Constant thinking about food, frequent reaching for snacks and sweets, eating too large portions of food during meals – excessive appetite does not pass by most people who are overweight, thwarting their efforts to slim down their figures. What are the reasons of reaching for excessive food? How to stop appetite?
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Excessive appetite – the causes
Similarly to many other problems, the problem of snacking and overeating during meals lies in the psychological sphere. Emotional turmoil, excessive stress, living in constant nervous tension, depression, self-esteem problems – unable to cope with them, we direct our steps towards food as an antidote to negative thoughts and moods. The relief comes, but only for a short time, soon afterwards we feel guilty that we have consumed too many calories again, we feel regret, sadness and irritation and… the vicious circle is closed.
The reasons for excessive appetite may also lie in the wrong way of composing meals. Consuming too many simple carbohydrates (sweets, products made of white flour) leads to sugar metabolism disorders and rapid glucose surges in the blood. Then a large insulin release occurs, the excess sugar in the blood is lowered, after which we quickly become hungry again.
In addition, the increased appetite may be influenced by poor planning of meals (e.g. when we eat too little) and the lack of a large, full breakfast – not eating it, later throughout the day we feel “undernourished”.
How to reduce appetite?
If you want to fight excessive appetite, first of all you should plan your daily menu well and stick to it. Eat a decent breakfast and then 4 more meals every 3 hours or so.
Not less important is the choice of food products. If our menu includes a lot of wholemeal products (wholemeal bread, groats, wholemeal rice and pasta, bran, cereals), lean dairy (kefir, yoghurt, cottage cheese) and vegetables, we will feel full longer and less often will reach for additional food. Eggs, leguminous plants, fish, lean meat and water with lemon drunk throughout the dayare also conducive to the feeling of long-lasting satiety.
Our psyche also has a great influence on limiting excessive appetite. It is important to become aware of the situations in which we reach for excessive food and start controlling it. Let’s learn how to relieve stress and bad emotions in a different way instead of “eating the problem away”.
In case of increased desire for a snack, let’s reach for healthy, light equivalents of calorific bombs we used to reach for, e.g. sliced carrots, wholemeal rusks, diet wafers, fruit and vegetable shakes.
How to curb your appetite for sweets?
Snacking on cakes, wafers, candies and other sweets is particularly dangerous for our figure. These kinds of snacks not only accumulate quickly in the form of fat tissue, but they also act in a truly addictive way.
We can satisfy our appetite for sweets by reaching for healthier substitutes: dried fruit (which due to its high fibre content quickly give a feeling of satiety), nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, fruit, fruit mousses and jellies as well as home-made diet desserts. Excessive craving for sweets will also be curbed by dietary supplements with chromium.
