It's Not Just the Calories That Put It On

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Pulling more from last month’s amazing report by the Harvard School of Public Health, it really does seem that quality trumps quantity when it comes to the relationship between eating and gaining weight. The report combined the results of three studies on the relationship between obesity and food (120,000 people tracked!), looking at beverages, physical activity, TV-watching and sleep duration. Put simply, if you eat fast food like potato chips and/or French fries, or drink sugary-sweet sodas, you’re going to put on weight. If you eat vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts and yogurt, you’re going to gain less or even trim down (yogurt was the best!). Then we have the lifestyle issues. Some are obvious: if you watch a lot of TV (hello couch potato!) you’ll gain more weight. But here is the biggest surprise: You’ll gain more weight if you sleep less than 6 hours a night—or more than 8 hours a night. The best is to sleep between 6 and 8 hours.

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