Living Well, issue 29

Health is the new wealth. Here are some suggestions for building a portfolio of long-term good-health investments.

It’s elementary

It’s a new year and you wouldn’t be the only one with weight-loss and fitness-related resolutions. According to anti-aging medicine expert Dr Maoshing Ni, the following five simple weight-loss tips could kick-start your progress towards long-term health and help banish the kilos forever.

Drink more water. Not revolutionary this one but, despite the doubters, drinking about eight glasses of water a day, preferably with sliced lemon, helps with fluid retention. Water is also a natural appetite suppressant.

Eat more soup. According to Dr Mao, those who eat a serving of low-salt home-made soup daily lose more weight than those who eat the same number of calories but don’t eat soup.

Eat earlier. Foods are processed differently at different times of the day. Dr Mao recommends having dinner before 7pm whenever possible and eating the bulk of your daily fats and proteins at breakfast and lunch.

Eat less more often. Five small meals a day are recommended, two of them in the form of healthy trail mix.

Go for balance. Forget the fad diets. Strict diets rob the body of nutrients and play havoc with self-esteem.

Pump iron

Weightlifting can cure middle-age spread. An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that premenopausal women who pumped iron twice a week for a period of two years decreased their body fat, including intra-abdominal fat, by an average of 3.7 percent.

G&T woes

Want to take the lighter approach to alcoholic bubbles this summer? Swap your G&T for a glass of Champagne. A glass of regular tonic contains about as much sugar as a couple of glazed doughnuts. Champagne has less than half the calories.

Full of flavour

Vinegar not only adds flavour, it helps you feel fuller. A Swedish study found that people who consumed up to two tablespoons in one sitting (with bread dipped into it) had 25 percent lower insulin and glucose levels than those who ate plain bread.

The researchers say that ascetic acid found in all types of vinegar slows the rate at which the stomach empties. The buzz regarding its effectiveness is so great that super-slim celebrities such as Heidi Klum, Fergie and many others reputedly drink a shot before meals to avoid temptation.

Feeling hirsute?

Spearmint may be the answer. Turkish researchers have found that women suffering from embarrassing abnormal hair growth may be helped by drinking tea made from dried spearmint leaves. The mint is thought to lower the levels of testosterone – associated with the hair growth – in their bloodstreams.

Photos: istock/Ivan Bliznetsov/Mark Gillow. dreamstime/Edie Layland/Liv Friis-larsen/ Ed Isaacs/Mjutabor