Obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, fatty liver, etc. are lifestyle diseases that are more prevalent these days than at any point in time in history. People often wish to change their lifestyle and food habits, but end up nowhere due to their inability to manage hunger. So here are 10 easy methods to control one’s hunger.
Hunger can be classified into two: one is the homeostatic hunger, where a person has not had any food for very long time and is too tired and feels a burning hunger. The second kind of hunger is the hedonic hunger where there is a temptation to eat certain specific foods even after having a meal.
Homeostatic hunger is the actual hunger sensation felt in the brain, but hedonic hunger is a condition where we end up eating due to inability to control our craving. There are almost 10 enzymes that control our hunger, but there are 3 major ones in these. They are ghrelin, insulin, and leptin. Ghrelin sends the hunger signals to the brain and we feel hungry. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and sends signals of stomach being filling to the brain and leptin identifies the fat content in our food and sends the signal of a full stomach to the brain. Only if the ghrelin, insulin and leptin work properly will we get a proper hunger and satiety.
Often, in people with obesity, diabetes, and hormonal dysfunctions, the insulin and leptin do not function properly and these are conditions known as insulin resistance and leptin resistance. In these conditions, the brain does not get the signal of filling of the stomach even while eating and also won’t get the signal of a full stomach. People who have obesity never get a feeling of satiety from eating small amount of food due to this improper functioning of the insulin and leptin hormones.
Controlling
Techniques
There are 10 points to be taken care of for all the three hormones to function appropriately.
1. Sleep. For the correction of the insulin metabolism in our body and maintenance of the leptin metabolism, sleep is very important. It is observed that when people stay up at night, they start craving for food by midnight. This is because of the automatic insulin resistance and leptin resistance in the body. So, sleep must be in accordance to the biological clock of the body and at least 7 hours of good sleep is very important to control hunger.
2. Exercise. People usually think that hunger will be increased after a strenuous exercise, but with high intensity training (HIT) workout which includes exercising at varying intensities (eg. walk for 5 minutes, and then run for 2 minutes and again walk for 5 minutes) improves the insulin metabolism in the body and in turn helps control the hunger. For example, people who have uncontrollable hunger at 8 pm everyday can try this high intensity workout around 6 pm for half an hour and see that the excessive hunger will not be felt at 8 pm.
3. Excessive tension and stress are often seen to lead people into overeating. The most important thing is to avoid eating food, especially sweets and processed high carb foods, when tensed because these lead to quick weight gain. Also, when tensed, the sphincter that separates the stomach and small intestine is contracted and this may lead to accumulation of food in the stomach for a longer period of time (delayed gastric emptying). This will lead to indigestion and acidity. So, if tensed, take 5 minutes to do breathing exercises before eating food.
4. Use of protein foods like meat and fish will help feel full very quickly. In case of vegetarians, they can try a bowl of bengal gram, green gram, or lentils and feel full very easily.
5. Use of leafy vegetables or grain with bran, peas, lentils, beans and other vegetables, provide more fibers that will absorb the acid in the stomach and swell up quickly to give a feeling of fullness of the stomach. So, these would help to reduce the food intake in general.
6. Foods containing healthy fats such as small fishes like tuna, mackerel, sardines, etc., nuts like almonds, walnuts, etc. quickly produce leptin in the stomach and we feel full. So, these factors in food, vegetables, healthy fats, and healthy proteins, in a combination help lowering hunger and also reduce problems like obesity and helps to overcome insulin resistance and leptin resistance.
7. Avoid or reduce the processed foods in the diet. All foods that are prepared by changing the actual food substance into juice, powder, or refining it may be considered as processed foods. So, grains must be had with their bran and fruits must be had as they are and not as fruit juices to avoid intake of larger quantities of food unknowingly.
8. Water intake. Hydration of the body is very important in controlling the hunger. For a healthy person, at least 3 L of water intake per day will help to control the hunger greatly.
9. Reduction of salts like sodium and potassium in the body leads to increased hunger. For example, if you are too exhausted after excessive sweating, you will feel increased hunger, but if you drink some water containing salt there is a quick reduction in the hunger. So, when you feel excessive hunger, you can try drinking some salted buttermilk or some soup with some salt in it, which is low in calories and also will supply sodium and potassium to the body thereby curbing the hunger.
10. The time taken for eating the food is just as important as eating the food on time. Hence, the food must be properly chewed and swallowed. At least 10 to 15 minutes are required for the synthesis of leptin and hence if you eat a lot of food within a short span of time, you will not be satiated even after eating. Chewing food also helps the saliva mix well with the food thereby improving digestion and quick synthesis of leptin.
These measures can therefore help control the hunger and prevent the bad effects of overeating. Overeating is the main reason for most of the lifestyle diseases that are seen in increasing number of people in the present time.