Need help losing more weight? Try adding this to your diet: A handful of prunes.
While it isn’t a miracle worker, say University of Liverpool researchers, they say that new evidence shows that prunes can boost your ability to lose more weight.
The research was recently presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“Maintaining a healthy diet is challenging,” says Jason Halford, a professor of experimental psychology and director of Human Ingestive Behavior Laboratory in Liverpool. “Along with fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit can provide a useful and convenient addition to the diet, especially as controlling appetite during dieting can be tough.”
The Details of the Study
Although dried fruits are not typically recommended because they often contain more sugar and calories, their study, headed by the university’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, showed that wasn’t necessarily the case. In their research, they recruited 100 people described as being overweight or obese whose fiber intake was low, putting them on a 12 week diet regimen. Not everyone followed the same diet, however: Some just ate healthy snacks and watched their calories, whereas other participants were instructed to eat up to 171g of prunes everyday.
When the study ended, they found that, not surprisingly, both groups lost weight. However, those who didn’t eat prunes lost 1.5kg, or around 3.3lbs. Those who ate prunes on a daily basis shed 1.1lbs more on average, however.
In addition, those who ate prunes reduce their waist size by 2.5cm, about 0.8cm more than those who simply watched their calories.
“These are the first data to demonstrate both weight loss and no negative side effects when consuming prunes as part of a weight management diet,” notes Jo Harrold, a Liverpool psychologist and lead researcher of the study. “Indeed in the long term they may be beneficial to dieters by tackling hunger and satisfying appetite; a major challenge when you are trying to maintain weight loss.”
Still, researchers emphasize that prunes alone won’t help you lose weight–you also need to practice good diet habits as well, such as reducing your caloric intake and staying active.
What You Should Do
If you’re trying to keep your calories low but still can’t get past that stubborn plateau, adding a handful of prunes to your diet could do a lot of good, according to recent research. As for the reasons why, it may all be due to its high fiber content–something that can reduce your appetite due to how it fills up the stomach. Be careful though: Prunes still have calories and overindulging can lead to weight gain, according to experts from LIVESTRONG.com.
Readers: Do you eat any other foods to suppress your appetite? If so, what are they?
Sources:
Eating Prunes Can Help Weight Loss, Say Researchers – News.liv.ac.uk
Study: Adding Prunes to Diet Can Increase Weight Loss – ScienceDaily.com
Eating Prunes to Lose Weight: What You Should Know – LIVESTRONG.com
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