worries solved

Your top nutrition questions answered

How can I burn more fat during my walks?

Q:

I‘ve been walking first thing in the morning because I read that exercising on an empty stomach can boost results. But I often end up feeling too light-headed and hungry to keep going. What do you recommend?

A:

You’re smart to ask. Research in the British Journal of Nutrition found that people who exercised on an empty stomach first thing in the morning burned 20 percent more fat than those who ate before exercising. That’s because the overnight fast depletes muscle cells’ stores of blood sugar, forcing the body to burn stored fat for fuel. But as you found, this state of low blood sugar can trigger hunger, nausea and light-headedness in some women.

Fortunately, it is possible to get the perks of fasted exercise without the wooziness. The secret: Sip a cup of coffee with 1 Tbs. of coconut oil stirred in before your walk. The caffeine and medium-chain fatty acids in this sip deliver quick-burning fuel to cells and stimulate the release of appetitesuppressing hormones to help you feel energized and full. But since the drink doesn’t raise blood sugar, muscles will still be forced to burn fat for fuel.

Anne’s sweet secret to slim

Busy actress Anne Hathaway has found a delicious way to keep her metabolism revved: She tops yogurt with goji berries (like Navitas Naturals Sun-Dried Goji Berries, $6 for 4 oz., health-food stores). These tart gems deliver fat-burning phytonutrients shown to increase energy expenditure by 10 percent for two hours.

Can a diet tweak revitalize dry skin?

Q:

I’ve always been diligent about moisturizing. But lately my lotions seem to be less effective at combating dryness. And the drier I get, the more fine lines I see. Is there a diet trick that can help?

A:

As we age, the body becomes less efficient at producing hyaluronic acid, a compound responsible for retaining moisture within skin cells. In fact, studies show levels of this acid can plummet by as much as 50 percent by the time we turn 40. And without this hydrating compound, skin cells start to lose their suppleness and plumpness.

Topical treatments can only go so far in replacing lost moisture. That’s why we advise supplementing with 100 mg of hyaluronic acid twice daily. Japanese researchers found that this dose reduced fine lines and increased skin moisture by 14 percent in as little as three weeks—and improvements continued months after the trial was over. A brand to try: Natural Factors Hyabest Hyaluronic Acid ($35 for 60 capsules, Vitacost.com).

Q I’ve lost 33 pounds on a new diet, but the scale is stuck. Help me break through this plateau!

A When weight loss stalls, it’s often a sign of declining levels of leptin. This appetite- and metabolism regulating hormone is produced and secreted by fat cells. But as you trim inches, fat cells’ output of leptin naturally drops. In time, this causes the body to shift into a “starvation state,” where fat burning slows and hunger increases, making weight loss all but impossible.

The good news: Simply bulking up your breakfast can trick your body into producing more leptin to reboot metabolism. In a study in the journal Obesity, women who enjoyed a larger morning meal

(like bacon, eggs and toast; a piece of vegetable-rich quiche; or oats with peanut butter) saw their leptin levels rise by 298 percent—and this helped them lose three times more weight and twice as many belly inches as subjects who ate the majority of their calories at night.