Top 10 scientific proven ways for weight loss

 Here are the top 10 scientifically proven ways for weight loss:

1. Eat a high-protein diet: Protein is the most filling macronutrient and can help reduce cravings and calorie intake.

2. Reduce calorie intake: To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. This can be achieved by reducing portion sizes, choosing low-calorie foods, and avoiding high-calorie snacks and drinks.

3. Increase physical activity: Exercise can help burn calories and increase muscle mass, which can boost metabolism and aid in weight loss.

4. Drink plenty of water: Drinking water can help reduce calorie intake and increase feelings of fullness.

5. Get enough sleep: Lack of sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism, leading to weight gain.

6. Eat more fiber: Fiber can help reduce calorie intake and promote feelings of fullness, leading to weight loss.

7. Avoid processed foods: Processed foods are often high in calories, sugar, and unhealthy fats, which can contribute to weight gain.

8. Practice mindful eating: Mindful eating involves paying attention to your food and eating slowly, which can help reduce calorie intake and promote weight loss.

9. Reduce stress: Stress can lead to overeating and weight gain, so finding ways to manage stress, such as meditation or yoga, can aid in weight loss.

10. Consider weight loss medication or surgery: In some cases, medication or surgery may be necessary to achieve significant weight loss. However, these options should only be considered under the guidance of a healthcare professional.

Does it matter what breakfast you feed your children?

The brain represents about 2% of body weight of an adult but it consumes 20% of the oxygen and glucose the body produces, even at rest. Glucose is the brain’s main fuel supply and is therefore necessary for mental performance.

Despite the well established fact that increased levels in glucose are associated with better cognition 10-30 % of people in Europe skip breakfast - the first opportunity to replenish the glucose levels in the blood after a long night of fasting.

We all know breakfast is important, but does it matter what type of breakfast? We enlisted one scientist and a classroom full of schoolchildren, to see if we could find out.

"increased levels in glucose are associated with better cognition"

On two consecutive days we got our children to test two different types of breakfast - an English breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and an American one of waffles and maple syrup.

We waited three hours for the breakfasts to take effect and then gave the children a frustrating game of swing ball to play. What we were looking for was not swing ball skill, but rather the ability to stay focused on the task in hand and not get frustrated with losing.

So which breakfast proved a winner? Staying power was more prominent after the English breakfast. Why? Because foods like eggs, toast, and oats have a low GI content which means the glucose is released more slowly into the blood keeping you focused for longer.

Can TV make your child fat?

tatistics show that the risk of adult obesity increases by 7% for every additional hour of weekend television watched by 5 year olds. It was originally thought that TV led to a more sedentary lifestyle but there is no conclusive evidence to support this so what’s going on?

"Rosie ate 3 more pieces of pizza when watching TV"

Eleven year old Rosie is active but still slightly overweight. We gave Rosie her favourite food, pizza, on two different evenings, one sitting in front of the television and the other sitting at the table. Rosie ate 3 more pieces of pizza when watching TV which, if she ate pizza every day, would be a whole extra 118 pizzas a year or 81900 calories. Why? It could be that when your brain is distracted by television it ignores your internal satiety signals.

How you eat is as important as what you eat so eat at a dinner table with the television switched off.

Does sugar make kids hyperactive?

Do you dread children’s parties because of the effect all those sugary snacks will have on your child? Does sugar turn your little angel into a little monster?

Are you sure it’s the sugar?

We decided to find out. Enter Becky and Niall. Two five year olds whose occasional out-of-control behaviour their parents’ attribute to sugar. Add two parties, one with sugary snacks and the other sugar-free, and mix well.

Day one, the underwater themed storytelling party. To make sure the experiment was impartial we told Becky’s mum Patricia, and Niall’s dad Michael, that we would be feeding their children a sugar-free lunch. Then we swapped the healthy snacks for the sugary ones.

When it was time for Becky and Niall to go home both parent’s were unsurprised at how calm they were since they believed that the children had consumed a healthy sugar-free lunch.

Day two, the crazy, boisterous, food throwing party. This time we told Becky’s and Nialls’ parents that we would be feeding them a lot of sugar and they prepared for the worst.

"they had both eaten the equivalent of 47.5 cubes of sugar"

The dreaded time arrived and we filmed Niall and Becky on the journey home. Both their behaviour was markedly different to what their parents had witnessed the day before and Patricia and Michael were certain the sugar had some influence.

On revealing our double-bluff Patricia and Michael were astounded by the outcome, especially when we told them that on day one, when the children were calmer, they had both eaten the equivalent of 47.5 cubes of sugar.

The theory that too much sugar makes children hyperactive doesn’t stand up to the tests - it may be that the environment your child is in is the defining factor in how boisterous their mood is. This doesn’t mean sugar get’s off lightly though. It may not lead to hyperactivity but it does make your blood sugar drop which could make your children irritable and distracted.

How do you avoid overeating?

Since the 1970s portion sizes have increased dramatically amongst children and adults. According to psychologists children rely on adults to show them how much to eat so we decided to see if, when doubling portion sizes, children know when their satiety signals are saying stop.

"They ate 73% more on the second day"

We are all born with an efficient system that tells us when we are hungry and when we are full. However, very early in life we are taught to override these signals. When children are presented with a large portion they will eat all of it in spite of feeling full. If children overeat consistently they are going to be overweight.

We took a class full of children and gave them an identical meal on two consecutive days. The difference was that on the first day we gave them the government recommended allowance and on the second day we doubled it.

Did the children know when to stop? Not quite. They ate 73% more on the second day than they did on the previous one. A 2000 study showed that three year olds still heard their satiety signals and stopped eating when they were full. Five year olds, on the other hand, finished their plates no matter what the portion size.

Eating habits are cultivated early on in life- if we are not careful we may be the first generation to outlive our children because of obesity so don’t overfeed your child.

Does restricting food make children want it more?

Research shows that by making foods unavailable they become more attractive. To test this we took a classroom of four and five year olds and examined their reaction to restricted treats over the week.

First, we had to find two foods that all the children were nonplussed about- we tested them with a range of dried fruit snacks and mangos and raisins were equally indifferent in the children’s preferences. Then the fun began. Every day, at snack time, we put the two bowls of snacks side by side and told the children that on the first whistle they had 15 minutes of unrestricted access to the mango. At the second whistle they had only five minutes of snack time to eat the raisins.

"there was a stampede to reach the forbidden fruit"

We watched the children day by day as the mango fell out of favour and the kids began cravin’ raisins. To begin with the children snacked voraciously on the mango but were more excited when it was raisin time. By the end of the week there was a stampede to reach the forbidden fruit, and the mango was looking less and less attractive.

The same kids who were indifferent to both snacks at the beginning of the week couldn’t get enough of the raisins by the end.

So, by restricting snacks you may have the adverse effect of making your children desire them even more and even encourage them to hide their snacking habits.

Can vegetables help you resist infection?

Within the colon there are over 500 bacterial species, making up about 95% of cells in the body. In effect, we are living, breathing, bacteria-carrying monsters!

Good bacteria in the gut break down carbohydrates to create 10 % of our daily energy. They also help the body fight infection and disease by combating the effects of the bad bacteria.

"The prebiotic group managed to increase their good bacteria numbers by 133 million"

We took 8 hard-working cowboys, and divided them into two groups. Half of them were put on a diet of probiotics - cultures containing good bacteria found in foods such as yoghurt. The other half we put on a prebiotic diet - substances found in certain vegetables such as leeks and bananas, which make the pre-existing good bacteria in the gut healthier.

Then we got down to the dirty work. Their poo was examined daily to measure the change in bacteria. If the good bacteria are fed well they should multiply in number and make the ranchers healthier.

The cowboys’ poo showed that the prebiotic group managed to increase their good bacteria numbers by 133 million, small in bacteria terms, but an encouraging effect. The probiotic group saw little change over the week, but over a longer period there’s evidence that they can make a difference.

It seems from our investigation the best thing you can do for your bacterial health is treat your good bacteria to a prebiotic meal. The best vegetables to feed good bacteria are artichokes, garlic, leeks and onions.

Can eating like an ape improve your health?

he prominence of diseases connected to high cholesterol and blood pressure in the world’s population raises the issue of whether our current western diet is a major factor in the development of cardiovascular illness, hypertension, stroke and diabetes.

Are we paying the price for eating processed foods?

"our group’s total cholesterol fell by 23%"

We took ten volunteers back in time to take a leaf out of the book of our ancestors in order to investigate what impact our short, sharp, shock would have on reducing the risk of fatal illnesses.

At the end of the period we tested the biological markers cholesterol and hypertension as the measures of our success. In just twelve days our group’s total cholesterol fell by 23% and we also saw a sharp decrease in sodium levels.

So, what does this show? That simply by introducing changes into our diet, by aping our ancestors, we can dramatically improve our health.

Can water help fill you up? - Soup Diet

There’s a common dieting myth that if you drink a glass of water before you eat you will feel fuller for longer.

But is there any truth in this? We took it upon ourselves to put the water theory up against the latest idea in the science of dieting.

The new buzzword in dieting is satiety - it’s less about reducing your calorie intake and more about eating foods that will keep you satiated for longer.

To illustrate our study we conducted at Nottingham University we took two teams with a love for classic American automobiles and sent them on a road trip through the lonely Nevada desert to see which group would give in to their hunger pangs first.

Both teams were given an identical meal of chicken and vegetables with a glass of water. The only difference was that one team drank the water before they ate, and the other had the water blended with the meal to make a soup.

Then we sat back and waited for the hunger signals to kick in.

In the original study the group who ate the chicken and vegetable soup were satiated for 60 minutes more when compared to the group who drank the water before the chicken and vegetable meal.

"activating our satiety signals can reduce our hunger by up to a quarter"

But why? When we drink a glass of water with our meal our stomach is able to sieve the water from the solids passing quickly from our intestines into the stomach. However, when we combine the water and food in a soup this sieving is prevented and ensures that the water and the nutrients from the food stay together, homogenised, thus entering the intestine at the same time.

Because of the increased volume of the water and solid combined the food stays in our stomach for longer, activating our satiety signals and delaying emptying, which, according to the scientists, can reduce our hunger by up to a quarter.

Does portion size affect how much we eat?

n 2005 a study in America revealed that the size of a container can powerfully and unknowingly increase how much food a person consumes.

To illustrate this we reconstructed the study to see if a larger container led to an increase in consumption.

We took 150 movie goers and gave half of them large size buckets of popcorn (120g) and the other half extra large ones twice the size (240g). As an added test we even gave half of the audience stale popcorn. Then we waited until the film was over to see just how much they left behind.

"45% more popcorn was eaten"

The results showed that 45% more popcorn was eaten when it was given in extra large containers.

What does this illustrate? That when we supersize snacks our perception of what is an ‘acceptable’ amount to consume increases. So, if you don’t want to eat more than you need, steer clear of supersizing.

The larger the portion the more you will eat.

Is snacking better for your performance?

What is the best way to consume the right amount of calories but not slow down after eating them? New research suggests that how you eat can prove vital in how long you keep going.

In Montana, Oregon, summers are hot and humid. Amongst 22 million acres of forest wild fires spread, well, like wildfire. For this reason it is essential that the fire fighters controlling the flames are energised and alert at all times.

"those who grazed on FSRs completed 25% more work"

The test was conducted by Brent Ruby, University of Montana, Missoula. He fed teams of forest fire-fighters on either their standard packed lunches which were eaten all at once, or on specially made First Strike Rations (FSRs), designed to be eaten on the go over a long period of time.

He found that those who grazed throughout the day on FSRs completed 25% more work on their 10-12 hour shifts than those on packed lunches.

People in physically demanding jobs need a consistent supply of glucose and other nutrients. If this supply comes all at once blood rushes to the gut to help digest the food. This temporarily reduces the blood supply to the rest of the body, which means the muscles can't work as efficiently. Snacks need less energy to digest so less blood rushes to the gut, which allows it to be used by working muscles and should mean the snackers are able to work harder.

The consultant on the study was Brent Ruby, professor at the Department of Health and Human Performance Exercise Science Program at the University of Montana, Missoula.

Does drinking two litres of water a day improve your skin?

It’s common knowledge that drinking two litres of water a day will keep us properly hydrated. But is this true, or another myth?

We enlisted the help of beauty conscious twins Susie and Alice to see if we could solve the mystery. We asked one of them, Susie, to give up their two litre daily bottled water addiction to measure how their body, and more importantly, beauty was affected. They got their fluids from tea, coffee and soft drinks instead.

"we lose approximately 2 litres of water each day"

Five days later we conducted some rigorous tests to see what had happened to the water-starved twin. Was her skin in a state of stress? Not really, no.

In fact, both Susie's moisture and elasticity showed no major change after five days. Why? Well, a reasonably inactive adult (like most of us who work in offices) loses approximately two litres of water each day through breath, sweat, urine, and faeces, which is where the myth that we need those two litres a day may have originated.

All drinks we have during a day, apart from alcohol, count towards making up this amount - including tea and coffee - and more than a third of our water needs comes from our food.