Finally, a Diet that Allows Cheese!

Cheese is deliciously satisfying, but typically people on diets feel forced to give it up in order to lose weight. However, high calcium dairy foods such as cheese have recently been found to aid in weight loss rather than restrict it. A recent study by Michael Zemel, PhD, head of the University of Tennessee Nutrition Department, involved putting obese men and women on three different 24-week diets specific to dairy and calcium, which all lowered their daily caloric intake by 500 calories. The group of participants who were instructed to incorporate high calcium dairy foods into their diets lost the most weight: on average 5.5 more pounds than the group that increased calcium intake through pills to about 1,100 milligrams, and 10 more pounds than the group that consumed only 500 milligrams of calcium per day. In addition, participants in the dairy group lost 66.2 percent of fat from the belly area, while participants on the low calcium diet lost only 7.9 percent of fat from the belly. Since belly fat is considered the most lethal fat in the body and is linked to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, it is the most important to lose. Of course there are people who are lactose intolerant or don’t digest dairy well, but if you can handle it, the dairy diet may be the diet for you. And it should go without saying that the dairy products you choose should be low-fat or fat-free.