Do you feel like your snacking more than normal people do? Is your appetite getting the best of you? Don’t worry, you are not alone. A lot of people struggle with unhealthy appetite and frequent hunger pangs. Analyze your eating habits and daily activities, those these affect your relationship with food? Learn about your appetite and learn to curb it naturally.
What Triggers Your Appetite?
Appetites are a tricky thing. They can be caused by different factors, it can be caused by unhealthy relationship with food, emotional eating, boredom, fast metabolism, hyper acidity and more.
Emotional eating, this is when you feel hungry when certain emotions come about. You tend to snack more when you feel stressed, sad or angry. Unhealthy eating habits, tend to stem psychologically than physically. You tend to associate eating with comfort or love. It can also mean the opposite to some people, eating or craving food can cause discomfort and sadness. It is similar to emotional eating, though unhealthy relationship with food when left untreated can cause eating disorders. Hyper acidity can cause the stomach to spasm imitating hunger pangs. If you experience a burning sensation in your stomach and esophagus area you may have GERD or hyper acidity. You can fix this with medication and a healthy diet.
There are numerous ways to curb appetite naturally. Read below to find out more.
- Hydrate more! Drink plenty of water. This tip may be cliche but it works. Dehydration is often mistaken for hunger. Instead of reaching for a snack, drink a glass of water first. Wait for a few minutes and see if you still feel like snacking.Always keep a water bottle handy, drink a few sips of water every few hours to keep you hydrated. This will also help keep you feeling fuller for a longer period. Keep on drinking water to remove unnecessary snacking habits. Avoid drinking sugary filled drinks or acidic drinks. This will make you prone to snacking or hunger pangs. When you choose to drink sugary drinks, drink water after.
- The most important meal of the day, breakfast. People tend to skip breakfast, due to trouble it brings in the morning. Instead of eating a healthy and packed meal, most will opt for the easy and on the go substitutes.Doing this will dent your energy and make your appetite running all day. A solid breakfast will help boost the energy and jumpstart the metabolism. Getting your metabolism running early in the morning can help you feel full for a longer time frame.
- Remain active, people tend to get hungry after a workout. That is caused by your body’s lack of energy. You burn calories and use up energy when you work out. You need to replenish the lost energy with a healthy snack.Exercising will make you hungry, but not moving and remaining sedentary will actually increase your appetite more.You can prevent this by remaining active throughout the day. You don’t have to go and run to the gym every day. Simple movements such as walking, shaking your legs while sitting and jumping in place can help decrease the appetite.
- Amp up the protein, adding more protein can help boost the energy and keep the metabolism running. Protein is harder to digest, making you feel fuller longer. It also helps improve bowel movements and energy.Add protein in your diet by using protein powders in your smoothies, or create a low calorie high protein meals. It’s best to have a high protein meal in the morning to help you feel energized and full through the day.
- Tea! Drinking tea before and after your meal can help lower your appetite throughout the day. Teas’ are full of health benefits and is a great healthy snacking substitute. If you feel like snacking brew a cup of tea. Warm tea will lower hunger pangs and keep you full.
- Eat three full meals a day. It is said that eating small frequent meals will increase the metabolism. This concept is not true, the metabolic rate remains the same with three full meals and small frequent meals. Smaller meals will actually increase cravings and snacking habits.
- Unlearning the habit. Analyze your snacking habits. Do you tend to snack more when you are bored or stressed? Acknowledging your negative eating will help you control the snacking urges.
- Get rid of the temptation. Hide your snacks away, keep the candies, junk food, sugary snacks and more somewhere you cannot easily reach.
Check your eating habits first, you may be snacking more because your meal servings are not enough to satisfy you. Lack of nutrition and vitamins can also cause you to snack more.
