Appetite is a physical as well as psychological phenomenon. Even though we don't really feel hungry, sometimes we eat when we're bored, stressed, or just because it's time to eat. There are many weight loss programs and diet pills that are marketed as appetite suppressants, when in fact you can suppress your appetite naturally through diet and exercise.
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Method 1 of 3: Suppresses Appetite
Step 1. Eat a filling fiber
Fiber is a complex carbohydrate that can't be digested and is filling even if you eat only a few calories. Fibrous foods like oatmeal are great for your diet because they can not only help suppress your appetite, but also provide continuous energy by regulating the release of insulin and blood sugar.
- The recommended fiber consumption is 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories, or about 28 grams of fiber for women and 38 grams of fiber for men.
- If your goal is to reduce fat, include plenty of fiber-rich vegetables, legumes, and fruits.
- Eat oatmeal for breakfast, and you'll be able to hold your hunger pangs until lunchtime without needing a snack. Oatmeal is a slow-digesting food ingredient and will help keep you feeling full.
Step 2. Drink coffee
Two cups of coffee in the morning can increase the body's metabolism while suppressing appetite. However, for some people, coffee has the opposite effect. Therefore, pay attention to the effects of coffee on your body and determine the appropriate steps.
Coffee beans are usually rich in caffeine and antioxidants that are easily absorbed by the body. The effects will begin to be felt about 1 hour after you drink a cup of coffee
Step 3. Eat dark chocolate
Great news for chocolate lovers. Buy a bar of dark chocolate that contains at least 70% cocoa because the bitter taste is strong enough to suppress the appetite.
- Cocoa contains stearic acid which has been shown to slow down the digestive process and make you feel full longer.
- Combine dark chocolate with a cup of coffee to enhance the effect.
Step 4. Increase protein and fat intake
Digestion of protein requires energy from calories, which stimulates the release of appetite-suppressing hormones. Protein and fat can greatly suppress appetite because they can regulate blood sugar for a long time. A diet rich in protein and healthy fats can control and stabilize blood sugar. This diet can also affect appetite and desire to eat later in life. Eating a moderate amount of fat, even if it has less heat, can help you feel full while on a diet.
- Replacing carbohydrates with low-fat protein up to about 15-30% can help you lose weight while reducing hunger.
- The casein protein, which is often found in protein powder supplements, is a slow-release protein that can make you feel full and thereby reduce your appetite.
- A very low-fat diet has the opposite effect as expected. Diets like this jsutru increase hunger. In moderation, fat is good for the body and has many health benefits. In addition, fat can also improve the taste of food.
Step 5. Regulate carbohydrate consumption
Sugar and starch are an important source of energy for the body's metabolism. Carbohydrates formed from starch are rich in nutrients and can make you feel fuller.
- Complex carbohydrates are slow to digest, filling, and can reduce appetite. These carbohydrates are found in brown rice, whole wheat bread, and quinoa.
- Fiber is also contained in starch which affects satiety.
Step 6. Drink water to meet the body's fluid needs
Water will fill the space in the digestive tract. Since most of the body is composed of water, the body almost always needs water. Can suppress appetite or not, water is an important substance for the body and contains 0 calories.
- The recommendation of 8 glasses of water per day is no longer supported by most studies. For that, measure your weight (in pounds) then divide by two. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds (about 90 kg), it means that you should drink 100 ounces of water or the equivalent of 12.5 glasses per day.
- Add a drop or two of lemon or lime juice to the water for a little taste.
- Drinking water is much better than drinking soda or alcohol which can actually dehydrate the body.
- If you ever feel hungry between meals and have eaten a healthy snack, drink a glass of water to fill your digestive tract and suppress your appetite.
Method 2 of 3: Regulating Hunger
Step 1. Have breakfast every day
There's a reason why people call breakfast the most important meal of the day, because the body has fasted all night and breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day. Research shows that skipping breakfast tends to increase snack consumption during the day.
- Nighttime eating syndrome (NES), a disorder associated with eating at night and waking from sleep to eat, is a clinically recognized eating disorder. Having breakfast every day can reduce your chances of experiencing this disorder.
- Research also shows that skipping breakfast can lead to weight gain, hypertension, insulin resistance, and increased fasting lipid concentrations.
- Skipping meals has the same effect. Although people believe that skipping meals can help you lose weight, the opposite is true. Skipping meals will only make them eat more snacks and gain weight.
Step 2. Eat healthy snacks
Eating snacks during the day is not something wrong. Just make sure you choose fruit, vegetables, or low-fat protein like chicken breast or fish as a snack. This healthy snack will keep your hunger under control until dinner time. In addition, these snacks also contain vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are good for the body.
- Avoid foods and drinks that contain sugar because they are not filling so you are more likely to continue eating snacks throughout the day.
- If you want to eat fat, eat healthy fats that can reduce sugar consumption and prevent you from overeating in the afternoon.
Step 3. Eat mindfully
Mindful eating techniques are useful for preventing overeating. The trick is to focus your mind on each stage you eat. That way, you'll be aware of the portion size of your food and reduce the speed at which it's eaten.
- The purpose of this eating technique is not to do other activities such as watching TV or playing computer while eating. Activities like this can distract you from realizing how much food you're eating.
- An example is eating raisins or other dried fruit that you can touch, feel the texture, see the color, smell the aroma, and taste the taste. While eating raisins, do the same steps before you swallow them. By eating raisins, you can feel various sensations consciously while observing how meaningful the experience is.
- Try to eat for at least 20 minutes. That way you can chew and swallow food and digest it properly.
Step 4. Adjust nutrition to the physiological conditions of the body
How much food you eat daily is determined by your own fitness, lifestyle, and management goals. There are benefits that you can get by eating several times a day up to a maximum of 8 times a day. The key is to find a nutritional system that can optimize your health.
- Eating more often, for example 6 to 8 times a day can neither increase the body's metabolism nor reduce fat significantly. For example, if you eat 3 meals a day with 1,000 calories each, and you eat 6 meals a day with 500 calories each, the total calorie intake for both is 3,000 calories. In short, the energy level of the body will remain the same. Thus, eating several times a day does not provide more benefit in controlling appetite.
- Eat more often if you want to gain muscle and increase body strength, or if you have diabetes. On the other hand, eat less if you're trying to lose fat or if you have a busy lifestyle.
- The best way is to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.
Method 3 of 3: Physically Controlling Hunger
Step 1. Exercise regularly
The influence of sport is quite complex. Moderate-high intensity exercise can suppress appetite because the body will use its fat reserves as an energy source. Meanwhile, low-intensity exercise such as walking, swimming, and jogging will increase hunger.
- Research has found that neural responses to food decrease significantly with moderate-to-high-intensity exercise.
- Exercise can also decrease the motivational incentives in the brain responsible for anticipating food. This effect can reduce hunger while maintaining health and reducing stress.
Step 2. Sleep
There are a number of studies on sleep and sleep deprivation and their effects on the body. In general, lack of sleep has a negative impact on the body and can increase hunger hormones that make us want to snack on throughout the day.
- Research shows that sleep deprived bodies need more carbohydrates throughout the day. Scientists believe that this is due to the body's natural need for carbohydrates for energy.
- Sleep is closely related to eating. Long-term sleep deprivation can dramatically increase food intake.
- Leptin, a hormone released by fat cells and can suppress appetite is determined by the time of sleep. As a result, lack of sleep can dramatically affect hunger.
Step 3. Practice yoga
Yoga can reduce hunger. Yoga practice can make you more aware of your body, making it more sensitive to satiety and reduce the chances of eating non-nutritive snacks.
- Practicing yoga for at least an hour a week is known to suppress appetite. Because it can reduce stress, yoga can suppress the hormone cortisol, which is associated with overeating.
- Mindful eating which is the process of engaging the mind step by step while eating is also a part of yoga. This process will help you stop eating when you are full.
Step 4. Control emotional hunger
Eating just out of boredom is a habit. However, distinguishing between real hunger and emotional hunger is difficult for many people.
- Real physical hunger appears gradually and can be overcome with most foods. You'll naturally stop eating when you're full and won't feel guilty. On the other hand, eating out of boredom creates cravings for certain foods, pops up quickly, and makes you overeat. You may feel guilty after you finish eating.
- Record the food you eat throughout the day in a diary. Observe how you feel before and after eating. If you often eat unhealthy snacks between meals or after a late night, and feel guilty, try doing different activities to pass the time, such as going for a walk, reading a book, or playing with your pet for a while.
- If you feel a strong urge to eat, try to eat healthy snacks such as fruit, vegetables, or nuts.
Tips
- Drink something when you start to feel hungry. The body often misinterprets thirst for hunger.
- Use smaller plates to eat. A plate like this can help make your brain think you've finished a plateful of food.
- Reduce the amount of food on the plate at meals. The less food you see on your plate, the less you will eat.
- Try to eat lots of fruit, vegetables, meat, and cereals. These healthy foods should help keep your appetite in balance.
- Listen to music, try singing, dancing, exercising, and doing things that can take your mind off food in a positive way.
- Some foods, such as raw celery, require more calories to digest than the calories they contain.
