Will eating sardines help you lose the last of your baby fat?

I was passing a lazy morning at the airport recently, coming back from a long weekend in Charleston, SC when a Psychology Today headline caught my eye - Curve Appeal: How Body Shape Impacts Smarts.

As it turns out, researchers are finding that women's bodies store an important Omega-3 fatty acid in their hips and thighs that gets used in creating breastmilk for their offspring. This fatty acid is commonly known as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and is critical in infant brain development. The curvier a woman is (tiny waist, curvy hips and thighs), the greater her cache of DHA, and the more intelligent her offspring is likely to be.

Researchers in the article speculate that American women may be experiencing a higher rate of obesity now because so many Omega-3 fatty acids have been removed from our diets over the past fifty years. As a woman's body attempts to get the DHA it needs, women may end up consuming an excess of calories.

Sooo....what are the exciting implications for all of us women out there trying to get rid of the extra junk in the trunk? Eat a diet richer in DHA and you may have an easier time losing weight.

I have been eating a can of sardines nearly every day since reading that article, but you don't need to go to that extreme. There are dozens of DHA supplements for sale at your supermarket or pharmacy. You can find DHA in milk at the grocery store, or in chia seeds from your health food store. Whichever way you go, consuming more DHA is a win-win since it's great for your heart and mood as well.