Lose Weight by Eating Oats

If you need to trim down, eat up more oatmeal and oatbran! Oats are loaded with soluble and insoluble fibers that will keep your cholesterol and sugar levels in check. As this helps keep your weight down, oats will keep your energy up for your exercise program. Here's exactly how good oats are if you are trying to lose weight:

Oats are high in the soluble fiber beta-glucan which has been proven to lower cholesterol. When soluble oat fibers pass through your digestive tract, it turns into a gel that traps cholesterol-containing acids. Instead of your body absorbing the cholesterol, it is excreted as waste.

On top of this, oats contain high levels of tocotrienols which stop cholesterol synthesis. All the high-fiber, cholesterol-zapping power of oats will definitely help trim down your tummy.

In one study, participants who ate 43 to 85 grams of oat bran daily for 6 weeks lowered total cholesterol by 20 percent and bad (LDL) cholesterol by 25 percent.

But cholesterol is not the only thing oats can diminish. Oats can also help regulate your blood sugar. The beta-glucan fiber in oats also slows down digestion - prolonging the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream. And many of us know how carbs - when they are converted into sugar inside our bodies - are the culprit for packing in the pounds.

If you are involved in an exercise regimen, even better. The exercise is of course great for speeding up weight loss. The oats help by being a great pre-work-out energy food. This is why many athletes make oats part of their diets. The oats help them work harder at their training.

Eating enough oats will also help reduce belly fat as it will make you have regular trips to the bathroom. This is essential to cleaning the gut and avoiding bloating. As a high density food, it is low calorie yet is heavy enough to make you feel full longer. Being satiated by good healthy oats means less appetite for less healthy - more fattening - foods.

New research shows children between 2 to 18 years of age who eat oatmeal regularly have a much lower risk for obesity. They are 50 percent less likely to become overweight.

Oats are definitely essential in a healthy diet for weight loss. For the average adult, all you need to reap all these benefits is about a cup of oats everyday.