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If reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes aren't incentive enough to swap your white bread for brown, how about a slimmer middle? Whole grains not only fill you up, they target belly fat, doubling the reduction in dangerous visceral fat, the kind that swamps your internal organs and monkeys with your metabolism.
Scientists from Pennsylvania State put 50 obese test subjects on a low-calorie diet -- but only instructed half the group to swap refined grains for whole grains. At the end of the three-month study, all dieters lost weight (8-11 lbs), but the whole-grain group lost over twice as much belly fat. To copy their results opt for oats and other whole grain cereals; choose whole grain pasta, brown rice and bread.
For more ways to whittle that waist, why not try...
- Strength training: Overweight women who lifted weights twice weekly reduced fat transfer to the midsection.
- Yoga: A study involving over 15,000 subjects found that yoga helped check middle-aged spread. Yoga helps reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, associated with increased abdominal fat.
- Activity every day: Researchers found that active rats denied access to their exercise wheel for just two days gained the most fat in the abdomen.
- Cutting trans fats: Researchers found that monkeys fed trans fat ended up with dramatically more belly fat than a control group, even when calories were the same.
- Drink in moderation: Binge drinking is linked to wider waistlines. Brazilian researchers comparing beer and wine drinkers found the former were fatter around the middle.
