The Two Diet Foods That Are Making You Fat

     If you want to lose weight, and especially lose troublesome belly fat or love handles, you need to know about the two "diet" foods that may be making you fatter.

People drink diet soda thinking it is less "fattening" than regular soda. While it does have fewer calories, the artificial sweeteners in diet soda have been shown to stimulate your appetite, increase your craving for sweets, and increase your fat storage hormone levels. Yikes! So diet drinks actually make you eat more calories in the long run and have your body storing those calories as fat.

Studies have found that there is a direct correlation between drinking diet soda and obesity. Ironically, overweight people believe they are overweight SO they should drink diet soda. But the truth is that they are overweight, at least partially, BECAUSE they drink diet soda.

According to one study, you have a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink you drink each day. So drink 6 cans a day, and your chances of being overweight increases 246%!

Drinking sweet drinks all day contributes to what I call "chaotic eating" and a higher consumption of junk food calories. Ever notice when you drink something sweet, it makes you want to eat something salty like potato chips? And when you eat salty snacks, it makes you want to drink something sweet? Why do you think they give you free peanuts or pretzels at happy hour? To make you buy more drinks! This is your body's way of balancing your fluid and salt levels.

Do you eat snack bars, energy bars, or meal replacement bars? Check the label. Almost all of them have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as one of the first ingredients. When you consume HFCS, your body doesn't register that you've eaten anything, so it doesn't satisfy your hunger at all - it actually makes you hungrier. HFCS does this by inhibiting secretion of two important hormones. The first is leptin, which tells your body to burn fat, not to store it, and gherin, which tells your body that you have eaten and you are full.

I used to snack on these types of bars regularly. When I learned about how bad high fructose corn syrup was I gave them up. (It wasn't easy - I think I was addicted to them!) But interestingly, not only did I start losing weight as soon as I eliminated them from my diet, I was able to lose belly fat - fat that I'd been trying to lose for years with diet and exercise. But the most amazing thing I noticed is that I wasn't hungry all the time like I used to be and didn't crave sweets as much. My experience was exactly what the experts said - eating high fructose corn syrup makes you hungry.

In case you are considering replacing diet soda with regular soda, bear in mind that soda is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup so will also have the negative effects of stimulating your appetite, increasing your craving for sweets, and increasing your fat storage hormone levels, too.

So why not try eliminating soda and "bars" from your diet and see what happens. You may find you start lose weight and start to get rid of belly fat or love handles by just making these two changes to your diet.

1. Prev:How Can I Get Rid Of Fat Thighs Fast
2. Next:How To Lose 10 Pounds A Week: Diet For Fast Fat Loss