Diet and Mood

• A low-fat diet not only makes you look good, it makes you feel good. An Australian study released in the November 9, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine followed two separate groups of dieters, both of whom consumed about the same number of daily calories. One followed a typical low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. The other followed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. While both groups were found to have lost about the same amount of weight, a key difference emerged. Those that followed the low-fat diet reported a higher long-term improvement in mood.
  
  

Fiber and Belly Fat

• An apple a day can keep an apple shaped body away. The November 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition features a University of California-Los Angeles study that found that just a small increase in daily fiber--as little as six grams a day--had a significant impact on the amount of belly fat of Latino adolescents and teens. Over the course of the two-year study, subjects who increased their fiber intake saw a 4 percent reduction of belly fat, while those who did not increase their fiber intake saw a 21 percent increase in belly fat over the same period. They are looking to do further studies on other ethnic and age groups to see if the results are similar.
  
  

Food Diaries

• Words do have power, so keep a food diary. A recent study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found that dieters that kept a food diary actually doubled their weight loss. Food diaries help to keep you honest and can help you to spot patterns that lead to binge eating. Plus, it helps you keep track of the little nibbles here and there that can affect the amount of weight lost and the motivation to stay on track.
  
  

Weekend Binging

• Everybody's working for the weekend--so they can blow their diet. Weekends are a time when people eat out, which leads to larger portion sizes and overeating. They also consume more calories per day during the weekend than on weekdays. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered that the dieters they followed for a year would regularly overeat on Saturdays, some to the point of totally undoing their weight loss for the week.