1. Don’t skip meals.
People who skip breakfast or lunch lend to overeat in the evening, this is common among chronic dieters. A problem is that during meal, skipping, the body's store of glycogen, used as a fuel, drops. That signals the body to demand food and could make you hungry.
2. Soup it up.
In 2001, Researchers at one University in the United States
3. Snack sensibly.
A large meal, especially one that's sugary, stimulates the body to produce insulin over a longer period; this, in turn, removes excess sugars from the bloodstream and encourages fat storage and production. With smaller, more frequent meals, less insulin is released over a shorter period. According to some scientific thinking, this helps in the weight wars by lessening the amount of fat produced and stored. Nutritionists call this small-meal approach grazing, and for it to be effective, you have to munch the right foods. If grazing sounds like too much freedom to eat, schedule it in advance. Plan your day so that you can snack with healthful goodies every two hours or so.
A few years ago, dieters were encouraged to dine on high-protein, low-carbohydrate foods, a hamburger patty with cottage cheese on a lettuce leaf, for example. Since then, such diets have been criticized as unhealthy and potentially dangerous. Foods high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat-rice, potatoes, corn and pasta-have made a big comeback, thanks in part to their ability to satisfy the appetite with fewer calories.
Fibrous foods provide robust mouthful that must be chewed thoroughly. It's a natural way to slow eating, and eating more slowly means eating less. The extra time lets the body know it has received fuel and doesn't need much more.
Soluble fiber in foods such as barley, beans, apples, citrus fruits, beets, carrots and potatoes also dampens insulin response. Normally, after a meal, insulin levels rise to help metabolize sugar and fat. But soluble fiber helps keep insulin levels lower after a meal, says Kenney.
Moreover, foods high in fiber tend to have fewer calories in every bite, which means fewer calories consumed overall.
6. Know your own triggers.
Whether it’s sizzling sausage or crunch popcorn, the smell, sight, sound and even texture of foods are powerful triggers to overeat. First, ask yourself why you want to eat. It may have nothing to do with hunger. Actually our eating is so dependent on external cues that just seeing foods makes us want to eat.
Emotions are another reason people eat. Eighty-five percent of my patients had psychological reasons for overeating. A major trigger is stress. Before you eat, ask yourself, "Am 1 eating because I'm hungry or because I'm upset?"
Keeping a food record can help identify your strongest cues. For a few days, write down everything you eat and what made you start thinking about food, an advertisement, emotion or aroma. That helps you out-think the next craving.
