Make your dinner more nutritious—and fire up its calorie-burning potential at the same time. All you need to do is take out refined grains and substitute them with whole grains, according to a new study out of Tufts University.
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The researchers split 81 people into two groups: One group ate a diet rich in whole grains, with a fibre content around 40 grams a day. The other consumed mostly refined grains, with only around half the fibre.
After 6 weeks, the researchers discovered that the people in the whole-grain diet lost an additional 100 calories per day—the equivalent burned during a brisk, 30 minute walk or by skipping a cookie, the study authors say in a press release.
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Substituting whole grains for refined grains—say, subbing in brown rice with your dinner instead of your usual white— increases calorie loss by reducing the calories you retain during digestion. The swap also tends to speed up metabolism.
Basically, you burn calories better even when you’re doing nothing, and you poop out more, too. How is that not winning?
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Credit much of that to the additional fibre in whole grains compared to low-fibre content of refined grains. According to the Mayo Clinic, dietary fibre isn’t digested by the body, but rather acts like a sweeper to move other material through your digestive system.
That makes your toilet time more productive. It also increases the efficiency of your body’s food processing system, and that provides a metabolism boost that helps you use and burn more calories.
