Whether you want to lose weight and achieve your dream body or try to lower your daily calorie intake due to some health reasons, you might find yourself struggling to fight off your endless craving for food. Hunger and appetite are signals from your body telling you to need to obtain energy from a particular type of food.
While feeling hunger is normal, it’s not ideal to constantly feel hungry, mainly if you just ate something beforehand. There may be underlying issues that you might not be aware of. Perhaps, you might not be eating enough food, or you might not be eating a balanced meal. When you buy Tupperware online and preparing your food in advance would help you on track with your diet.
Today, there are various approaches one can try to reduce hunger and appetite, from dieting and eating healthy to appetite-suppressant supplements. You can read this full article to learn more about how suppressants can work in curbing your appetite. Furthermore, here are some tips and tricks worth trying:
1. Eat More Protein
Foods have different levels of satisfying one’s hunger. For instance, when digested, carbohydrates are easier to break down to their simplest form, glucose. This is not the case with protein. That’s why it’s more effective in quelling your hunger and maintaining satiety.
Ideally, consider at least 20 to 30% of your calorie intake from protein to get its full benefits. It will not only get you satiated but can also help you be lean. And in turn, this can help to have a faster metabolism, which can be helpful if your goal is to lose weight. Still, it would be best if you considered your personal preferences for you to sustain this diet.
2. Drink Water
When you feel hungry, a glass of water might help your urge to eat a snack. Evidence suggests drinking water before a meal might help suppress your appetite, which aids in your weight loss.
If you prefer some flavor, you could add lemon, cucumber, or a sprig of fresh mint to your drinking water. A soup can also be a great alternative to quench your appetite because it’s packed with flavor and can be satiating too.
3. Eat Slowly And Mindfully
When it comes to eating healthily, it’s not just about the food you eat because it’s also about your eating habits. For instance, if you’re eating too quickly or perhaps you’re distracted, it can be difficult for your brain to read your body’s signal. So, if you want to reduce your appetite, consider removing all the distractions and focusing only on your food. Mindful eating can help you recognize your internal hunger and satiety.
Aside from eating mindfully, slowing your pace when eating can also help you curb your appetite and hunger. People who swallow bigger bites of food tend to eat more food overall. Not only that, but your eating rate can also influence the mechanism of your endocrine system.
These two ways of eating can regulate the hormone levels in your blood. Hormones like insulin and pancreatic polypeptide can interact way better with your digestive system.
4. Consume Fibrous Foods
Consuming fibrous foods is one of the most effective appetite suppressants because it does not readily degrade in the stomach once ingested. So, this can effectively slow digestion and helps you keep full throughout the day. Aside from that, these foods also contain various nutrients and minerals that help nourish your body.
Here are some examples of healthy high-fiber foods:
- legumes like beans
- whole grains like oats
- fruits
- nuts and seeds like almond and chia seeds
5. Exercise Regularly
Another way to effectively suppress your appetite is exercising regularly. Studies suggest that appetite hormones like ghrelin, also known as hunger home, can be reduced, and leptin, also known as the appetite-suppressing hormone, is increased significantly after a high-intensity workout routine.
You can do both cardio and resistance exercises to help regulate your hormones and maximize the effects. This will, in turn, can help reduce your hunger and caloric intake.
6. Have A Consistent Sleeping Schedule
Sleep is often overlooked as one of the effective ways to regulate your appetite. Getting enough quality sleep can help protect you from gaining weight because ghrelin isn’t activated. When you’re sleep-deprived, chances are the amount of ghrelin in your bloodstream increases, making you feel hungrier. That’s why it’s recommended to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep for adults.
Final Thoughts
Hunger and appetite are some of the ways your body tells you that it’s time to eat something. And the tips mentioned in this article are just guides for you to follow if you have uncontrollable cravings that might get in your way of achieving the healthy and fit body you want.
Having a sustainable and balanced diet is still the best solution to curbing your appetite. You still get to enjoy the food you want to eat in moderation, and more so, depriving yourself of your cravings can only make your relationship with food worse.