Better than a diet pill!

Lose a pound a day— without dieting Powell explains. So any food or beverages consumed after walnuts will stay in the stomach until they can slowly push their way through the constricted valve. The water Powell has you drink before your meal gets trapped

An extreme weight-loss guru has turned a recent science-lab discovery into an easy real-world strategy—one that can help us slim down even while enjoying holiday treats!

Can we actually use walnuts like diet pills? It may sound far-fetched, but it’s an exciting technique being developed at Harvard and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Inspired by earlier research that found dieters were far less hungry when their menus included walnuts, a team led by Christos Mantzoros, M.D., PH.D., used MRI testing to help figure out why. The result: On days when participants sipped walnut smoothies, an area of their brains that suppresses hunger and cravings literally “lit up.” And when the same test subjects sipped walnut-free smoothies, their appetitecontrol centers remained dark and inactive. “This is a powerful measure. We know there’s no ambiguity in terms of study results,” Dr. Mantzoros says. Ultimately, he and his team hope to use their findings “to develop new medications to make it easier for people to keep weight down.”

While that will require more studies and many years, experts encourage us to take advantage of walnuts’ amazing appetite control power right now. In fact, Extreme Transformation author Chris Powell—who routinely helps folks lose 200 pounds or more—has created a walnut-based strategy that’s already working wonders. “It’s one of the most powerful ‘ body hacks’ to conquer cravings and overeating —not only during the holidays but forever,” he promises. Woman’s World readers back him up. Powell’s walnut trick helped them shed up to eight pounds a week without cutting out indulgences. How much could you lose? Here’s how to find out . . .

Your quick-start guide ● What you eat

Before any two meals daily, enjoy seven to eight walnut halves. Wait 15-30 minutes, drink a glass of water and dig in. “After that, just stop eating as you begin to feel full,” notes Powell.

● How walnuts slim

Dr. Mantzoros and his team believe future studies will reveal which compounds in walnuts activate appetite-control areas of the brain. For now, Harvard research has already shown that walnuts influence our body chemistry in a way that slashes overall hunger in as little as three days. There’s also separate evidence that the omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts may prompt our bodies to burn fat faster. And Powell’s walnut strategy offers another slimming advantage. He uses all the good fat in walnuts to help mimic the effect of lap-band surgery. It works like this: As good fat begins to move through the digestive tract, “it triggers a valve at the bottom of the stomach — called the pyloric sphincter—to constrict,”

● Real-world wow!

After reader Crysta Fersner signed on to test Powell’s strategy, “I was surprised by how low my hunger dropped after eating the walnuts,” reveals the Pennsylvania nanny, 54, who shed a pound a day while enjoying cake and other treats. “It’s the easiest weight I’ve ever lost!” Anita O’mealy agrees. “Before, I would binge on chocolate most days—sometimes 2,000 calories of candy at once. But the walnuts really took my cravings for sweets away. And if I found myself thinking about candy, I’d eat more walnuts,” says the Nevada mom, 59. Anita tucked into cheesy pasta and Chinese takeout and still lost eight pounds in a week. “I honestly can’t believe how well it worked. I feel like walnuts can get me to my happy weight!”