FEEL-GOOD HUNGER CURE

Wow! Ancient spice works like an antidepressant, burns fat 23x faster and melts up to 9 lbs a week!

On sand-swept farms halfway around the globe, villagers pluck delicate red threads from inside more than 50,000 crocus flowers to produce a single pound of the world's most prized spice: saffron. It's not just about delighting taste buds. The antioxidant-rich spice has been proven to deepen sleep, soothe pain, ease hot flashes and even slow memory loss in Alzheimer's patients. Plus, saffron works like "an antidepressant and appetite suppressant combined," says top neuroscientist Daniel Amen, M.D. In one study, it made women's mood soar, appetite shrink and fat melt without dieting. Another test found the spice helped folks lose a whopping 23 times more flab than a placebo. "It's a feel-good way to get to your happy weight!" says Arnee Buchwald, 65, who credits saffron with helping her drop up to 9 pounds a week.

While saffron has a reputation for being expensive, these days, many supermarkets carry small packages for less than $5. And the spice's famous layers of flavor-melon, honey, sea air, smoke and more-make it worth a little splurge. "I love adding saffron to salads, and I use it to make tea," shares Dr. Amen, author of You, Happier and Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. Of course, supplements can be cheaper and more convenient. "They're also a concentrated source of saffron's beneficial compounds," notes the doc. But no matter how you get saffron, there's one big reason it works wonders...

Saffron's #1 secret