Here's the best way to stay slim

Want to stay slim? Eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables daily to resist the temptation of waist-expanding treats that can make you obese, suggests a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher.

Want to stay slim? Eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables daily to resist the temptation of waist-expanding treats that can make you obese, suggests a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher. Prof Rajita Sinha and her colleagues at Yale University say that when supplies of glucose found in carbohydrates drop, people begin to lose their ability to control desire and their urge to eat increases,

The Daily Telegraph reported.

The lack of glucose, which is used to power the brain, makes people helpless against their urge to eat high-calorie foods, the researchers said. Obese people are particularly vulnerable, with even the slightest drop in glucose prompting irresistible crave for carbohydrates. These can be good carbs, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, brown rice, pasta, wholemeal bread, or bad varieties that include white bread, sugar, fizzy drinks, cakes, crisps and other packed snacks.



Ensuring the brain’s glucose levels do not drop could be the secret to staying slim, according to the study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Eating less, but often, could lower the chance of succumbing to temptation of high-calorie foods, particularly for obese people, the researchers said.



"The key seems to be eating healthy foods that maintain glucose levels. The brain needs its food," said Sinha. In the study, volunteers were given injections of glucose and their brains were scanned while they were shown pictures of high and low calorie foods, as well as other objects. When glucose levels were lower, two areas of the brain that regulate pleasure prompted the desire to eat while the prefrontal cortex which gives people self-control lost its ability to control the impulses.