Slim Down with This Multitasking Side Dish
For slimmer hips, skip the baked potato and make yourself a bowl of this for your next side dish: barley salad.
Barley is rich in beta glucan, a soluble fiber shown to reduce cholesterol. And now, new research shows that this special fiber may help with waist management, too!
Beyond Cholesterol Control
Barley actually has up to twice as much beta glucan as oats have. And a study found that getting 3 to 5 grams of beta glucan every day from barley can lower harmful LDL cholesterol between 9 and 15 percent in people with high cholesterol. Not too shabby. But the unexpected bonus in this study? The beta glucan helped decrease hunger, so people ate fewer calories overall. (Know what causes high cholesterol? Find out here.)
Get a Grip on Hunger
How does barley banish blubber? Researchers suspect that beta glucan and other barley fibers expand in your stomach, so you feel full faster and end up eating less. And working this grain into your day is a snap. Start your day with barley cereal. For lunch, toss barley into soup, stew, or even salad. And use barley in place of rice at dinner. For a cholesterol-lowering lunch, try this Barley-Black Bean Salad recipe.
