It can be hard not to overeat. You eat a healthy meal at home, think you’re doing well, then you head out (to almost any destination) and are surrounded by junk food. You get hungry, and pretty soon you’re at the local burger joint, diet forgotten.
The following are game changing strategies to manage that urge and to manage your appetite!
1. ADD VINEGAR AND CINNAMON TO MEALS TO CONTROL BLOOD SUGAR
Looking to add some flavour to your food and noncaloric drinks? Forget the sugar; there are plenty of spices that grant you the flavours your desire. Vinegar, which has a low glycemic index (meaning you metabolize the food more slowly), adds acidic flavour to salad dressings, sauces and roasted veggies without a lot the piling of calories.
For sweet- warmth, add cinnamon to everything from coffee and smoothies to chicken marinate. Like vinegar, cinnamon slows the rate at which food transits from your stomach to your intestine — this keeps you full longer, and helps prevent the post-meal sluggish feelings.
2. EAT WHEN YOU’RE NOT HUNGRY
When you get really hungry, you overeat. I know, groundbreaking stuff. When you overeat, you feel full, but then your insulin levels spike, causing you to feel tired, then hungry again … so you overeat again... cycle of life.. am I right?!
Instead of trying to resist hunger, beat it to the punch. If you eat when you’re either not hungry or only slightly hungry, you’ll eat less and tend to eat more slowly. Eating less throughout the day is great, but having more energy is certainly a nice bonus, too.
3. DRINK WATER
In addition to tiredness and brain fog, mild dehydration can cause a sensation that’s easily mistaken for hunger. So pass on the sweetened drinks and stick with sparkling or still water — you can flavour it with lemon, mint or cucumber if you want, but don’t be packing your drinks full of calories all the time.
Aim to drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Also, be sure to drink a glass about 20 minutes before each meal to take the edge of your appetite.
4. EAT SLOWLY
When you swallow food, there’s a sizable delay before you feel any satiation from it. This delay is usually between 10–30 minutes. So we tend to eat more because of the immediate feeling of hunger..
Easy solution is to simply chew each bite 10 times (no need to count, but you get the idea..lol). Following this simple rule will cause you to eat more slowly, allowing your mind to catch up to your stomach. You’ll also enjoy your food more when you take the time to savour it. I know sometimes the all the good foods finishes too quickly, but come on, enjoy little and feel good about.
5. HAVE A SMALL, "FLAVOURLESS" SNACK BETWEEN MEALS
This trick was discovered by the late Seth Roberts: What he did was consume a shot of olive oil or a glass of water with a tiny bit of sugar (an exception to the rule on sugared beverages above) between meals. I prefer a handful of unsalted almonds or a couple of rice crackers. Doing this once a day will dramatically reduced your appetite — this can be particularly true if you have a lot of weight to lose.
The reason this works: It regulates a hunger hormone called ghrelin. For this to work, the snack must be bland, and you should consume nothing else but water for at least an hour before and after the snack. Busy at work, this is perfect, while your mind is not thinking about food, just have this simple snack and watch your appetite swindle away.
6. NO TO SNACK DRAWS
Knowing that your willpower is reduced when you’re hungry, and there’s more tempting junk food outside the home than in it, you should fill up on healthy food before leaving home. Keep a healthy snack such as dates, almonds or kale chips, right next to your front door, and eat some before you leave home, and fill up all other draws in the kitchen with other kitchen stuff (we can always do with extra space in our kitchens 😇) This will cause healthy food to “crowd out” unhealthy food in your diet, and it'll make you happily avoid the junk food temptation.