Posted on by

Over 45 yrs old? Try the “Water Before Meal” Diet

5 Replies

Here’s yet another potential diet. Drink 2 glasses of water before every meal, and you’ll lose weight. That’s what a 12 week study has shown in middle aged people. They lost more weight than a control group that did not drink water. Both groups lost weight as they were instructed to follow a low fat, low calorie diet.

The caveat, according to the researchers at the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech, is that you need to be “middle aged” for this simple trick to work. Young people’s metabolism is a bit faster and as a result the stomach starts to empty the water immediately as it enters. In older folks, the water stays in the stomach a bit longer, thus promoting a sense of fullness that reduces the feeling of hunger and ultimately the amount of food consumed.

We’re big fans of water, regardless of this study. If you are looking for the easiest and fastest way to start shedding pounds, make water your only drink. No sodas, juices, energy drinks, or frappuchinos. (OK, you can make exceptions, but you get the point…). Tap water is really cheap too, saving up hundreds of dollars for you to buy fresh tasty vegetables and fruits.

Get Fooducated: RSS Subscription or Email Subscription

Get Fooducated

Download APP

Subscribe

Follow

  • http://www.rebeccascritchfield.wordpress.com rebecca

    Actually this is a harmful strategy! Even people who need to lose weight for health reasons should avoid this. It increases fullness so you eat less at a meal but then you get hungry again more quickly which can be frustrating and cause a person to avoid eating when hungry. We have a hormone driven hunger/fullness cycle and this “water flush” before a meal would disrupt that. Really bad idea… Like all diets!

  • Robert

    I’m very disappointed with this post.

    Four pounds. Did you not notice that? What the hell is so great about 4 lbs? The group that didn’t drink water lost 11 lbs while the other lost 15. I don’t think that’s enough to matter.

    Furthermore, what’s your empirical basis for the statement, “If you are looking for the easiest and fastest way to start shedding pounds”? This study involved two group that were ON A DIET. They didn’t jump start anything with a glass of water. You have no basis for that statement from this study.

    Try harder next time, please.

  • http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com Ken Leebow

    Water … As a former soda drinker, once you drink only water for about a year and then taste soda … soda tastes horrible.

    While there are no scientific studies to prove this, I believe even diet soda causes weight-gain. It’s the palate-cleansing theory.

  • dezi

    fooducate emphasized “over 45 years old” but the study says “over 55.” whew. i hardly thought 45 was middle age. isn’t it the new 30?

  • http://www.westcoyotehills.org Cindy Cotter

    The scientist who did the research didn’t say water helps make you feel full. She said both groups consumed the same number of calories and she doesn’t know why the water-drinking group lost more weight.

    As for the question of how much weight was lost by each group, I think it’s interesting that people in the water-drinking group continued to drink water even when the 3-month study was over and continued to lose weight over the next 9 months. The control group gained back a couple of pounds, so the difference at the end of a year was 8 pounds. I wonder how both groups fare after two years, or five.