What Your Cravings ACTUALLY Reveal About Your Health
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A new scientific study shows you eat 500 calories more a day when you eat ultra processed foods – even if you match the fat, salt and sugar content to home-made foods. So if you love cookies,  it’s better to eat home-made cookies if you want to lose weight.

You will naturally eat less cookies, and still feel happy and full. Talk about a sugar rush!

This is especially good news if you’re trying to lose weight after giving birth (breastfeeding makes you so hungry) or you’re trying to lose fat after age 40. when your metabolism naturally slows a little.

Scientists with the National Institutes of Health, found people ate very differently when they were given meals of processed or unprocessed foods. And it wasn’t just because processed food is more sweet and delicious, either.

Even if the fat, salt, fibre and sugar content was the same, people still ate about 508 calories more per day of the processed foods, especially at breakfast and lunch.

Those extra calories can cause weight gain of one kilogram a week!

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How much weight can you lose in a week doing this?

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Here’s the maths: 3,500 calories equals about 0.45 kilogram of fat. So you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose that much weight. So, in general, if you eat 500 calories a day more than you need, you gain half a kilo of fat in one week.

But if you eat 500 calories a day less –  you can potentially lose that half a kilo of fat in one week.

To give you an idea, 500 calories is around one serving of Singapore Curry Chicken, or a plate of Hainanese Chicken rice, from the hawker centre.

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Scientists think there’s something in the mix of fat, corn syrup, preservatives and lower fiber in these “untra-processed foods” that makes your body want to eat more.

Somehow it switches off the link between your brain and stomach that says “I’m full. Totally fine to stop eating now.” But scientists admit they’re not sure exactly how it all works.

It’s especially a problem with “shelf-stable” foods – foods that don’t need refrigeration. Think of those cookies and buns that sit on the shelf at the petrol station. Somehow they stay okay to eat for years! What dark sorcery does that?

The takeaway from this? 

By cooking or baking some of your favorite foods and snacks, you can potentially eat 500 calories less a day. This can help you lose up to one kilo of fat a week.

It’s obviously smart to snack sensibly. But  you don’t have to take up jogging or starve yourself to lose weight… just bake your own curry puffs or make your own Singapore-style dessert.

Here are 10 of the most popular foods in Singapore, that you can easily make at home

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