Are you trying to lose weight or change your dieting habits? Altering the foods you eat and charting a new course when it comes to your diet can be a massive challenge. People are creatures of habit, and that includes when and what we eat. Most diets fail because, even though they start out well, things get tough when your body starts saying, “Hey, what’s going on?!” It usually hits at about the two-week mark when your body notices that it isn’t getting all of that incredible sugar or snack food anymore.
If you’re starting a diet, the hunger pangs will come. You’ve got to devise a strategy that suppresses them to help you increase your chances of changing the way you eat and feel about your body. Suppressing appetite isn’t easy. It requires discipline. People need to know their triggers and what situations will put them at the highest risk of diet failure.
Here are some strategies you can use to suppress your appetite and stay on the weight loss path.
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Stay Busy!
One of the best things you can do to suppress your appetite is to find ways to take your mind off of your stomach. For most people trying to lose weight, you’re not actually hungry. What you’re feeling is a craving instead. It’s your body telling you that they want whatever you normally eat. This can be very difficult to overcome because you’re essentially training your body and adjusting its expectations.
Whenever you feel hungry, take a walk or change locations. Do whatever it takes to take your mind off of eating. Pop a piece of gum in your mouth and clean up a room or start a new work task. The craving will eventually pass and you can overcome it without sabotaging your diet.
Eat Healthy Whole Foods
Many people who struggle with dieting are stuck in a sugar-focused spike and crash cycle that can be hard to change. Your body is used to eating a lot of sugar, drinking sodas, having chips, or some other unhealthy afternoon or late-night snack. To be successful in your diet and regulate your appetite, you’ll do much better by eating healthy whole foods like vegetables or foods that are rich in protein. These types of food will make you feel more full and satisfied for longer, so you’re not craving something an hour after you eat.
Check Out the Potential of Peptides
Peptides have been linked in research to appetite suppression according to studies done on rodents. One peptide, in particular, Melanotan 2, or MT-2, was developed in the 1980s at the University of Arizona and has been found to suppress appetite among test rodents in studies. The rodents that received MT-2 ate less overall and exhibited a lower preference for fatty foods than they otherwise would have preferred.
MT-2 also showed in research tests to have similar effects to the hormone leptin. Leptin is otherwise known as the hormone that reduces cravings and food intake. It is also associated with feelings of satiety or feeling satisfied and no longer hungry or craving certain foods..
Have Healthy Snacks Around
Sometimes, hunger is just too much to overcome. We need to be ready for those challenging times to avoid a mixup that can destroy the progress that has been so hard to come by. It’s important to have some healthy, low-calorie snacks nearby for when cravings come on strong. Have some sliced vegetables in the fridge or light things like popcorn at the ready that give a good mouth feel but also aren’t going to count as an added meal for the day.
If you’re trying to stick to a diet, it’s not a great idea to let cravings or hunger feelings go on for too long because it might lead you to binge when it’s finally time to eat. It’s not going to do you much good if you eat twice as much during mealtime as you’re supposed to because you let yourself get that hungry.
As always, the key to a successful diet is balance. Find what works for you through a process of constant refinement. Don’t give up and take the inevitable hiccups in stride. Eventually, you’ll find the sweet spot where your cravings aren’t getting the best of you and your body is responding well to the new eating habits you’ve created.
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