I don’t know about you, but some days it feels like I could eat and eat and eat! When I was flipping through Bob Greene’s Best Life Diet Book, he offered some suggestions on different things you could do to curb your appetite. You know who Bob Greene is, right? He’s best known as Oprah’s personal trainer, and appears on The Oprah Winfrey show quite often offering fitness advice and weight-loss tips. I’ve followed some of these suggestions, and I’ve found that most of them really do help to curb my appetite.

1. Eat every three to four hours  – this helps keep your blood sugar at steady levels so you won’t feel the urge to pig-out. This is one of those tips I regularly follow. I usually eat about every three hours.
2. Load up on foods high in fiber and water – Fiber keeps you feeling full!
3. Make every meal and snack a combination of protein, fiber-rich carbs and fat – This is one of those I need to continue working on. It’s not always easy for me to get protein into every meal and snack, but I do it the best I can.
4. Wait 20 minutes before having seconds or another course – Your brain needs time for it to realize that you’re full! 20 minutes isn’t much of a wait, and chances are, you’ll realize you’re full and you don’t need that second helping or dessert.
5. Avoid being around food when it’s not time to eat – If there’s food in front of your face, in particular, unhealthy foods, you’ll be tempted to eat it.
6. Get some exercise – Chronic overeaters are believed to have less pleasure receptors. This means it’ll take more food for them to be satisfied. Exercise fits in the picture because research has found that physical activity can actually increase those receptors in the brain.
7. Resolve emotion issues that trigger you to eat – I’ve mentioned it before… often times I’m one of those emotional eaters. If you find that you are too, find ways to cope when you’re emotional like listening to music, going for a walk, talking to a friend, etc.
8. Go to bed – You need sleep! Not getting enough sleep has been linked to being overweight. Make sure you are getting adequate sleep!

Out of all those suggestions to curb your appetite, the ones that I follow regularly include eating every three to four hours, getting exercise, resolving emotional issues that trigger me to eat, and getting adequate sleep. What do you do to curb your appetite?

I am one of those that tends to be an emotional eater. This emotional eating comes from any variety of emotions; happy, sad, anxious, bored, lonely, etc. And usually, the foods that I eat are considered comfort foods that aren’t so healthy. There’s definitely a connection between mood and food. For example, when you’re down and depressed, food can be a way to distract yourself from thinking about your problems. Another connection comes from certain foods like chocolate, which release small amounts of mood and satisfaction elevating opiates.

The Mayo Clinic has put together a very helpful list of ways that you can regain control of your eating habits so that you’re able to stop your emotional eating. They’re all easier said than done, but with work and effort, would be possible.

1. Learn to recognize true hunger: Is your stomach rumblin’ and grumblin’? If not, you’re probably really not hungry.
2. Know your triggers: The important thing here is to recognize you eating patterns so that you can avoid negative ones.
3. Look elsewhere for comfort: Instead of eating those comfort foods, take a walk, listen to music, exercise, call a friend.
4. Don’t keep unhealthy food around: Simply put… keep the junk at the store! This is much easier said than done. But, it’s true. If unhealthy foods are around, you’ll likely go for them when you’re stressed.
5. Snack healthy: Find healthy snack options that also satisfy you so that you won’t be craving potato chips and ice cream. One of my favorite snacks is veggies and dip with a fat-free dip, or apples with a little bit of low-fat peanut-putter for some protein.
6. Eat a balanced diet: This is important. If you’re eating a balanced diet and getting enough calories, chances are that you’ll feel fuller for a longer period of time.
7. Exercise regularly and get adequate rest: I think getting adequate rest is something that a lot of us have a hard time with. We have to be doing 50 different things in 50 different places which makes it difficult to adequate time for rest.

Like I said, all of those things are so much easier said than done. It might be best to focus on just one or two of those components instead of trying to do them all at once. One of the things that I have learned to do best is to recognize true hunger. When I stopped to think about what I was eating and when, there were many times throughout my week that I ate simply because I was bored. Emotional eating can really take you off track when you’re trying to lose weight, but using the suggestions above will help you to meet your weight loss goals, and change your lifestyle.

Source: Mayo Clinic [Via Yahoo Health!]