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------------ Milk: The Weight Loss Drug
Title
----- Milk: The Weight Loss Drug
Lose Weight - Grab A Glass
---------------------------------------- In childhood, we heard it: Drink a glass of milk at every meal. Now TV commercials are touting weight-loss effects of milk and other dairy products. Can dairy actually keep weight under control? How is that even possible?
Michael Zemel, PhD, director of Nutrition Institute at University of Tennessee at Knoxville, has published numerous papers on this subject. He outlines his latest research in January 2003 Journal of Nutrition, mouse studies showing role of calcium in weight gain and fat storage.
Too many people drop dairy from their diets when they try to lose weight, he says. "They're shooting themselves in foot when they do that. Dairy products contain literally hundreds of compounds that all have a positive effect on human health and enhance fat-burning machinery," he explains.
Milk The Why & How
---------------------------------------- "When we cut dairy products, we send body a signal, to make more fat," says Zemel. "When your body is deprived of calcium, it begins conserving calcium. That mechanism prompts your body to produce higher levels of a hormone called calcitriol, and that triggers an increased production of fat cells."
High levels of calcitriol "tell" fat cells to store themselves in body, he says. This increase in calcitriol also "tells" fat cells to expand, he says. "So you're getting bigger, fatter fat cells. And a lot of big, fat cells makes for a big, fat person."
Extra calcium in your diet suppresses this hormone, he says. Your body breaks down more fat, and fat cells become leaner, trimmer. A high-dairy diet can boost weight loss by about 70%.
But wait, there's more. "It turns out that milk, cheese, and yogurt are much more effective than calcium supplements or calcium-fortified foods," Zemel says. Why? Dairy products are a complex collection of compounds. Like phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables, there's more than vitamins and minerals in dairy products. "They are not classically nutrients, but are recognized as having beneficial effects."
Fat Calories Still Count, But Calcium Will Change Your Body Composition
----------------------------------------- Dairy isn't a weight-loss miracle, says Zemel. Calories still count. But even if you don't restrict calories, taking in more calcium will change your body composition. You're shifting calories from fat to lean body mass. "On scales, you may not see a change. But we've seen a loss of body fat," he says.
"We need to think of milk as more than a calcium-delivery vehicle," he says. "It's more than just calcium. It's high-quality protein, a collection of amino acids that provides positive effects on skeleton, muscle, and fat."
Zemel's research holds water, says Lara Hassan, MS, a nutritionist with Cooper Clinic in Dallas. Indeed, "studies are showing that high calcium increases fat oxidation or fat burning, and that results in greater fat loss, and weight loss if it's a reduced-calorie diet.".
She cites one study in which obese men consumed two cups of low-fat yogurt a day, and made no other changes in their diet. They lost an average of 11 pounds over course of a year.
Water Heavy Foods Tell Your Brain You're Full
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Tomato juice, tomato soup, vegetable soup, water-heavy foods like these seem to trigger receptors in stomach that tell brain you're sufficiently fed, says Barbara Rolls, PhD, a professor at Pennsylvania State University and author of The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories.
