CHAPTER EIGHT
Appetite Control
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Appetite and hunger have basically the same meaning. Both describe a desire for food or something else. When it comes to appetite control, we may define both “appetite” and ‘hunger” differently. We can say that there are three types of appetite and we can describe hunger as a real physical need for nourishment. The three types of appetite can be triggered by three different reasons: hunger, habit, and temptation. Hunger is a natural appetite trigger since it is a real physical need for food. When your body gets low on energy, your appetite will stay with you or keep coming back until you satisfy your hunger.
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The habitual appetite comes on during times when you normally eat or when you are involved in activities that involve eating and socializing. The temptation appetite pops up when you are offered an unexpected, delicious treat that’s usually free. Remember that ghrelin is present in your stomach at all times and may spike and trigger your appetite when your see food, taste food, hear someone describe food, or smell food cooking. Under the given definitions, appetite becomes more of a mental response. Since habitual and temptation appetites are psychological responses to food that may be brought on by something other than hunger, they can be controlled.
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Things that may trigger the appetite include the following:
Free food The smell of food cooking
The sight of cooked food Rich desserts
Tempting snacks Meal times
Break times The sight of people eating
TV commercials Pictures of food
Eating habits Stress
Excitement The inability to say “No thanks”
Treats Social gatherings
Hunger Thirst
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Hunger might produce the strongest appetite response and trigger the appetite when you go without eating and deny your body vital nutrients or if you over exercise and reduce your glucose reserve. If the hunger appetite is suppressed too long, it could lead to binge eating. That is why your meals should include enough nutrients to satisfy your nutritional needs over a period of two days. Do not go more than forty-eight hours without eating a well, balanced meal.
Do not use fast food or sweets to satisfy your appetite. Use healthy snacks with bread and liquid until you can buy or prepare a healthy meal using fresh or frozen food.
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Never use appetite-suppressing drugs as part of a weight loss program without a doctor’s consent. So far, all attempts to put the task of weight loss in a pill have failed. Some advertisements claim that dietary supplements have the power you need to help you lose weight. Thus far, supplements have failed to be consistent. They are usually sold as natural products and are not regulated. This means that some supplements might help some people lose weight but not others. The correct dose for one person might be an overdose or under-dose for another person. To lose weight, you should use a diet/exercise plan, take dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients to help restore energy and stay healthy.
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The habitual appetite comes on during times when you normally eat or when you are involved in activities that involve eating and socializing. The temptation appetite pops up when you are offered an unexpected, delicious treat that’s usually free. Remember that ghrelin is present in your stomach at all times and may spike and trigger your appetite when your see food, taste food, hear someone describe food, or smell food cooking. Under the given definitions, appetite becomes more of a mental response. Since habitual and temptation appetites are psychological responses to food that may be brought on by something other than hunger, they can be controlled.
================================================
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Things that may trigger the appetite include the following:
Free food The smell of food cooking
The sight of cooked food Rich desserts
Tempting snacks Meal times
Break times The sight of people eating
TV commercials Pictures of food
Eating habits Stress
Excitement The inability to say “No thanks”
Treats Social gatherings
Hunger Thirst
===========================================
Hunger might produce the strongest appetite response and trigger the appetite when you go without eating and deny your body vital nutrients or if you over exercise and reduce your glucose reserve. If the hunger appetite is suppressed too long, it could lead to binge eating. That is why your meals should include enough nutrients to satisfy your nutritional needs over a period of two days. Do not go more than forty-eight hours without eating a well, balanced meal.
Do not use fast food or sweets to satisfy your appetite. Use healthy snacks with bread and liquid until you can buy or prepare a healthy meal using fresh or frozen food.
===========================================
Never use appetite-suppressing drugs as part of a weight loss program without a doctor’s consent. So far, all attempts to put the task of weight loss in a pill have failed. Some advertisements claim that dietary supplements have the power you need to help you lose weight. Thus far, supplements have failed to be consistent. They are usually sold as natural products and are not regulated. This means that some supplements might help some people lose weight but not others. The correct dose for one person might be an overdose or under-dose for another person. To lose weight, you should use a diet/exercise plan, take dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients to help restore energy and stay healthy.
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Turning Off the Appetite
It would be much easier to turn off the appetite if we could fool our body into thinking we are full when we are not. That way, we could teach our brain to switch off our appetite at will. We cannot do that because the body has too many safe guards against it. However, there is a secret to turning off the appetite no matter how strong it gets. All you have to do is eat one large meal a day at random times of the day rather than having three meals a day all at specific times each day.
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With this approach to eating, you will be able to decide when to eat rather than letting ghrelin decide your schedule for you. When you vary your eating times, you will be able to prevent ghrelin spikes in the stomach at certain times of the day. Remember that there is enough ghrelin in your stomach to spike and trigger your appetite at any time. By eating your main meal at random times during the day, you take control of your appetite. It’s just that simple. One way to do it is to eat at between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon on eat-day. Then you can have your snack on diet-day between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. every other day. This way ghrelin will not have a pattern to follow at regular intervals.
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After a large meal and a night’s sleep, your body will recharge itself and restore its reserve using some of your stored fat. Actually, even if you do not eat a balanced meal before you go to bed, your body will still draw on your fat to replenish your reserve and turn off your appetite. The problem with not eating the day before is that the appetite will keep popping up throughout the day.
The next step in the process is to choose the food for your meals. Even if you eat only one meal a day, you can still gain weight if you eat the wrong type of food. In order to lose weight, you must fill your stomach with food that is relatively low in calories and high in volume. Your stomach should be full when you consume about 1,800 calories. Then there is the diet-day snack, which should be no more that 600 calories for the whole day.
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This is a challenge because the stomach is about the size of a quart of milk. That’s a lot of space for food that has been chewed and mixed with the fluids in the stomach. The stomach will relax and expand even further when digestion starts. During digestion, the stomach can expand to four times its size. People who eat for pleasure may continue to stuff themselves, long after their stomach gets full and digestion starts.
Since a full stomach can hold over 2,000 calories before digestion starts, never eat again after the stomach gets full the first time. Also, to ensure that you do not consume too many calories in nutrient rich food, you will have to reduce the amount of high glycemic/high fat foods and consume more bread. You may also consume low glycemic foods such as vegetables, legumes, lean meat, pasta, and brown rice. They will let your stomach fill up without going over your nutritional allowance. Also, they produce a constant flow of glucose into your system rather than flooding the body with sugar all at one time.
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Don’t be afraid to turn off your appetite because you can always take comfort in the fact that you are never more than a few cookies away from a hardy appetite.
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