Tips from Reader’s Digest

• Chew Gum:

Volunteers who chewed gum for 15 minutes each hour between lunch and a snack consumed 60 fewer calories from sweets than when they went gum-free.


• Vegetable Juice:

Here's a surprising way to supercharge any diet--and your health: Chug a glass of low-sodium vegetable juice every day. In a study of 81 overweight adults at risk for heart disease and diabetes, those who drank at least a cup of low-sodium V8 daily lost four pounds over 12 weeks, while those on the same reduced-fat diet who drank no juice lost one pound.


• Drop Sugary Drinks:

Calories from solid foods and liquids both add up, of course. But in a recent multicenter study, the only menu change that had a significant payoff for dieters was cutting back on sugary beverages, says lead author Benjamin Caballero, MD. Reducing intake by just one serving a day took a pound off after six months, enough to add up for people with a soda or fruit-drink habit.


• Green Tea:

Overweight or obese exercisers burned off three more pounds and 7 percent more belly fat when they drank green tea instead of another beverage with the same calories, according to a new multicenter study.


• More Sleep:

A study of 32 summer students at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas over three weeks showed that those who slept an extra two hours ate nearly 300 calories less.


• Mushrooms:

When ground beef was swapped out for mushrooms in lasagna, sloppy joes, and chili, adults consumed 400 fewer calories per day, according to a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study. Researchers estimate that if you sub mushrooms for ground meat in one meal every week, you can lose five pounds in a year.