Diets have traditionally been concerned with restricting food but breakthrough research has revealed that certain foods can actually aid in weight loss—in fact, if study participants ate more of these foods, they lost more weight. To learn more about these foods and why they result in weight loss, I am joined by professor, pioneering researcher, and author Dr. Neal Barnard.
Dr. Barnard describes three main properties that make certain foods powerful for weight loss. Some tame the appetite. Others, especially those high in fiber, help absorb food in the digestive tract to act as “calorie trappers.” Lastly, some foods activate cellular pathways to boost metabolism naturally. When taken in combination, these power foods have the capacity to decrease the amount of fat in muscle cells, lower blood sugar, increase insulin sensitivity, and improve the gut microbiome.
“If a person follows healthful foods… and is able to use the appetite taming effect that they bring naturally, then all the other effects, the anti-diabetes effect, the cholesterol-lowering effect, the anti-cancer effect, the anti-dementia effect, all come in as well. So yes, eating less is good, but there are better ways, in my view, to do it.”
So, how can we incorporate power foods into our daily routine? Which foods may not be as healthy as we think for weight loss?And which ones maximally activate our GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) system, the same system stimulated by popular weight loss drugs? Listen to the full episode to learn why the foods we eat are just as important as how much we eat.
Here are the details of our conversation:
[00;02;01;10] Early research on foods for weight loss
[00;04;23;15] Properties of power foods
[00;05;16;22] Calorie trapping
[00;07;56;19] How much fiber do we need?
[00;08;57;21] How to incorporate fiber into your diet
[00;09;51;25] The Power Foods Diet cookbook
[00;11;20;25] Foods to boost metabolism
[00;15;01;17] Pathways for metabolism-boosting foods
[00;17;53;19] Animal fat vs. plant fat
[00;20;28;27] Improving insulin resistance
[00;21;21;22] “Health foods” that impede weight loss
[00;24;17;02] Testing the Mediterranean diet
[00;26;34;02] GLP-1 medications
[00;29;41;04] Medication in combination with lifestyle
