Hunger is like an uninvited, unwanted guest. It can strike anytime and anywhere. When you are hungry, your stomach sends signals to the brain that may be in the form of growling, hollow feeling or hunger pangs.
If you are on a diet for better health or are trying to lose weight, you must know that only healthy eating and weight loss exercises cannot be enough. The way you think about food, respond to the hunger cues as well as cravings can affect your diet as well as overall health.
Hunger by definition is that painful sensation that one feels or the state of weakness that one has when one is in the need for food. Hunger does not go away over a period of time, but it only gets worse. Any food can satisfy your hunger when it strikes. The foods you choose can be detrimental to your health.
But, there are multiple ways in which you can tackle hunger and prevent the bouts from time to time.
This acts as the single most powerful method. Try to breathe better. Breathing is important to control hunger. This is because the quality of oxygen that we inhale and expose our system to and our ability to release CO2 is very important for healthy lives of cells.
Even though dietitians have been squabbling over whether fats or carbohydrates are more filling, there is enough evidence to prove that proteins beat the both out. The more protein you include in your diet, the more you will be able to blunt hunger.
Fruits are often considered a dieter's friend because they help one to stay full for long, thus preventing unnecessary binging. The fructose component present in fruits works to refill liver glycogen. This helps people to feel less hungry. Besides, fruits provide other benefits such as fibre and nutrients.
Studies have shown that people who consume an exceedingly low-fat diet tend to feel a lot hungry than the rest. Even though dietary fat does not do much to cut hunger in the short-term, a moderate intake of it tends to keep the people feel fuller for longer because the dietary fat tends to sit inside the stomach for a long time.
Exercise has the ability to decrease hunger, increase hunger or have no effect at all. In some people, exercising can increase leptin transport into the brain, thus making some hunger signals work better. While in others, some people can get blood glucose crash with exercise, thus stimulating hunger.
You can take appetite suppressants, but it is important to note that without a change in other lifestyle choices, the drugs may not be able to work optimally. Some drugs can also blunt hunger without really over-stimulating the person.
Try not to limit or completely proscribe your favourite dish from your diet just because you are on a diet. Food has a significant amount of calories. Limiting yourself from doing something you like will be counter productive.
The last resort is to try and divert your focus off hunger. Every time you feel hungry, try to get your mind to do something else.