How to Use Saffron for Weight Loss

In this post, I’m going to share with you exactly how to use saffron for weight loss, the same steps I have followed to reduce my snacking frequencies and food cravings a lot, which was essential for me to lose weight rapidly.

Three years ago, after giving birth to my third child, I gained more than 25 kilograms, I was puffed up, became overweight, and depressed, I felt like a mess due to this situation, so, I decided to find a solution.

And being of Persian origins, my mother in law suggested me to use saffron for losing my extra weight.

Here are the things we will deal with in this post:

Saffron is excellent for weight loss as it reduces food cravings.

Saffron Benefits for Weight Loss

You see, in ancient Persia, saffron was an extremely sacred spice, it was used by kings and nobles and it was given many medicinal benefits.

So, is saffron good for weight loss?

I decided to give my mother in low’s suggestion a try, and after just three weeks, I started to notice amazing results on my bathroom scale.

First of all, this is not a promotional article, I’m not interested in selling you anything, of course, I’m going to suggest you use the real spice, and to tell you the truth, I’m not a big fan of saffron extracts, so, I’m not going to talk about them a lot, I’m only going to talk about the real saffron spice and how you can use it for achieving optimal weight loss rapidly.

Of course, I have tried saffron supplements, and I’m going to write a special section in this post about them, but I need to be clear with you, I’m going only to recommend using real saffron strands because they are the healthiest and most beneficial in terms of weight loss.

Does Saffron Help With Weight Loss?

To answer this question, you first have to understand why saffron is so beneficial for losing weight.

Saffron is amazing because it slows down your appetite, which reduces snacking, food cravings, and thus, increases weight loss.

Indeed, this is all you are going to get from saffron when it comes to losing weight!

I told you before; I’m not going to lie to you when it comes to saffron and weight loss.

I’m only going to tell you what works because I have been there, I have gained too much weight very rapidly, and I couldn’t get rid of it.

However, with the help of saffron and strong will power, I was able to reduce my weight quickly, as I’m going to show you later on in this post.

Most importantly, I don’t want you to believe saffron based products sold nowadays that promise rapid fat burning or something else; saffron will not help you burn fat, what saffron does is slow down and help you manage your appetite more easily and efficiently.

In the end, it’s up to you if you want to lose weight, you need to arm yourself with strong will power, more importantly, you need to know how to take saffron the right way to get rid of your excess weight with absolutely no side effects.

The wonderful thing about saffron is that it’s going to tame your food cravings so easily that you will not feel stressed out, anxious, and even experience mood swings due to hunger.

You are simply going to feel normal!

This has always been my problem when dieting, I restricted my food intake, and I made myself stop eating, especially nice foods that were very comforting and emotional to me!

This made me not only very depressed when I was trying to lose weight, but it also conditioned my kids to stay away from me since I become very angry at the slightest thing from them, especially my husband.

Of course, this is not healthy, and to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t last for more than one week in this state without a fight and without losing my temper and finding myself snacking on junk food all over again!

Yes, using saffron is going to tame your appetite, but most importantly, it’s going to reduce your junk foods cravings, which is a big thing if you want to lose weight since these foods are so rich in salt, sugar, and most dangerously, unhealthy fats, saturated and trans fats.

Saffron as an Appetite Suppressant

Using saffron on a daily basis has helped me reduce my weight by 10 kg very rapidly.

Saffron threads have been studied by researchers for their effects on our appetites and have been found to reduce food cravings and help overweight people lose fat and excess weight rapidly.

This is very important since saffron has been found to prevent compulsive overeating, which is highly associated with weight gain by increasing the levels of serotonin in our brain.

In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition Research 30 (2010) 305–313 under the title: Satiereal, a Crocus sativus L extract, reduces snacking and increases satiety in a randomized placebo-controlled study of mildly overweight, healthy women.

Gout et al. found that saffron was effective at controlling compulsive eating.

Indeed, healthy but overweight women were divided into two groups.

The first group was given saffron containing supplement, saffron extracts, and the second group was given a placebo, every day, for nearly two months, eight weeks.

The amazing thing about this research study is that there were no restrictions on caloric intake, meaning that these women were free to eat whatever they wanted.

According to researches:

“Snacking is an uncontrolled eating behavior, predisposing weight gain and obesity. It primarily affects the female population and is frequently associated with stress.”

Well, after eight weeks, women in the saffron group experienced a more significant decrease in food cravings, snacking, and they also experienced a great reduction in body weight compared to the placebo group.

Again, according to this research study:

“… daily supplementation over 8 weeks with … a patented extract of saffron … caused a significant reduction in the frequency of snacking events and a slight but significant body weight loss as compared with placebo.”

“These effects appeared to be associated with a subjective sensation of satiety reported by subjects receiving the … supplementation.”

I highly recommend that you read this research study for more insights and information on how saffron was used successfully as an appetite suppressant, click on the following link for more information: http://www.satiereal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Gout-et-al-Satiereal-NutResJ-2010.pdf

You should also check these links as well:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4665515/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5787332/

Saffron Appetite Suppressant Side Effects

As far as side effects, using saffron threads is extremely safe; in fact, you will need only a very tiny amount in order to get these amazing benefits when it comes to appetite suppression and reduction of food cravings and snacking.

This is the reason why saffron, when used as an appetite suppressant, is going to cause no side effects at all; in fact, in the study, I have just mentioned a few paragraphs ago.

Researchers didn’t mention anything about side effects since they only have used” …1 capsule of Satiereal, 176.5 mg extract per day…”.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that using saffron extracts as an appetite suppressant is without side effects; research still needs to be done on this subject.

But from my experience, using saffron threads daily, the natural spice, yes, the expensive one, was without side effects.

I have shared this technique with many of my coworkers, and yes, they have all benefited tremendously from using saffron for lowering their weight, and most importantly, they all reported absolutely no side effects.

All women who have used saffron for reducing their weight reported better mood, lower depression, and in my situation, fewer fights with the husband.

And even better, this has a scientific explanation!

According to Akhondzadeh S et al, in a study titled: Saffron in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease: a 16-week, randomized and placebo-controlled trial, click here for the full paper:

“After 16 weeks, saffron produced a significantly better outcome on cognitive function than placebo…”

Let me just tell you that the researchers are referring to Alzheimer’s disease.

Indeed, saffron has been found to help cognitive function, just watch the video below to learn more:

How to Take Saffron for Weight Loss

In this section, I’m going to share with you the best way to eat saffron for weight loss; in fact, we’ll do some eating, but mostly drinking!

More importantly, I will show you how to make this process even much faster and easier with the use of a very simple technique.

There are three important steps you need to take in order to use saffron for weight loss, here they are:

The first step is:

The Right Dosage of Saffron for Weight Loss

Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, this makes it a target to counterfeit and scams.

Most people are going to get scared when they read that saffron can help them lose weight because they think they cannot afford it!

This is completely false; you don’t need a lot to lose weight; you need a few stigmas every day!

So, before revealing how much saffron you need for weight loss, you need first to select the best quality one.

Unfortunately, the best saffron to use is also a little expensive since you’ll need genuine quality.

Indeed, according to Wikipedia, because this spice is so expensive, it has reportedly been “counterfeited with horse hair, corn silk, or shredded paper”.

Even worse, unscrupulous manufacturers tend to use artificial colorings such as Tartrazine or sunset yellow to color counterfeited saffron threads.

This brings me to a piece of very important advice: always buy your saffron threads from trusted and highly reviewed brands no matter what the price is.

You are not going to use a lot, trust me when I reveal how much you will need, you won’t believe yourself, it’s so inexpensive to use real saffron for weight loss.

So, every day, you need to use at least seven saffron stigmas, which is about seven milligrams!

The second step is to:

Make Saffron Tea for Weight Loss

Saffron tea is one of the healthiest beverages you can use to reduce your weight efficiently.

From my experience, the best way to get saffron’s amazing benefits when it comes to weight loss is to drink it!

This is not only the most convenient solution, but it’s also the cheapest, in my opinion.

Just as an example, the brand of saffron capsules I used to take costs around $40, which is very expensive, in my opinion.

and I only got sixty capsules, sixty days’ worth of saffron, however, with the same price, I would buy ten grams of quality saffron stigmas which will give me about 500 days’ worth of saffron!

How to Use Saffron Threads for Weight Loss

Of course, because it’s so beneficial, I tend to use it more in my cooking, and I even give saffron tea to my daughters every day.

Now, here is:

How to Make Saffron Tea for Weight Loss

Take half a cup of warm water and add to it seven saffron stigmas, add one teaspoon of honey, and stir.

Let everything brew for a minimum of fifteen minutes, then, drink, don’t also forget to ingest the soaked stigmas afterward, they still have lots of antioxidants in them.

And if you enjoy drinking saffron tea, you can add more stigmas; after all, the more saffron you drink, the better for your appetite.

How Much Saffron Tea Should You Drink

To get the best results when it comes to reducing your weight, I have personally found that drinking saffron tea twice a day was the most efficient.

For example, after having a large breakfast with oats, fruits, and lots of soy milk, which I enjoy tremendously with cocoa powder, I go on with my daily life, since I work in an office all day long, at about 11 a.m., I make myself a good cup of saffron tea.

This prevents me from snacking and craving sugary treats later on during the day.

Then, I go on with my work, and around 1 p.m., I have my lunch.

At around 4 p.m., I have another cup of saffron tea, my last cup of the day.

This keeps my appetite at bay all day long, and it also helps me avoid snacking on empty calories.

Now, let’s talk about the third step to using saffron for weight loss:

Helping Your Appetite

By helping your appetite, I mean eating foods that are going to help saffron lower your appetite and make you feel fuller and satisfied all day long.

And by far, the best foods for helping your appetite are nuts, roasted nuts to be exact.

So, every morning, I eat a handful of roasted almonds, and in the afternoon, I try to do the same.

Although nuts are very rich in fatty acids, they are not going to make you fat because they are so essential to our body that our liver will use nearly all of the materials found in them to build our tissues and help our immune system. The best thing is that nuts are going to make you feel fuller and satisfied all day long.

Saffron Water Benefits

Saffron water, also known as saffron tea, or simply taking saffron stigmas and soaking them in cold water for more than five hours, is not only very beneficial for reducing your appetite and getting rid of food cravings.

it’s also extremely beneficial for preventing many degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and for also supporting your cognitive system.

Saffron Milk for Weight Loss

In this section, you’ll learn how to make and use saffron milk for weight loss.

First of all, I do not recommend using cow’s milk when making your saffron milk because it’s very rich in saturated fats.

Of course, you can make saffron milk with low-fat milk, it works as well, but I prefer, as mentioned before, to use soy milk.

Of course, you can use almond milk or rice milk if you want to, the most important thing here is to prepare a beverage that’s low in fat and which tastes good to you.

How to Make Saffron Milk for Weight Loss

This is my saffron milk recipe for weight loss, it’s the same I have shared with many of my coworkers, and it works just great.

Take half a cup of nondairy milk, soy milk preferably, warm it in the microwave for one minute until it’s warm, and then add to it ten saffron stigmas with two tablespoons of honey.

Make sure you stir everything very well and wait for fifteen minutes before drinking to let saffron stigmas release their powerful appetite suppressant compounds.

How Much Saffron to Use in Milk

I use ten saffron stigmas because I love the color and the taste; however, you can use five if you want to as with our previous saffron tea recipe.

They work great as well.

The idea here is to use a minimum of five saffron stigmas in order to suppress your food cravings and snacking as much as possible.

Saffron Oil for Weight Loss

Although saffron oil works at reducing weight, it’s expensive and its efficiency is still to be proven by research studies.

Although many are going to disagree with me, I believe that using saffron oil for weight loss is just an expensive way supplement manufacturers have found to make us pay more for something very affordable.

Yes, using saffron oil for weight loss works, use two drops every single morning directly on your tongue and swallow, they have the same effect on your appetite.

However, it’s not very affordable, in my opinion, at least, not as affordable as using saffron tea, because saffron oil costs much more and even worse, it will go rancid very quickly. In contrast, you can keep saffron stigmas for as much as one year in a dry place.

How to Use Saffron Extracts To Lose Weight

Saffron extracts can be used for weight loss; however, they are expensive, in my opinion, as I have shared with you a few sections ago, and this is also the reason why I always recommend my friends to use saffron threads instead.

Nevertheless, they are extremely convenient since you do not have to wait for your saffron tea to brew, and you can take your pills in the morning after waking up and call it a day.

however, from my experience, saffron tea is the best when it comes to reducing your appetite and helping you lose weight.

The Best Saffron Supplement

The best saffron supplement I have used, trust me, I’ve tried many in the past, is EXIR; however, I tried to look for it while writing this article, and I was unable to find it the few bottles I have found were very expensive, in the hundreds of dollars!

Most saffron supplements sold are for enhancing vision and protecting the eyes. They are going to contain different mixes of vitamins and herbal extracts, which is not the most appropriate combination for weight loss.

Saffron Extract Dosage for Weight Loss

The best dosage of saffron supplements to help with weight loss is two capsules of 100 milligrams saffron extracts each, one at 11 a.m. and the other one at 5 p.m.

How Long Does It Take For Saffron Extract to Work

Before taking saffron extracts, you need to be aware that you have to get your diet working with you at reducing your weight, not against you!

What I mean by this is that eating lots of junk and fatty food all day long and taking some few saffron capsules to lose weight isn’t going to work!

You have to eat lots of low-fat protein, whole wheat bread, and lots of fruits and vegetables you need to keep your caloric intake below your daily requirements, for me, I take about 1500 calories a day when I’m dieting, this reduces my weight very rapidly.

And I only use saffron to reduce my food cravings.

It will take about one hour for saffron extracts to start working at reducing your appetite, and when it comes to losing actual weight, it depends on your diet, but in general, you can expect to notice positive results in less than eight weeks.

This is how you can use saffron for weight loss if you have a question; please post it in the section below.