Light lunch promotes weight loss - Stuff.co.nz
Losing weight could be as simple as eating a smaller serving at lunch alone, according to a new study.
Testing the behavioural response to the consumption of a low calorie lunch, researchers from Cornell University found that eating a small lunch does not necessarily mean more will be eaten at dinner.
The small study recruited 17 people whose food was provided to them from Monday through Friday over a five week period. For 10-days their lunch was restricted to a 250-calorie, portion controlled, commercially available meal - not a specialist diet replacement. They were instructed to eat as much as they wished at the other meals of the day.
At the end of this period, researchers found this group had not eaten more calories than usual in subsequent meals to compensate for the lower calorie lunch, nor did they report an increase in hunger prior to dinner. They had also lost a small amount of weight (500 grams at the end of the 10 days).
The findings will be published in the October edition of the journal Appetite.
"The results confirm that humans do not regulate energy intake with any precision," study co-author Professor David Levitsky said in an interview on the university's website.
But Sydney dietitian Susie Burrell says losing weight isn't that simple for many people. The study assessed people with an average BMI of 21.2, which is considered 'normal weight'. These people are better able to self-regulate their food intake than those who are overweight.
"At some point the overweight person has stopped self-regulating their food intake, they are eating much more than they need and hence their natural cues are not working properly," she says.
For those with weight issues, a 250-calorie can of soup, which was one of the foods available to study participants, would not be enough to provide that physical and emotional feeling of fullness at lunch time, resulting in them being hungry an hour or two later.
The key is to add bulk in the form of salad or vegetables to contribute to that feeling of fullness.
Burrell recommends a calorie intake for lunch of no more than 400 for an overweight woman.
"They key thing to calorie control is to make sure that the component of low-calorie food is there at meal time," she says.
The researchers noted that further investigation is warranted into the food-regulatory behaviour of this group.
- Sydney Morning Herald
01 Sep, 2011--
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