The bacteria that lives in all of our guts may explain why we’re fat. Farmers fatten up their livestock by feeding them antibiotics and when we eat meat and poultry, this may make US fat too.
When scientists fed young mice a steady low dose of antibiotics, they altered the composition of the bacteria in the animals’ guts. This changed the way they broke down the food they ate and made them fatter.
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A weight researcher claims that dieters have less hunger and cravings throughout the day and are better able to keep off lost weight if they eat dessert after breakfast.
Endocrinologist Daniela Jakubowicz says, "The goal of a weight loss diet should be not only weight reduction but also reduction of hunger and cravings, thus helping prevent weight regain." She and her team studied nearly 200 nondiabetic obese adults who were randomly assigned to eat one of two low-calorie diets. Both diets had the same number of daily calories–about 1,600 for men and 1,400 for women–but differed mainly in what they ate immediately afterwards.
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If you’re distressed about your big belly–which seems to be the place we gain weight the most as we get older–you can now be reassured. A fatty membrane in the belly called the omentum has until recently been considered somewhat like the appendix–it didn’t seem to serve much purpose. But researchers have found that the omentum appears to play an important role in regulating the immune system. The omentum is a membrane that lines the abdominal cavity and covers most abdominal organs. It is a repository for fat tissue.
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If you’re eating too many fatty foods, your brain will change (one thing that may happen is you’ll start to FIGHT with your spouse!) A high-fat diet causes new brain cells to sprout in an area of the brain that seems to regulate eating. It works that way in mice, anyway: If the researchers stopped the new brain-cell growth, the mice gained less weight and stayed more active, even while eating a "supersized" diet.
We already know that high-fat diets aren’t healthy, but here’s some positive news: Popcorn is GOOD for You!
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