People always ask me if there are any dietary supplements or eating tips that actually work to help them lose weight faster – choices that go above and beyond proper food choices and exercise. There are many different supplements that I recommend, but let’s concentrate on just one today.
Fish oil is high in “good fats” called omega-3 fatty acids, and some Australian researchers have discovered that getting a daily dose of fish oil can help you shed extra weight. For this study, researchers worked with 68 people, all overweight or obese, for three months. The participants were split into four groups, none of which had to alter their normal diets. The first group was told to take daily fish oil and do moderate exercise three times a week. The second group had daily fish oil and no exercise. The third group took daily sunflower oil, plus participated in moderate exercise three times a week and the last group had daily sunflower oil and no exercise.
The fish-oil-plus-exercise group lost the most weight, an average of five pounds over the trial period, without changing their regular diets. None of the other groups lost any weight, not even the sunflower-oil-plus-exercise group.
Researchers believe that the fatty acids in fish oil step up your body’s fat-burning abilities, making your workouts more effective and helping you lose more weight.
There are several dietary rules that I also have all of my patients follow in conjunction with taking fish oil. The first is to consume protein at each meal. This assures that your blood sugar won’t spike up too quickly, which causes the body to overproduce the fat-storing hormone insulin. When you eat a meal that is devoid of protein, it tends to be naturally higher in starch or sugar, thus inducing insulin release and fat storage.
Another rule is to consume more of your daily calories earlier in the day and less towards the end. Numerous studies have shown that people who do so lose considerably more weight in the long run than those who pile on their calories later in the day. A similar study was done feeding two groups the same amount of calories a day, with one group consuming all their calories in two meals, while the other consumed six small meals. The group that ate the six small meals lost significantly more weight than the group that ate only two meals. So, my final rule is to eat multiple small meals throughout the day, as opposed to just two or three large ones.
So if you are having trouble losing weight, despite diet changes and exercising, start taking some fish oil, maybe two to three grams a day, and follow some of my dietary rules. The weight should start melting off in no time.
Dr. Frank Aieta is a board-certified and licensed Naturopathic Physician with a private practice in West Hartford, Conn. He specializes in the treatment of disease, using natural therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, spinal manipulation, clinical nutrition, herbal medicine and natural hormone balancing. He can be reached at 860-232-9662 or [email protected].