Don’t count calories. Cut the fast food to lose weight

Want to lose weight?  Then keep off the fast food—it could be far more effective than just counting the calories.

You could lose up to 13 percent of your body weight in a year by eating real food—and that’s over three times more effective than a calorie-controlled diet that includes processed food.

Researchers from University College London tested the two diets on a group of 55 people.  They ate a diet of home-made meals, fruit and vegetables for eight weeks before switching to ready-meals and ultra-processed foods (UPFs).

As the diets and the amount being eaten were controlled, the volunteers lost weight on both diets, but the differences were significant.  By the end of the eight weeks, those eating the minimally-processed foods (MPFs) had lost 2 percent of their body weight.  “If we scaled these results up over the course of a year, we’d expect to see a 13 percent weight reduction in men and a 9 percent reduction in women on the minimally processed diet, but only a 4 percent weight reduction in men and 5 percent in women after the ultra-processed diet. Over time this would start to become a big difference,” said Samuel Dicken, one of the researchers.

Interestingly, people on the MPF diet also lost their cravings for sugary foods.

What do you think? Start a conversation over on the... WDDTY Community