The Biggest Loser - It's the Calories, Silly

EXCLUSIVES | Healthy Eating

It's the Calories, Silly

Dipping your bread in olive oil may keep you from eating the whole loaf

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by Gloria McVeigh, Prevention magazine

Food specialists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign wondered if the popularity of serving olive oil with restaurant bread plates might lead people to overindulge, since the best fats in the world are bad for you if they lead to eating too many calories--possibly Americans' most deadly dietary vice.

So they gave 341 Italian restaurant diners equal amounts of bread and either olive oil or butter. Although the olive-oil group ate 26 percent more fat on each bread slice than the butter group (4.4 vs. 3.7 g), the butter-eaters ate more slices of bread, and so they ended up eating 17 percent more calories overall. The word? Besides protecting your heart, olive oil may keep you from picking the breadbasket clean.

Courtesy of BiggestLoserClub.com