Better health without weight loss
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This year, the similar Mediterranean diet has been touted as the healthiest diet you can follow. Lots of fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and olive oil, among other things, help to keep cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia at bay, and give you a longer life.
But in recent years, another, similar diet has gained increasing attention as almost as healthy as the Mediterranean diet: the Nordic.
The so-called Nordic diet is based on a traditional Nordic diet, and consists mainly of berries, vegetables, fish, whole grains, dairy products and rapeseed oil. In the month of January is the American site US news the Nordic diet to the best diet in the world, partly because it helps to keep the weight down.
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Better health with a Nordic diet
Now shows a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen that by switching to the Nordic diet you will get measurable health benefits even if you are overweight and do not lose weight.
I studied 200 participants over the age of 50, all of whom had elevated BMI and increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, divided into groups. One group ate ordinary food, while the other group followed the Nordic diet. Both groups were asked to keep the weight stable. If they lost weight, they would increase the amount of food.
The result? The participants who adhered to the Nordic diet gained better health – even though they continued to be overweight.
– They had a lower cholesterol level, they had less saturated and unsaturated fat in the blood and better regulation of glucose compared to the control group, says Lars Ove Dragsted, researcher and section leader at the University of Copenhagen, to NRK.
So you do not need to lose weight to get better health from the Nordic diet.
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Rapeseed oil bra for health
Professor of nutrition Kjetil Retterstøl at the University of Oslo believes that the Nordic diet is very good. In particular, he highlights rapeseed oil as very beneficial to health.
– The Nordic diet has received increased interest recently, and there is a lot of research on both the Nordic diet and rapeseed oil, which is a healthy and good source of fat, he says to Vi.no.
And while the traditional everyday diet in the Nordic countries has previously contained large amounts of fat from butter, margarine and animal fat, the more modern Nordic diet emphasizes the use of rapeseed oil as a healthy source of fat. It provides a number of health benefits, Retterstøl points out, even if you do not necessarily lose weight.
– We have seen a large decrease in cardiovascular disease in people aged 30 to 69 years since the 1970s, despite the fact that we have become heavier in the same period. This is a paradox, but it is partly due to the fact that today we have a much lower intake of saturated fat. It is a great benefit to get rid of butter and hard margarine and use oil instead, he says.