Currently, most people who want to lose weight run away from carbohydrates and everything that may seem sweet. Sugar and fat have become the enemies to beat for those who want to lose kilos, in pursuit of protein in all its forms.
However, this generality does little favor to those who want to lose a few kilos or, simply, be healthy. In fact, most people who are on a diet never imagined that a food as sweet and tasty as honey would help them lose weight. But that’s the way it is, since it has been scientifically proven that honey helps the body fight obesity and maintain constant weight loss.
Why does honey help us lose weight?
Honey, which is a natural sweetener produced by Apis mellifera bees, is always recommended for weight loss plans, especially as a substitute for artificial sweeteners and for its magnificent nutritional composition. A serving of 100 grams of honey contains:
- Calories: 304
- Protein: 0.3g
- Fat: 0g
- Total Carbs: 82.4g
- Fiber: 0.2g
Obviously, you are not going to drink a jar of honey in one sitting, but if you are thinking about it, do not do it, since, like avocado, honey is very caloric, and although the consumption of both is indicated to lose weight, if we go too much can impede weight loss.
But, if we consume it normally, we can use it to our advantage and lose weight faster. In this regard, a scientific review carried out in 2012 discovered that the consumption of honey was indicated to treat obesity, among other ailments and diseases such as stress, weakness, bad breath, dermatitis, cough and asthma, sleep disorders, diarrhea or vomiting, among others.
Additionally, a 2018 study found that consuming raw honey could promote weight loss due to its protective effects against obesity. In addition, the study reported that experimental animal studies showed that rats consuming honey gained less weight than those consuming sucrose.
Similarly, 7-day-old rats were fed cane syrup and honey with identical nutritional values and then monitored. After that, it was found that those who consumed syrup accumulated more visceral fat than those fed with honey. Other investigations carried out in humans have determined that honey has the ability to regulate and reduce glucose, as well as cholesterol.
Although research on this is lacking, honey consumption is believed to promote weight loss by reducing the accumulation of visceral adipose tissue.
Avocado, another caloric food that helps us lose weight
As we said, most people who are on a diet avoid high-calorie foods, fats, and carbohydrates, when, in reality, each food behaves differently in the body. We have seen it with honey and more or less the same thing happens with avocados or nuts, as we tell you in THE OBJECTIVE.
Because avocados are relatively high in fat (about 77% of their calories come from fat), they are also high in calories. A whole medium-sized piece can have around 250 calories. A high figure if we compare it with the 70 kcal of an apple or the 65 kcal of an orange. And while there are many factors that can contribute to weight gain, the most important factor is the number of calories one consumes throughout the day.
However, the high amount of fat and fiber that the avocado presents makes it a very satiating food, so it can make you eat less during the day. In this regard, a study found that people who consumed them regularly were up to 9% less likely to become overweight or obese over a period of 4 to 11 years compared to people who did not.
Another investigation determined that eating an avocado a day helps to eliminate abdominal fat, and this other one, carried out in rodents, concluded that including an extract of this fruit in the diet caused the animals to gain less body weight.
As we can see, just as it happens with honey, there is a lot of research in this regard, but in general terms it has not been proven that avocados help to lose weight, nor that they make us gain weight. What is clear is that including honey and avocado in our daily diet contributes to better health and avoid obesity in the long term.