Effective weight loss requires eating fewer calories than you burn off daily. Although some foods can hinder weight loss, vinegar may help lower your overall caloric intake and shed pounds. However, balsamic vinegar will only help you lose weight if used as part of a reduced-calorie meal plan.
While balsamic vinegar is a fairly low-calorie food, the calories in it are mainly from sugar. The good news is a 1-tablespoon portion of balsamic vinegar contains just 14 calories, which can help you control your overall caloric intake when used in place of higher-calorie salad dressings such as Italian, ranch, French or Thousand Island dressings. For example, 1 tablespoon of French dressing provides about 73 calories and a 1-tablespoon portion of ranch dressing contains 63 calories.
Vinegar intake helps decrease body weight, body fat and triglyceride levels in obese men, according to a study published in 2009 in"Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry." Study subjects who lost weight consumed 15 to 30 milliliters -- equivalent to about 1 to 2 tablespoons and 14 to 28 calories of vinegar daily for 12 weeks.
Subjects who ate vinegar had lower visceral fat and smaller waist circumferences than study subjects who did not consume vinegar.
Though rare, there's potential for health problems if you eat too much vinegar -- and you won't lose weight eating balsamic vinegar if your overall caloric intake is too high. A review published in 2006 in"Medscape General Medicine" reports that inflammation and injury to the esophagus has happened in isolated cases after ingestion of vinegar.
Though vinegar may aid in weight loss, if you're burning off more calories than you eat daily you won't effectively shed pounds. In general, consuming balsamic vinegar -- in moderation -- will not be problematic during weight loss.
There are many ways to incorporate balsamic vinegar into a diet. Try topping vegetable or mixed-green salads with balsamic vinegar instead of higher-calorie dressings. Add it to tomato and mozzarella salads -- or salads made with tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and olives. Use balsamic vinegar as a marinade for poultry, pork, salmon, tofu, eggplant or roasted vegetables.
Add it to three-bean salads containing green beans, chick peas, kidney beans and onions -- or put it in homemade lentil soup. Sauté asparagus or mushrooms using balsamic vinegar. You can even top fresh fruits -- such as strawberries and mangos -- with balsamic vinegar.
Unless you're still getting your nutrition advice from the best selling fad diet books of the'80s and'90s, you are probably clued in about the fact that fats play an important role in a healthy diet.
It's a major reason olive oil is so treasured by healthy eating experts. Not only is olive oil full of monounsaturated fatty acids, it's also a fantastic source of antioxidants and is linked to lowering inflammation. It's also great for your heart, and research published earlier this year at the Journal of the American College of Cardiology proves that it truly doesn't take much to benefit from it.
The study looked at health and dietary data from over 90,000 adults over the span of 24 years, with checkins each four years. During the study period, there have been almost 10,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease (like strokes and coronary heart disease). After adjusting for diet and lifestyle variables, the researchers found that individuals who consumed more olive oil had a 14 percent lower risk for heart disease compared with people who used no olive oil.
Additionally, those who consumed at least five grams of olive oil each day (that Harvard Health equates to a half tablespoon) instead of butter, margarine, or mayonnaise had a 5 to 7 percent reduced risk of total cardiovascular disease or coronary heart disease.
Though you may already use olive oil into top off a salad or roasted veggies, then it has many more potential uses in your kitchen, especially as an easy swap (in many cases) for butter.
Butter isn't inherently unhealthy, but it is high in saturated fats and low in the unsaturated fatty acids found in olive oil, and that means that it is best used in moderation.
Not all fats are created equally. Research has shown that replacing unhealthy saturated or trans fats with healthy monounsaturated fatty acids can reduce both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, which brings down your risk for heart disease.
While sometimes you just want to slather a slice of banana nut bread with butter and nothing else will do, there are times when switching it out for olive oil won't just be just as tasty but more healthy.
You are aware that belief that olive oil can't withstand a higher heat? Now that's a total myth. We specifically choose light or pure olive oils, which are assume to have higher smoke points than extra virgin varieties due to their additional refining.
(But, there is some evidence that the very low smoke stage reputation of olive oil is actually a myth, and that it can withstand higher cooking temperatures without affecting taste or color of food) This means you can use olive oil for way more than just a finishing oil.
Olive oil can be a healthy sub for canola oil or butter in virtually any baked good. In addition, it provides a wonderful fruity flavor that can add a layer of sweetness.
Even though it's common to use olive oil on top of veggies, for some reason many don't believe to add it on top of fruit.
Infusing your olive oil with healthy herbs, can keep them on hand to use as needed, like as dipping oil for warm, crusty bread
Once again, it doesn't take much olive oil to benefit from its heart-healthy powers, so small swaps like these really go a very long way.
