Hunger is a big obstacle for most people who want to lose weight. You may want to eat few calories, but the hunger is too much to bear. Luckily, there’s a solution to this problem. You can feel full while eating fewer calories.
Once you learn to control hunger, it’ll be easy to lose weight and keep it off. Apply the tips below to feel full even when maintaining a calorie deficit.
1. Eat high water content foods
These foods will fill your stomach up for very few calories. Fruits and vegetables have the highest water content. So include them in every meal and snack on them.
Cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, cucumber, lettuce, and tomatoes are some of the highest water content foods you should eat.
2. Choose high fiber foods
Our bodies can’t digest fiber, so it fills the stomach without being absorbed into the blood. Not only that, fiber delays hunger by slowing the speed at which food leaves the stomach.
In this study, obese subjects experienced less hunger and a decrease in bowel movement after increasing fiber intake. Eat more of these high fiber foods.
3. Pick solid food over liquids
Research shows that people who eat solid snacks eat less than those who drink their snacks, even when the beverage is healthy. And another study found that solid snacks make us fuller.
Try replacing smoothies with salads if you feel hungry all the time.
4. Eat less starch and more protein
Foods that are quickly converted to glucose make us feel hungry sooner. And starchy foods are converted to glucose faster than protein.
Proteins also have higher thermic effect of food than carbs. You’re better off eating a piece of chicken instead of a slice of bread.
5. Suppress appetite with coffee
According to research, coffee promotes the release of peptide YY, a hormone that makes us feel fuller. In fact, decaf coffee is more effective at suppressing hunger.
6. Trick your brain by eating slowly
A full stomach isn’t the only thing that makes you feel full. The brain also receives signals from digestive hormones. Eating slowly will give these hormones time to signal the brain that you’re full, research says.
7. Drink more water
Drinking water before meals reduces hunger and increases feelings of fullness after a meal. This study shows that people who drink 2 glasses of water before meals eat 22 percent less than people who don’t drink water.
SOURCE: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-ways-to-feel-full-on-fewer-calories.html
