The Simplest Trick of All to Enhance Weight Loss

Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,

How can we eat less? It’s the most important health question on the planet.

The plain fact is that most of us eat far too much. Once a problem confined to wealthy nations, it has gone worldwide:

This situation has horrific health consequences.

Type 2 diabetes often accompanies obesity. An estimated one in 10 adults worldwide will have Type 2 diabetes by 2030.

So… here are three simple ways to eat less without resorting to sheer willpower — an unreliable resource.

The first is one I’ve discussed before — eat more fat, especially healthy saturated fat. Saturated fat has a unique power to cut appetite.¹ That’s why butter, beef, coconut oil, and other foods rich in this vital nutrient should be eaten daily.

The second is to be sure to eat more nutrient-rich, unprocessed food, especially from organic vegetables. Foods rich in vitamins and minerals have been shown to be more filling.² This makes sense when you consider that a great deal of modern overeating is simply the body’s desperate attempt to get the nutrients it needs from hyperprocessed, nutrient-poor foods.

The Water Cure….

But here’s a third method that I find most intriguing and probably the simplest. Just drink more water.

A new large study that looked at the eating habits of more than 18,000 Americans found that whenever the study participants reported a boost in water consumption of 1 percent or more, they ate fewer daily calories.³

Specifically, people who boosted their daily water consumption by 1–3 cups every day dropped their intake by 68–205 calories. The also slashed their daily sugar consumption by anywhere from 5–18 grams.

For every 1 percent boost in plain water consumption, the participants ate 8.6 fewer calories.

“Plain water” in the study included tap water or water from a cooler, drinking fountain, or bottle.

Can You Trust It?

This study looked at data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In it, participants recalled everything they ate or drank over the course of two days.

Then, from three–10 days later, they were asked once again to recall what they had consumed over the last two days.

To judge the variation in water consumption, researchers compared four of these two-day survey “waves.”

It’s true that “retrospective” studies like this, which require people to recall what they’ve consumed for the last few days, can be unreliable. Most of us overestimate the amount of healthful food we have consumed and underestimate the bad stuff.

But this study is an apples-to-apples comparison — in other words, the participants were being compared with themselves, which would effectively cancel the exaggeration effect. There’s no obvious reason why these people should have exaggerated their consumption of a “good” beverage like water in one survey wave and failed to exaggerate it in another.

Bottom Line:

Whether you believe it or not, what’s wonderful about this conclusion is testing it lies within easy reach for everyone. If you wish to lose weight, simply consider the quantity of water you drink in a day and add from 1–3 cups to that.

Personally, this is one of my favorite methods of weight loss. When I get hungry, I resist the normal reflex to grab a snack. Instead, I drink about 12 ounces of water. I often find that I was actually thirsty rather than hungry, and that the water has an amazingly satiating effect.

When the water stops satiating — that’s the time to eat.

Sincerely,

Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions

Citations

1. Maljaars J, Romeyn EA, Haddeman E, Peters HP, Masclee AA. Effect of fat saturation on satiety, hormone release, and food intake. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009

2. Fuhrman J, Sarter B, Glaser D, Acocella S. Changing perceptions of hunger on a high nutrient density diet. Nutr J. 2010

3. An R, Mccaffrey J. Plain water consumption in relation to energy intake and diet quality among US adults, 2005-2012. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2016