20 LISTENER MARCH 7 2020
CONQUERING THE KILOS
F
ood fads, hacks – Dr
Michael Greger has
ground his teeth at
them all, but some
have survived the rig-
ours of scientific testing.
He has found some of these
shooting stars of the diet world
so empowering, he lists them
as his recommended “tweaks”.
Just swapping to a mostly
plant-based diet will get a
person on the road to healthy
weight and longevity, he says,
but science can press the pedal
a bit harder.LOW-GLYCEMIC FOODS have
underpinned a slew of diet
books, and these slow-burning,
often high-fibre foods get thetick from the folk in the test-
ing labs – as much as for what
they do as for what they pre-
vent from happening. Among
their headline benefits is they
don’t cause roller-coastering
insulin levels. Slow-burning
foods also bypass the body’s
hard-wired anti-starvation
mechanism. The body tends to
resist weight loss after a certain
period of time, interpreting it
as a survival threat, but feeding
it with low-glycemic foods
seems to blunt this trigger.HIBISCUS TEA really does
appear to be a red zinger. Con-
trolled group studies found
people on nine cups a day lost
more weight than those ona placebo. But there’s a but:
Greger is concerned about the
risk for ingesting undesirable
levels of manganese through
the tea. A bit less than a litre a
day is plenty for safety, he says.
And as with VINEGAR – daily
ingestion of the amount in
an average serving of salad
dressing having been shown
to aid weight loss – the acidic
effects on teeth are a worry.
Greger advises rinsing one’s
mouth thoroughly after eating
or drinking, but not brush-
ing, as enamel is temporarily
weakened by the acid.SPICES can be a quarter-
teaspoon powerhouse in
speeding weight loss andmaintaining it. Greger says
the science has found that as
well as anti oxidants and other
benefits, a few cents’ worth of
the following a day are a good
investment: TURMERIC, CUMIN,
BLACK CUMIN, CINNAMON,
POWDERED GARLIC and NUTRI-
TIONAL YEAST POWDER.Also getting a big tick as a
health and weight-loss daily
dose: CHIA SEEDS, BERRIES
(fresh or frozen), GREEN
TEA (three cups), and NUTS
but not in huge quantities;
eaten whole and chewed
well, they’re nutritious with
the bonus of being a great
sweeper-through of unab-
sorbed calories.Foods with benefits
Using these “tweaks” can give you an extra health boost.
Good guys: 1. Cayenne.- Turmeric. 3. Yeast.
4. Hibiscus tea. 5. Cinnamon.
6. Wholegrain bread. 7. Cumin
8. Green tea. 9. Vinegar. 10.
Yoga. 11. Chia seed. 12. Nuts.
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