Can You Think Yourself Thin?

Are you trying to shed a few pounds and it's not working? Maybe you're just not thinking hard enough. At least that's what one group of mental experts say.

The Sudoku Diet -- named after the brain-twisting game that uses numbers and logic, is based on the premise that challenging the mind with difficult puzzles can burn 90 calories an hour. That's 50 percent more than mindless activities like watching TV. Researcher Tim Forrester, from cannyminds.com explained to the Daily Mail, "Our brains require 0.1 calories every minute simply to survive. When we do something challenging such as a puzzle or a quiz we can burn through 1.5 calories every minute."

A British Dietetic Association spokesman added, "'The brain is like any other body part -- if you are working it hard, it will need more calories to work well." There's even a book that has been written about this: "The Sudoku Diet: Creating Your Optimal Health through Logic," which claims it will help you "achieve optimal health by incorporating sudokus as part of your eating routine."


But before loading up on crossword puzzles to justify loading up on holiday treats, you should know that even when the brain is working harder and burning more calories, it's not burning fat. And that's the real culprit for those extra pounds. Experts also say that the amount of energy used by thinking is a very small percentage of the total energy used in the brain which is always burning energy, not just during brain-tapping activities.

So as much as we'd like to believe this, if you want to lose the weight, it still comes down to diet and exercise -- not puzzles.

For some real weight loss solutions, check out these tips.