There are ways to hack your body and mind to reduce hunger and seemingly insatiable cravings. Here are some tips to follow!
Avoid distractions when eating food as it may lead to overeating
When on a diet, one of the biggest challenges to your weight loss journey is those pesky hunger pangs. As you try to maintain a calorie-deficit diet, your mind constantly pushes you to eat more. You start living in a constant cycle of avoiding food and experiencing hunger pangs. Needless to say, we often fall prey to these cravings and grab a bag of chips or some other snack.
Hunger pangs and cravings can hamper your fat loss results! But avoiding food doesn't work! There are ways to hack your body and mind to reduce hunger and seemingly insatiable cravings. Here are some tips to follow!
1. Diet breaks
Control your eating patterns! Start taking small diet breaks to re-sensitize ghrelin and leptin, the hormones that control your appetite, so that your hunger levels are always in check. Diet breaks can help you stay focused on your diet while getting small treats once in a while to satiate those cravings. You get the best of both worlds!
2. Mindful eating
Avoid watching TV or talking on the phone while eating. Give your undivided attention to your food when you sit to eat. Choose a designated zone to eat your meals that is away from any distractions. Use your senses to savor every flavor of your food, feel the texture of grains and focus on the aromas of the meal. You will feel more satisfied and stay full for longer, without giving in to any other cravings!
3. Eat slowly and chew well
It takes a minimum of 20 minutes for your brain to get the message that your stomach is satiated. If you eat slowly, your body gets the time to realize that you are eating and increases satiety after each meal. This helps your brain know that you have eaten well and hunger pangs are less likely to occur. Moreover, chewing well breaks your food down into easy-to-digest particles, improves the absorption of nutrients, and aids digestion.
4. Address the deficiencies
Deficiencies in essential nutrients such as Vitamin D can decrease the leptin in your body, which in turn reduces your satiety—making you feel hungry all the time. Taking the right steps (ask your doctor/nutritionist) to check vitamin and mineral levels in your body, and addressing these deficiencies will help you to manage your cravings.
5. Optimize sleep
Poor sleep patterns increase ghrelin hormone levels in the body and make you more prone to hunger pangs. Moreover, Numerous studies have shown that staying up until late at night often leads to binge eating or snacking, which makes you consume more calories than you need to meet your goals. Devise a good sleep cycle by setting a definite time to hit the bed and get up in the morning on time.
6. Lower Stress
When you're stressed, the amount of cortisol in your body increases. This makes you crave food that is sugary, salty, or fatty. Giving in to these temptations seems easy when you are not feeling your best. Managing your stress is an effective way to curb your cravings. Indulge in activities like playing games, running, jogging, or even meditation to lower your stress levels and therefore emotional eating.
Food is sustenance. Food is tasty. Food is enjoyable. But one thing it shouldn't be is in control of you. Follow these simple tips to improve your relationship with food and develop healthy eating habits.
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