Healthy Diet Tricks

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.
- Irv Kupcinet

The solution to losing weight is simple in theory - just eat less. But that's not so easy in real life. The body does not want to diet and hunger pangs can drive anyone to "breaking" their diet. How can you diet and not feel hungry all the time? Women's Health magazine recommends these Healthy Appetite Supressant Tricks.

1. Eat Protein at Breakfast
Many studies show that breakfast is essential to healthy weight. You think you're being clever by skipping breakfast but the body will overcompensate by wanting to eat extra food throughout the day to make up the loss. A good breakfast should include at least one ounce of lean protein like Canadian bacon, egg whites, or low-fat yogurt. Protein keeps you fuller than other nutrients and takes your body more time to digest and absorb leaving you feeling fuller longer.

2. Eat Potatoes
Many diets portray potatoes as carb-heavy villains but a plain, medium-size spud is just 100 calories. (It's the butter, sour cream, frying oil, etc that packs on the weight. This recommendation does NOT apply to chips or french fries.) Potatoes contain appetite-slaying superpowers with a special type of starch that resists digestion. Because potatoes take a while to break down, they stay in your intestine longer, delaying the onset of hunger pangs.

3. A little Fat is good
Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat found in olive oil, nuts, and avocados, helps quash hunger. Just watch your portions; unsaturated fats should make up about 20 percent of your total calorie intake. Try snacking on two tablespoons of natural peanut butter, an ounce of nuts, or a quarter of an avocado.

4. Exercise
Exercise not only burns calories but also helps you eat less. 60 minutes of high-intensity cardio can reduce appetite for up to two hours afterward.

5. Grapefruit
Eating half a grapefruit can lower your postmeal levels of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar and fat metabolism.

6. Chew Sugarless Gum
People who chewed gum for one hour in the morning consumed 67 fewer calories at lunch and didn't compensate by eating more later in the day.

7. Use your nose
One study claims that people who inhaled a peppermint scent every two hours ate 2,700 fewer calories per week than they normally did. Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten. Personally I have my doubts - I've always associated smelling food with triggering hunger. What might work is using your nose while eating - get the max experience out of your food by using all your senses as you eat.

Bottom Line

The trick in dieting is NOT not eating but eating wisely. (and exercise)