Slimming Down With Dairy

Conventional wisdom has been that the relatively high fat content of cheese, milk and other dairy foods is counterproductive to dieting. A number of recent studies suggest that everyday dairy consumption may actually help with weight loss. Researchers from Australia's New Curtin University of Technology had volunteers consume 5 serving of milk, cheese and yogurt daily as part of a restricted calorie diet. After 12 weeks, they not only lost weight and total fat mass, but lost a greater total percentage of abdominal fat.

The Bigger Picture: These scientists speculated that the protein, calcium and vitamin D content of dairy foods were the catalysts behind these impressive results. Keep in mind that the research group restricted their total caloric intake and consumed low-fat dairy selections. Of course, exercise would have helped. Which sets you up with another alternative for adding low-fat, low-calorie protein and calcium to your diet: Protein powders.