How to deal with hunger

Fibre plays dual role in dealing with hunger. It slows down the metabolism thus giving a feeling of fullness for a long time. Fibre induce stretching of stomach muscles. The feeling of fullness of stomach is directly related to this stretching of stomach muscles thus signalling the brain about stomach fullness. Opt for fibre rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. High water content of these foods adds volume easily and gives feeling of fullness. These high fibre foods with high volume offer few calories and that too with a feeling of fullness.

Fruits, not only provide fibre i.e. adding bulk to the meal. The fructose part of the fruit plays with the glycogen level in the liver. The fructose of fruit refills the liver glycogen and signals the brain with the feeling of fullness.

Start with a bowl of stock liquid or vegetable soup. This will give you a feeling of fullness and you will end up consuming less calorie when you are having your main course. Make sure you stick to the low fat, fibre rich vegetable or minestrone soup. Say a complete no to the creamy or high fat soup.

Munch on a plate full of salad. Recent study on this sounds convincing. Meal comprising of larger portion of salad helps to consume lesser calorie as compared to meals comprising of smaller portion of salad. Opt for low calorie, fibre rich vegetables. You can use sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce, etc as the ingredients. Be sure to have a fat free dressing. This will again help to consume less calorie during the main course.

This will help in releasing the hormone leptin from the fat cells. Research has revealed that deficiency of leptin due to very low fat diet leads to severe hunger pangs which may further lead to over eating. So one can afford to have low fat diet, but in moderation. Be sure to eat fat in moderation. If high fat diet is consumed liberally it will lead to obesity.

This is a non drug strategy, very handy in case the severe hunger prangs are uncontrollable. Appetite Suppressors! Consumption of low fat dairy products provides whey and casein which are found to be great appetite suppressors. These protein rich constituents are in a way, “organic appetite suppressors”. Consumption of milk would also be beneficial. Recently it is found that the liquid part of milk has appetite suppressing quality. And this humble food has an upper hand than casein in suppressing appetite.