How to keep your appetite at bay

To be able to maintain a healthy weight or achieve it through a low-calorie diet, a factor of great importance is the appetite that each of us feels, some more, some less. There are people who eat just because they have to, without feeling the urge to hunger at all; others, on the other hand, who perceive hunger pangs even hours before the meal. Clearly, the latter are more predisposed to fattening! It could become a real ally for weight loss, the essential method for keeping appetite at bay. There are some strategies to test on your body which, in most cases, will bring nothing short of miraculous benefits. And the temptation to repeatedly open the fridge at the most unthinkable hours will slowly cease.

The basic rules to limit the sense of hunger

• The day must be scrupulously divided into 5 meals: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. Large binges must be eliminated completely, but not only to avoid rising inexorably, but also because eating small meals every 3-4 hours stimulates the basal metabolism and avoids arriving at lunch and dinner with a fainting hunger. Blood sugars are mainly responsible for a strong appetite: a drastic decrease in them leads the subject to feed on anything that passes before his eyes. The snack and the snack prevent this from happening.
• Chewing is undoubtedly a fundamental point not to be forgotten: it must be slow and conscious; foods should be crushed between the teeth for easier digestion. The more food is kept in the mouth, the more the sense of satiety rises, leading us to eat less. The brain needs a few minutes after ingestion of meals to 'understand' that you have eaten and restore the sense of fullness to the body. For the psyche, chewing longer gives the feeling of having eaten more.
• Vegetables should be introduced before anything else; rich in fiber and water, they satiate quickly and limit the glycemic index of foods introduced later (excellent for diabetics). They prepare the stomach and intestines to digest subsequent meals.

A few more tips…

• After having finished the dish, get up immediately from the table, in order not to give in to the temptation of a few more appetizers
• Brush your teeth right away or chew peppermint gum