Outwitting Appetite

Are you really hungry? Outwit your appetite.

Eat protein for breakfast. It takes about 4 hours for protein to digest so it literally stays with you longer than carbohydrates. Researchers at St. Louis University gave overweight women two eggs and toast and they ended up eating 267 fewer calories during the day than the group given half as much protein.

Get enough sleep. When we are tired we produce a hormone called ghrelin in our gut that increases our appetites. When we are rested we produce leptin, a hormone that decreases our appetites.

Keep foods out of sight. Brian Wansink, PhD and food psychologist from Cornell believes if food is in front of us we eat it. It doesn’t matter if it is a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies or pieces of cabbage when we see it, we eat it, quite unconsciously. Keep foods off the counters, out of sight and out of your house or freeze it.

Do something else so you think about something else. Leave the kitchen, keep your fingers busy, chew gum, take a walk, call a friend… Use a smaller plate. The more food in front of us the more we eat. At a restaurant spilt the meal or pack up half. You can also cover the plate with your napkin so you don’t keep picking while you wait for the bill. Sit down when you snack. . If you use utensils and a plate instead of snacking from a bag you'll eat fewer calories at subsequent meals.Limit your choices. Wansink finds more variety encourages a greater intake of calories which is why so many of us overeat at buffets.
Take a drink of water. Sometimes the feeling of hunger masks true thirst.

Limit the number of food episodes. Remember the taste of cookie dough or the slices of cheese are calories that add up without notice.

Trust your taste buds and eat a varied and diverse diet that is high in nutrients and low in calories.

Are you ever really hungry?

Are You Really Hungry?

Have you ever really been hungry? Hopefully not, because hunger is a dangerous thing which is why we resist it so much despite our abundant lives. Today in America only 1 of 50 states can boast that less than 30 % of citizens are overweight. We clearly eat enough, yet we still worry about hunger and resist it.

What is hunger and how does it feel? There are many kinds of hunger. There is true physical hunger or starvation. There is emotional hunger, a growling stomach hunger, a low blood sugar hunger and hunger for the next meal. Hunger pangs are triggered by the sight and smell of cooking soups or baked bread. They are triggered by habit and time and place. Hunger is triggered by memory and thirst. Sorting it out is crucial to knowing what you need and how much. Determining bad habits, changing them and curbing behaviors is key. Knowing the difference between thirst, emotional hunger and stomach pains helps.

Here are a few facts to ponder. First, in America most of us are over nourished rather than undernourished. Second many times when we know we have eaten enough but still feel hungry we might be thirsty. As well, emotional hunger is a strong pull to overeat, but as we eat our bodies adjust making more stomach juices and readying the system for more to come. Each time we overeat we get better at overeating. Finally, when our blood sugar drops as they do for most of us once in a while, a simple snack of only 10 calories will decrease symptoms. If you are prediabetic or diabetic balancing this mechanism is far more complicated requiring insulin injections or medications to help sugars into the cells.

Hunger is okay once in a while. It is good for our appetites. Food tastes better when we are hungry. Eating is more pleasurable on an empty stomach. So, when you overeat and feel full remember this pain and think of hunger as the reward. There is plenty of food out there waiting to be eaten.