During diets, our stomach suffers and starves, but fortunately for us, it can be easily fooled. Unhealthy and excessive desire for food can also be controlled by simple tricks:
1. Drink plenty of water. Try to drink about two litres because liquid gives a feeling of satiety.
2. Eat plenty of fiber. Minimum quantity is 25 grams per day, and must come from vegetables and fruits rich in soluble fiber (citrus fruits, apples, potatoes, carrots, green beans and chard as well as whole grains, such as oats and barley).
3. Eat small meals when you feel hungry: raw carrots or celery.
4. Choose complex carbohydrates (wholemeal bread and wholemeal pasta) because they do not cause excessive secretion of insulin-like simple carbohydrates (sugar), yet induce the release of serotonin, which maintains a good mood and reduces appetite.
5. Before meals, drink beverages that saturate. For example, tomato juice stimulates the secretion of a substance which gives a feeling of satiety.
6. Instead of salt, improve the taste of food with aromatic herbs.
7. Start your meal with soup or thick soup of vegetables because they contain water, fiber and low calories. Also, soup reduces appetite, and, like all hot meals, has relaxing effects. Tomato soup is one of those that best fed up and relax.
8. Eat slowly. Message of satiety takes 20 minutes to reach the brain, so meals should last at least half an hour.
9. Beware of vitamins. Sometimes the excessive desire for food is due to lack of some vitamins or minerals. For example, the desire for sweets and starches can be related to deficiency of vitamin B.
10. Take chromium because it regulates insulin secretion. The richest natural sources of chromium are brewer’s yeast and whole grains.
