It is difficult to lose excess weight not only because it is a war with one’s own laziness. The task is also complicated thanks to the efforts of marketers who are doing everything to make us eat more. They spend fabulous sums on studying colors, tastes, aromas and consumer psychology.
At the same time, scientists continue to investigate the factors that affect our appetite and study the properties of products that help to lose weight. Thanks to them, we are also armed with tricks that help reduce daily food intake. We offer 11 simple but effective techniques that will help you control your appetite.
1. Silence around
In the modern rhythm of life, it is often difficult to allocate even 15 minutes for a quiet meal. But it is extraneous activities during meals, such as watching TV, reading a book and even turning on the radio, that distract attention from the process of eating. In order not to eat too much, it is very important to concentrate on food, and not on distracting things. Scientists have proven that due to extraneous matters and noise, we lose vigilance and eat more than required.
In addition, music drowns out the natural sounds that are made during chewing and swallowing food. Because of the noise, it is easy to succumb to temptation and crunch your favorite cookies or chips. Regular extraneous noise during meals will quickly lead to a significant weight gain.
2. Mirror in the kitchen
According to research by American scientists, the mirror helps to fight bad eating habits. Hang a mirror in the kitchen and you will be able not only to control yourself more easily, but also to develop proper eating behavior.
According to the researchers, the effect is achieved due to several factors. So, watching yourself in the mirror for the absorption of fatty and high-calorie food, a person ceases to consider it delicious. Your own reflection helps you look at yourself from the outside and notice all the flaws of the figure. In addition, it indicates the inconsistency of one’s own behavior with the norms of a healthy lifestyle accepted in society. This will also be an additional incentive to eat right and not overeat.
3. Clean space
As it turned out, the mess in the house affects various aspects of our lives, including nutrition. In addition to the aesthetic side, this fact has a psychological component that makes us overeat when a mountain of unwashed dishes has accumulated, things are scattered or garbage is not thrown away.
Disorder causes a feeling that chaos reigns around, over which you have no control. Because of this feeling, the diet is automatically disrupted, since the lack of control over the situation causes stress, forcing you to eat more. An experiment with women, half of whom ate in a clean kitchen, and the second in an untidy one, showed that the second group of participants ate an average of 60-70 calories more.
4. Study your nutritional weaknesses
Some cannot resist pastries and cakes, for someone it is impossible to refuse an extra portion of ice cream, others are unable to limit themselves to chocolate and other sweets. Each of us has our own pain points – treats that we cannot refuse, even if we are already full. To learn how to control such bouts of overeating, it is important to understand which foods are your personal irritants.
Step one. Make a list of products that you cannot refuse under any circumstances. This will allow you to be more thoughtful about the food consumed.
Step two. Avoid places where your willpower will not be able to resist the temptation: confectionery departments, food courts in shopping malls or a neighbor who always has a box of chocolates on her table.
Step three. Remove all temptations from your home. Clean the refrigerator and shelves of shakafs from products at the sight of which your willpower fails. Do not keep sweets, cookies, chips, salted nuts and other enemies of your waistline at home or at least in plain sight. Let the air bran, carrots or cucumbers cut into strips lie in a prominent place.
5. Write down everything you eat
Such an honest food diary will show everything that was eaten during the day. Visibility will help you to approach your diet more meaningfully and eliminate snacks with chocolate bars.
6. Eat proteins
They quickly saturate the body and, thanks to prolonged digestion, retain a feeling of satiety for a long time. Pay homage to the right dietary proteins. To lose weight, beans, lean meat, low-fat dairy products such as cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese or milk are ideal.
7. Snack properly
Dried fruits (apples, dried apricots, prunes), sliced carrots, celery stalks, bell pepper, cucumber, tomato or unsweetened apple are suitable for snacking in the middle of the day. You can have a snack with pleasant-tasting airy crispy bran. With a minimum calorie content, they quickly absorb liquid and increase in volume, providing a feeling of satiety.
As a proper snack, you can use low-fat fermented milk drinks, protein shakes and protein bars.
8. Eat slowly
Studies have shown that satiety from eating comes 15-20 minutes after the start of a meal. However, according to the same studies, we usually spend no more than 7 minutes on food. So take your time: enjoy the smell of the dish, feel the taste of each ingredient. Stretch out the pleasure of eating. Such a thoughtful meal will help to reduce the number of calories consumed and switch to a conscious diet. You will learn to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, which in turn will help to refrain from overeating and save you from extra calories.
9. Drink water when you want to eat
Everyone knows that we often confuse physical hunger with ordinary thirst. Nutrition experts often advise drinking a glass of water 15-20 minutes before a meal. Compliance with the correct drinking regime reduces appetite, normalizes digestion, thereby contributing to weight loss. During the day, you need to drink at least two liters of plain water, not counting other drinks.
By the way, if you are tired of ordinary water, add frozen pieces of fruit to it – lemon, lime, orange.
However, the recommendation to drink water half an hour before meals to reduce hunger does not work with everyone. After all, water does not contain calories. Drinking even a couple of glasses of water before eating, many “losing weight” spot sweep everything off the table. For those who do not “eat” water, you can advise another trick. Start lunch with vegetable juice (tomato, pumpkin, carrot), and dinner with dried fruit compote, cooked without sugar. Use only liquid. These drinks are more satisfying than water and will help at least a little to satisfy the feeling of hunger. You can not be afraid for the figure, because they have a small calorie content.
10. Have dinner after six
It is possible and necessary to eat after six. But not everything in a row, namely protein food – eggs, fish, chicken, meat. Method of preparation: boiled or steamed. Such food will perfectly satisfy hunger and will not bring extra pounds. You need to have dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime. Too early dinner will cause a hunger attack, and you will definitely eat something high-calorie right before going to bed.
The ideal time for breakfast is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. It is during this period of time that gastric juice is released most intensively. Skipping breakfast or making do with a cup of coffee, you “earn” gastritis.
11. Get enough sleep
Very often, the reason for weight gain lies in a banal lack of sleep. Healthy sleep and weight loss are very related. Lack of sleep is a great stress for the body. Lack of sleep enhances the work of the sympathetic nervous system. The hormone leptin, which is responsible for suppressing appetite, begins to yield to ghrelin, which excites it. As a result, we overeat.
It is the hormone leptin that signals to the brain that enough has been eaten. When we don’t get enough sleep, leptin is produced in insufficient quantities.
American scientists have been monitoring 68,000 patients for 15 years. Studies have shown that people who sleep no more than 5-6 hours a day are more likely to be obese than those who stick to 7-8 hours of sleep.
