calories won’t matter much unless you look at the kinds of calories you’re eating.”
That’s right. Healthy foods like fruits, veggies and whole grains are not only the solution to migraines and better overall health, but also weight loss. It’s not all about counting calories; you need to eat healthier, less-processed calories to get the results you are looking for.
Of course exercise is up there on the list, too. It’s not enough to just eat right; you need a daily dose of physical activity to help combat pesky fat. And there are plenty of easy ways to get that exercise!
And the shocker?! Some foods previously thought to be diet no-no’s — like full- or low-fat dairy products or nuts — are just fine, while other foods —like yogurt — have a lot more weight-loss benefit than anyone could have guessed.
So if you’ve been wondering why your weight-loss plan hasn’t been working like you’d hoped, maybe it has something to do with the findings in this study. Re-evaluate your plan of attack on fat, and see what these new findings can help you achieve.
What are some weight-loss tricks that have worked for you? Do any of these new findings surprise you?
Photo credit: juz.grace177

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