If you want to weigh less… eat more often.

That might sound counterintuitive, but some of the most successful dieters around are the ones who make sure they have all three meals each day — or even more.

I even know some slim and trim people who eat five or six small meals a day. It’s like they’re always eating — yet they never gain any weight.

A new study confirms that these people aren’t just blessed with a magical metabolism — just good habits. Because as it turns out, overweight and obese people actually eat less frequently than people who keep slim and trim.

Researchers used data from two studies on eating habits: One looked at how much — and how often — obese and overweight people ate, while the other looked at the habits of people who had normal BMIs for at least five years.

Roughly half of the people in that second study were once overweight or obese themselves, and had to lose at least 30 pounds to get there.

Regardless of whether they were once fat or always thin, these normal-weight people had a few things in common: First, they were more likely to eat three meals a day and two snacks than the overweight and obese, who actually ate less frequently (including, believe it or not, fewer snacks).

Second, the thin people consumed up to 200 fewer total calories each day despite their more frequent feedings, according to the study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

And third, the people who kept the weight off were more likely to get more movement — a lot more movement. In fact, the researchers say they burned up to 2,200 calories per week more than the overweight and obese.

If you’re overweight and hate the idea of joining a gym, don’t worry. The good news is these people weren’t iron-pumping fitness fiends. They weren’t even treadmill junkies.

They just walked an average of 60 minutes a day, every day — something just about anyone can do if they commit to it.

Naturally, it doesn’t matter how often you eat if you eat all the wrong things — three meals a day at McDonald’s will still leave you bloated and sick, and let’s not even think about two daily snacks of chips and ice cream.

So eat more often — just make sure you eat better, too. And if you commit to a healthy diet low in carbohydrates and rich in healthy fats and fresh vegetables, you won’t even have to count calories.

Just eat until you’re full, and your body will take care of the rest.

Supposedly cutting-edge procedures like the brain stent I just mentioned won’t lower your risk of stroke — and they might even kill you.

But you don’t have to turn to risky surgery or unproven meds to keep a stroke at bay: A new study finds all you might really need is more of the foods you already enjoy.

And no, it’s not candy and cake (nice try, though).

Dutch researchers tracked the eating habits of nearly 21,000 people with an average age of 41 and no signs of heart disease at the start of the 10-year study.

During that time, 233 people suffered a stroke — with the volunteers who ate the most white fruits and vegetables (think apples, pears, and bananas) 52 percent less likely to be among them.

Even those who ate just a little got a benefit: The researchers wrote in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association that just a few slices of apple a day, for example, can lower the risk by 9 percent.

Along with apples, pears and bananas, the researchers say white fruits and vegetables include cauliflower, chicory, and cucumbers — but not potatoes. Those are actually a starch, and — let’s face it — you shouldn’t be eating them anyway (especially if they come from any place that has a big golden M on the sign).

The catch here is that the study was based on the least reliable form of science: the food frequency questionnaire. In other words, let’s file this one under “interesting” but not something you need to start planting an apple orchard for.

The study also didn’t show why these fruits and vegetables might be able to slash the risk of stroke — but the smart money is on the terrific antioxidant flavonoids such as quercetin, the pigment that helps turn apples red (and gives even green pears those red patches you so often see).

Along with other bioflavonoids — including the lutein and zeaxanthin also found in apple and pear skins — quercetin may help protect your heart and even lower your risk of cancer.

If you’re not eating an apple, pear or banana every day, you can get these and other great nutrients from a high-quality bioflavonoid supplement.

It’s never too late to start good eating habits–and it’s never too early, either.

You might even want to start your own kids off when they’re still in the womb– because a new animal study suggests that our food preferences might be based on what mom ate when she was pregnant.

And that means if you give in to those classic prenatal cravings–like ice cream– you could raise a kid with a serious Ben & Jerry’s habit.

OK, kids will scream for ice cream no matter what, so let’s not get too carried away here–but since you should be eating right during pregnancy anyway, let’s take a look at the details of the new study.

Australian researchers divided pregnant rats into two groups: One set got regular “nutritious” rat chow (sounds delicious, doesn’t it?), while the other was given the kinds of sugar-packed junk that’s sadly become the backbone of the modern human diet.

Later, after the pups were born, nursed and weaned, the babies were allowed to pick their own food: rat chow, or junk.

And as it turned out, the babies of junk-fed moms went for the junk… while the ones that developed in rat-chow wombs ate rat chow, according to the study published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal.

Then, the researchers took a peek inside the rodents’ brains–and found that the pups born to junk-eating rats had actual measurable differences in the “reward” centers such as opioid receptors and dopamine transporters.

In other words, these rats were already junk-food junkies.

“How ironic that your mother nags you to eat your fruits and vegetables, but it could have been her actions that helped you prefer junk food,” journal editor Dr. Gerald Weissmann told London’s Daily Mail newspaper.

But let’s not be too quick to blame mom… because it takes two to tango.

Moms and dads need to work together and share the healthy habits they hope to pass along to the kids.

That means dad needs to be a “diet buddy” during pregnancy and beyond–and even say “no” to an ice cream craving instead of grabbing a spoon and joining in.

Total cholesterol control is within your reach–and a new study proves that you don’t need meds… just a good diet.

Call it one more reason to kick the sugar habit, because researchers say low-carb diets top low-fat ones when it comes to boosting good cholesterol levels.

In the newest study, researchers assigned 307 non-diabetic obese people with an average age of 45.5 to either a low- fat or low-carb diet. The low-carb dieters were allowed 20 grams of carbs per day for three months, and then gradually got to increase that limit by 5 grams a day each week.

The low-fat dieters were limited to between 1,200 and 1,800 calories a day, with less than 30 percent of those calories coming from fat. I’m guessing that led to a lot of rumbling tummies, because it’s hard to eat well within those limits.

At the end of two years, both sets of dieters lost roughly the same amount of weight: 15 pounds.

Both sets of dieters had better cholesterol overall. Both groups had higher levels of HDL “good” cholesterol and lower levels of the bad stuff, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

But the low-carb dieters came out on top. They got a bigger boost in good cholesterol, raising their HDL levels by an average of 23 percent–versus just 12 percent among the low-fat dieters, according to the study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The researchers say the improvement seen in the low-carb dieters is in line with what some people get from meds.

And that means you can wave goodbye to those prescription co-pays and drug side effects if you’re just willing to make a little adjustment in your eating habits.

So if you’re looking for a good diet, skip low-fat and all the unhealthy and unfulfilling processed foods that are considered an acceptable part of that diet, and go low-carb instead. Studies have found that it’s one of the best ways to lose weight and keep it off.

Low-carb diets can also lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease, and even boost your energy levels. Since it’s low in sugar, it’s great for your teeth, too.