July 24, 2013

Reducing Food Cravings

Have you ever wonder that even you had enough food, you still crave for more and doesn’t feel you are already full? This problem may lead to weight gain so better try to observe if you are guilty of the following reasons:

Taking too much softdrinks or canned foods.
Most softdrinks and sweetened beverages are high in fructose. Fructose cheats our body that we are not yet full by blocking our body’s ability to use leptin (a “sanitation hormone” that dictates our mind that we had already enough food). This results you to crave more food.
On the other hand, canned foods are high in bisphenol-A (BPA) and based on recent studies, it also causes an abnormal flows of leptin that leads to food cravings too.

Too small breakfast – We know that breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. Eating a 500 calorie meal is better than with those 300 calories as per studies. Reason? Having heavy breakfast will rise only a small amount of blood sugar and insulin the entire day which in turn will lessen the sudden food cravings.

Avoiding Greens – Leafy vegetables are high in nutrients particularly in folate which are essential in protecting against depression, fatigue and weight gain. Also, another insulin-regulating nutrient, Vitamin K, can be found in green leafy veggies that reduces food cravings.

Not a tea drinker – Studies show that taking at least a cup of black tea after high-carb foods helps in reducing blood-sugar by 10% for 2.5 hours after meal making you stayed full and less food cravings. This is due to polyphenolic conpunds found in black tea. (I hope that any tea has this compound).

Letting yourself dehydrated. – Dehydration used to imitate hunger. After eating and still feeling hungry, try to drink a glass of water first before eating again and observe if you still have desire for food.

Diverting your self to another meal. – Sometimes, if you are hungry, any food will have a great appeal to you. However, if you are not, these food even your favourite will not tempt you to have a taste of it but don’t try to divert your attention to other meal. Try to get some visual distractions instead.


Source: Men’s Health