A new Havard study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine recently, supports the notion of how lifestyle interventions such as small changes in eating, exercise, and other healthy habits can result in large changes in body weight over time. This study tracked 120,877 well-educated men and women who were at healthy weights at the beginning of study for 12-20 years.
Their findings showed that processed foods such as french fries, pop, processed meats, and white refined grains resulted in long term weight gain. Whereas good, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low fat dairy products resulted in weight loss or weight maintenance. Other factors they examined were sleep, alcohol intake, television time, and smoking.
This large, long term study showed us that small changes in diet and exercise can truly result in improved health. For those people that count calories, you can be at rest that making healthy choices, practicing portion control, and engaging in regular activity can truly enhance your health and well-being and you do not necessarily have to count calories for life!
You can view the study at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1014296
or read an article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/health/19brody.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&ref=health
-Kelsey
