The truth is that there is no quick-fix solution; instead healthy weight loss involves a myriad of different strategies aimed at improving dietary, lifestyle and psychological factors.

A recent study has shown the importance of chewing food for successful weight loss; a factor which is often completely overlooked in most weight management plans, but may be an important tip to pass on to anyone trying to cut bodyfat.

Details of the small study were published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  The study involved 13 people with an average age of 24 who were randomly assigned to chew 55g of almonds 10, 25 or 40 times. Blood was collected and appetite was monitored for three hours after eating.

Results showed that chewing 40 times was found to suppress hunger and elevate the feeling of fullness more than 25 chews. Levels of the appetite-suppressing hormones glucagons-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) were significantly higher following 40 chews, compared to 25 chews. Insulin concentrations were also observed to decline faster after 25 and 40 chews than after 10 chews.

Study author Richard Mattes commented, “This new almond research indicates that chewing more thoroughly may increase the availability of unsaturated fat and previous research suggests smaller particle size also impacts the availability of other nutrients present in the fat, like vitamin E to the body”.

“These findings also emphasise the importance of examining chewing in the context of a weight management plan because participants reported their hunger was suppressed and their fullness was enhanced as a result of increased chewing of the almonds.”

Sources:

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2009, Vol 89, Pages: 794-800; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26669
Cassady, Hollis et al. Mastication of almonds: effects of lipid bioaccessibility, appetite, and hormone response

www.nutraingredients.com

It ascribes antecedence to the drop in vitamin D levels that starts with the cold ambient temperatures and food scarcity of the low-sun winter months. The need for increased metabolic activity to generate and store heat under these cold conditions could be a problem as it may deplete vital fat mass, which confers a survival advantage in such a climate by reducing surface area-to-volume ratio and by providing an energy store in the form of fat mass.

The team, based in Surrey, proposed that the body uses the natural decrease in vitamin D that occurs during winter as a signal for the accumulation of fat mass and therefore body size. Of course it makes practical sense that we get fatter in the winter and again it shows how our species that has evolved over millions of years still takes many of its cues to controlling metabolism from the environment. However, in the modern era where food is plentiful this could be contributing to the rising levels of obesity. As a guy who is known for helping clients to lose weight I think I am going to step outside right now and soak up a few rays.
In my practise I make sure that everyone I see has a 25OH Vitamin D blood test in October to assess vitamin D status moving into autumn/winter. From these results I can decide who needs vitamin D supplements and what the dose should be.

Naturopath Benjamin Brown gave a great short talk for Nutri, which is available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVv2s0_YIlQ), indicating appropriate dosages and its well worth a watch. Vitamin D is toxic at high levels leading to hyper-calceamia in the blood, so it is important on high dosages to regularly test. I test about every 3 months. I use Iso D3 from Nutri which is cost-effective and gives a 3 month supply at a dosage of 2000IU per day.

Click here to buy Iso D3 online TODAY

Sources:

(Med Hypotheses. 2009 Mar;72(3):314-21. E pub 2008 Dec 2).