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Who knew?
By Nicole Weaver — Written on Jun 18, 2015
In a perfect world, you can eat whatever you want with very little consequences. Of course, we know there are a few lucky people with fast metabolisms who can eat fast food and keep their waist small.
But science has found that there may be a reason for this other than metabolism.
New research shows that a diet with a lot of fat and salt could actually prevent weight gain.
Yes, you read that right!
The results come from an experiment where scientists put groups of mice on different diets. Some ingested high-fat foods and levels of salt. The group who gained the same amount of weight as mice eating normal food were the ones who ate the very salty and high-fat diet.
Salt is not only tasty, but it may have helped the mice digest their food and absorb fat. Don't get too excited, though — not everyone is lucky in this aspect.
"It's totally different for each person," says Keri Gans, author of The Small Change Diet. "We always associate poor health with high weight, but you can definitely be a thin person and still have a lot of health complications that have nothing to do with your weight."
We can go on and on about talking about how some are "lucky" by eating whatever they want, but this study also pokes holes in the logic that every skinny person is healthy, and every overweight person is fat.
Even if you're able to keep the weight off, a diet with a lot of salt could affect other aspects of your health. For instance, high salt intake leads to higher blood pressure, which creates a greater strain on your heart, arteries, kidneys and brain. This leads to heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease.
Yikes! Keep this information in mind when you hear someone making a big deal about weight. Fast food, instant soups, and even salad dressings have extremely high levels of sodium, so eat those with caution.
And remember: you're a person, not a mouse.
