Christmas Challenge Weight Loss Tips: Week 2
Congratulations on completing the first week towards a
healthier, slimmer Christmas.
No doubt you're already seeing results - by now you've
probably lost a pound or two - and are well on your way in week
2. But what if you're finding it harder than you expected and
hunger is frequently getting the better of you?
This week, I've put together some top tips to help beat those
hunger pangs.
1. Don't be scared of hunger
After months or years of constantly overindulging and never
really feeling hungry, it's easy to forget what that gnawing,
empty sensation in our stomach feels like. It's no wonder then
that when we initially change our eating habits, hunger pangs
make us feel uneasy and uncomfortable - and leave us reaching
for the biscuit tin! While many diets claim you'll never feel
hungry, this is often an unrealistic promise.
Experiencing hunger, especially when you first start a new
way of eating, is quite normal.
The key is to learn to recognise the sensation, not be scared
by it, and then deal with it appropriately. Firstly, rather than
looking at hunger in a negative way, think positively. Doesn't
it actually feel nice to be hungry and to really look forward to
a meal or snack? Secondly, before eating, you may find it
helpful to identify how hungry you really are: rank your hunger
on a scale of one to 10, where one is fully satisfied and 10 is
starving. Only reach for a snack when your hunger ranks at seven
or above.
2. Breakfast like a King (and don't skip
meals)
Okay, you've heard it a hundred times before, but skipping
breakfast (or any other meal) will give you hunger pangs that
quickly leave you reaching for chocolate, crisps and fizzy
drinks to boost flagging energy levels!
Studies at the University of Leeds found that eating earlier
in the day helps to prevent people from getting hungry, losing
control and overeating in the evening. But what if you never
feel hungry in the morning? Chances are, if you can last until
mid morning or lunchtime before eating, you're having too much
to eat in the evening - I guarantee if you have a smaller
dinner, earlier in the evening, you'll wake up with a ravenous
appetite! Bottom line: by spreading meals evenly throughout the
day - and always eating breakfast - you'll feel satisfied for
longer and be less likely to give in to snack attacks.
3. Fill up on fibre
When it comes to kicking hunger, swap all things white for
all things brown. This means ditching bagels, white spaghetti,
cornflakes and white rice and instead opting for wholemeal
bread, wholewheat pasta, wholegrain cereals and brown rice.
There are several reasons why high-fibre foods help to combat
hunger. Firstly, foods containing a lot of fibre generally take
longer to chew. As well as helping you to feel more satisfied,
this automatically slows down the speed at which you eat, giving your brain time to register feelings of fullness
so that you're less like to overeat.
Secondly, fibre acts like a sponge and absorbs and holds on
to water. This means fibre-rich foods swell up in your stomach,
helping to fill you up. But best of all, because fibre is harder
to digest, it stays in your stomach for longer keeping you
feeling fuller for longer, so you're less likely to want to
snack between meals.
The following foods are all good sources of fibre:
- Wholemeal, granary and softgrain varieties of bread
- Wholegrain breakfast cereals, eg. Weetabix, branflakes,
unsweetened muesli, Shreddies and porridge oats
- Wholemeal pasta and brown rice
- Beans, lentils and peas
- Fresh and dried fruits - particularly if the skins are
eaten
- Vegetables - particularly if the skins are eaten
- Nuts and seeds
4. Go for low GI foods
Foods with a low Glycaemic Index (GI) slowly release sugar
into the blood, providing you with a steady supply of energy.
This leaves you feeling satisfied for longer so that you're less
likely to snack. In contrast, foods with a high GI cause a rapid
- but short-lived - rise in blood sugar, leaving you lacking in
energy and feeling hungry within a short time, so that you end
up reaching for a snack. Bottom line: eating foods with a low GI
prevents swings in blood sugar, helping you to have better
control over your appetite because you feel fuller for longer.
Good low GI choices include most fruit and veg, wholewheat
pasta, porridge, wholegrain cereals, lentils, beans, nuts, brown
and basmati rice and wholemeal bread.
5. Pick at some protein
Eating small amounts of lean meat, chicken, fish, dairy
products and eggs may help to keep you feeling
fuller for longer.
Research shows that protein-rich foods help
to improve satiety - the feeling of fullness you get at end of a
meal - and the more satiated you feel after eating, the less
likely you'll be to feel hungry between meals. More research is
needed to prove this conclusively. Nevertheless, chances are
you'll feel fuller for longer if you swap a couple of biscuits
mid afternoon for a skinless chicken breast, tuna (canned in
water) or lean ham with salad.
6. Go to work on an egg
According to recent research from the Rochester Centre for
Obesity in America, eating eggs for breakfast can help to
prevent hunger sufficiently so that calorie intakes are reduced
by more than 400 calories throughout the rest of the day!
In the study, 30 overweight or obese women ate either an
egg-based breakfast or a bagel-based breakfast, containing the
same amount of calories and almost identical levels of protein.
The researchers recorded the women's eating habits and found
that just before lunch, the women who had eaten eggs for
breakfast felt less hungry and ate a smaller lunch as a result.
Better still, over the next 36 hours the group eating the
egg-containing breakfast consumed, on average, 417 calories less
than the bagel-eating group.
It seems that eating eggs for breakfast makes you feel fuller
for longer so that you eat less at your next few meals. Combine
them with wholemeal toast and a glass of vitamin-C rich
unsweetened orange juice, which will help the body make the best
use of the iron in the eggs.
7. Eat slowly
The brain requires around 20 minutes to receive the signal
you are full, so no matter how much you eat during this time,
your satiety signal won't come any sooner. That's why it's a
good idea to eat slowly.
Having a low-fat starter is a great
idea if you're trying to lose weight as it takes time to eat and
will reduce your appetite for the main course. It also explains
why it's a good idea to wait a while before deciding whether you
really want a dessert or a second helping.
Try these tips to slow down the speed at which you eat:
- use chop sticks instead of a knife and fork - you can't
get as much food onto chopsticks as you can a fork so your
meal will take longer to eat.
- serve food in a bowl so that it stays hotter for longer -
chances are the food in the bottom will still be so hot you
won't be able to gulp down the last few mouthfuls.
- don't watch TV or read while you're eating - if you're
distracted at mealtimes, chances are you'll shove food into
your mouth without paying any attention to it.
- chew each mouthful slowly - if you find this difficult,
set yourself a target of 10 bites per mouthful before
swallowing.
- put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls - it's the
oldest trick in the book, but it works!
8. Quench your thirst
Before grabbing something to eat, check whether you're really
thirsty rather than hungry. It's easy to confuse thirst and
hunger with the result that many people grab a snack or fill
their plate for a second time when what they really need is a
glass of water. Better still, water is needed for every chemical
reaction in the body, including burning fat. And not only will
it help to fill you up, it'll work wonders for your skin and
hair. For maximum 'filling power' opt for sparkling water - the
bubbles will help to fight those hunger pangs.
9. Cut down on caffeine
If you're in the habit of drinking loads of caffeinated
drinks because you think they'll rev up your metabolism, think
again. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that
too much caffeine in the form of diet cola, tea and coffee might
have the opposite effect and leave you feeling more hungry. In
some studies high caffeine intakes have also been found to
prepare the body for storing fat whenever food is eaten. So to
prevent hunger, you might be better off swapping cola for a
glass of sparkling water and tea and coffee for a cup of herbal
or fruit tea.
10. Stock up on low-calorie fillers
Keep your fridge and cupboards stocked with a selection of
low-calorie foods that can easily be turned into hunger-busting
snacks or tasty starters.
Try the following when hunger hits:
- bowl of salad with fat-free dressing or balsamic vinegar
- vegetable sticks with salsa or tzatziki (or make your own
yogurt dip by mixing 1 small pot low-fat plain yogurt with 1
clove of crushed garlic, 1tsp mint sauce and 1 tsp lemon
juice.)
- bowl of ratatouille (made without oil)
- bowl of low-fat soup or a low-cal cup-a-soup
- slice of melon
- prawn cocktail with a fat-free seafood dressing
- Florida cocktail made from orange and grapefruit segments
- corn-on-the-cob without butter
- 1/2 grapefruit with artificial sweetener
- bowl of fresh fruit salad or piece of fresh fruit
|
