10 ways to outwit your
appetite
By Oluwatoyin Oluwastoyin
Friday,
December 28, 2007
The pressure most of us experience at Christmas is how to
control our urge to eat. But one needs not be a genius to
outwit one’s appetite.
Just follow these ingenious tips:
1. Feed it (your appetite) protein for breakfast. You would
be less hungry later on and end up eating 267 fewer calories
during the day. At least, that happened on the days when St.
Louis University researchers in United States (US) gave overweight
women two scrambled eggs and two slices of jelly-topped toast
for breakfast rather than about half that protein.
2. Make it climb a flight of stairs. At home, store the foods
that tempt you most way out of reach. For instance, Dr. Brian
Wansink a Cornell University food psychologist, keeps his
favourite soft drink in a basement fridge. "Half the
time I'm too lazy to run down there to get it, so I drink
the water in the kitchen."
3. Sleep on it. People who do not get their eight hours of
sleep experience hormonal fluctuations that increase appetite,
report researchers.
4. Give it something else to think about. When scientists
scanned the brains of people eating different foods, they
found that the brain reacts to fat in the mouth in much the
same way that the nose responds to a pleasant aroma. So, if
you feel a craving coming on, apply your favourite scent.
5. Never let it see a heaping plate. The more food that is
in front of you, the more you will eat. So, at a restaurant,
ask your waiter to pack up half of your meal before serving
it to you, then eat the extras for lunch the next day.
6. Put it under the lights. You consume fewer calories at
a well-lit restaurant table than you do dining in a dark corner.
"In the light, you're more self-conscious and worry that
other patrons are watching what you eat," explains Wansink.
7. Talk it down. Entertaining friends with a great story does
not give you much time to eat up, so you will probably still
have food on your plate when they are done. Once they are
finished, call it quit too.
8. Offer it a seat. If you sit down to snack, and use utensils
and a plate, you will eat fewer calories at subsequent meals.
9. Satisfy it with soup. Start lunch with about 130 calories
worth of vegetable soup and you will eat 20 per cent fewer
calories during lunch overall, say Penn State experts.
10. Give it little choice. Packages that contain assorted
varieties of cookies, candy, dips, cheese, etc., make you
want to try all the flavours. The effect is so powerful, says
Wansink, that when people are given 10 colours of sweets and
candies to munch, they eat 30 per cent more!
Oh, and one more thing: Feeding your appetite a diverse diet
that is low in calories and high in nutrients can make your
real age as much as four years younger.Make sure you enjoy
your Christmas.
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