As far as things that suck are concerned, arguably the two biggest offenders are: dieting, and constantly being hungry as a result of dieting. Whilst dieting is sometimes necessary if we’ve allowed our weight to gradually increase little by little, it’s still not generally a very pleasant experience, especially if you don’t cope with hunger pains and cravings very well. For some people, they would simply rather be overweight or set themselves back several weeks, possibly even months with their weight loss and would rather just eat when the hunger pains and cravings kick in, especially late in the evening. For those who do power through, it’s pretty safe to say that they’re generally miserable during the entire experience and even though they may have the ability to control their cravings, it still doesn’t make them disappear. If you’re looking to get in shape this summer, it’s never too late to drop a few pounds, and if you’re looking to create a calorie deficit and eat fresh, healthy, and natural produce, here are four simple but effective ways of beating hunger and suppressing your appetite once and for all.
Eat more fiber
Fiber is an incredibly important nutrient that is often overlooked in favour of vitamins and minerals. In reality, fiber is able to provide a whole host of various health benefits, including the ability to help lower cholesterol and to help protect against various forms of cancer and digestive issues. As far as appetite suppression goes however, fiber is one of your closest allies. There are two forms of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Whilst both forms are very healthy and beneficial, from a weight loss perspective, soluble fiber is ideal. When we consume foods rich in soluble fiber, once it makes its way into our stomachs, it dissolves in water in our stomachs and forms a thick gel-like paste which expands and coats the walls of the stomach, making us feel full. It also takes much longer to digest and be fully broken down, so again, we feel full for longer. If we feel full, we obviously don’t crave foods and we don’t feel hungry so we’re much less likely to overeat. If we eat less, we consume less calories, and have no trouble in creating a calorie deficit, which in turn helps us to lose more fat at a much faster rate. Typical foods rich in fiber include: whole grains, fresh fruits, beans, and fresh vegetables.
Make soup one of your main meals
Providing you make a healthy and balanced soup, fresh vegetable for example, you will be providing yourself with a whole host of different benefits that will help you out no end. Soup is ideal for appetite suppression and beating hunger because, as mentioned, if you pack it full of vegetables, you get plenty of soluble and insoluble fiber in your body, which will help to beat hunger and food cravings like we mentioned previously. Soup is ideal because as it is a liquid, or a thick paste depending on how thick you like it, once you consume it, it will be digested and broken down much quicker than whole foods. This means that the nutrients are absorbed much quicker, and as a result you feel full much quicker. When we eat whole foods, after we finish them we may find ourselves feeling hungry still for the next 10 minutes or so. Once the food begins to get broken down and absorbed however, we feel full. With soup, as it is digested and broken down much quicker, we feel full much quicker and so will again be less likely to go back for seconds, or to overeat later in the day. Another great benefit of soup is that you can pack it full of healthy vegetables so that you can maximize your vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, and various other nutrient, consumption.
Eat more protein
As well as helping with muscle growth and repair, protein is also scientifically proven to be one of the most effective macronutrients when it comes to appetite suppression and weight management. Not only does protein help build muscle, which in turn leads to an increase in metabolism, but it also helps to keep us feeling full for much longer as well. The reason for this is that protein is much harder for the body to digest that carbohydrates or fat, and so the body has to work much harder to break it down and extract the nutrients. This means it sits in our stomachs for longer, which obviously helps to keep us feeling full for longer but there’s also an added bonus as far as weight loss is concerned. As the body struggles to digest protein, it requires more energy because it has to work harder than average. It gets this energy from stored body fat, which the metabolism burns off and converts into energy. The more protein you consume, the more the body thinks that it needs to provide more energy and so the metabolism gradually increases until you’re now able to burn more calories than usual and enjoy more energy as a result, even on days when you don’t eat that much protein.
Drink more water
Although you probably know how healthy and beneficial fresh water can be, one of the main reasons why people tend to not drink water is that they say they “don’t like the taste”. Water has very little taste, it’s there to hydrate us, and what these people mean is that they don’t like it because it doesn’t glow in the dark or taste like pure sugar mixed with a little fruit. Water hydrates us, it is essential for pretty much every internal process and function within our bodies imaginable, and it’s great for suppressing appetite and keeping hunger under control. When you eat your next meal, drink a little water before you begin eating, and then sip water during the meal as well. This will cause the food consumed to expand slightly, and will also help to fill your stomach, and as you know, a full stomach means no hunger pains. Late at night when you’ve hit your daily macros and can’t afford to eat anything else, rather than breaking your diet, down a large glass of water instead, and wait 5 minutes. The water in your stomach will alleviate your hunger and help reduce cravings.
