Appetite Suppressant Tips

Healthy Appetite Suppressant Tricks

Stop hunger with these strategies that stave off stomach growling

Slash calories and you will drop pounds. Seems simple, right?

Just one problem: Your stomach inevitably stages a protest, rumbling until you give in. The reason, scientists say, is that when your body senses food is in short supply—even if you're restricting it on purpose—it goes on the offense, pumping out more of the hunger hormone ghrelin to coerce you to eat. 

Embrace a Little Fat

Trimming all the fat from your diet can backfire. Oleic acid, an unsaturated fat found in olive oil, nuts, and avocados, helps quash hunger, During digestion, it's converted into a compound that indirectly triggers hunger-curbing signals to your brain. Just watch your portions,

snacking on two tablespoons of natural peanut butter, an ounce of nuts, or a quarter of an avocado. Nuts are a natural hunger suppressant, Just make sure you watch the portions.

Get Sweaty

Hitting the gym not only burns calories but also helps you consume fewer of them. A study published in the American Journal of Physiology found that 60 minutes of high-intensity cardio can reduce appetite for up to two hours afterward. "Aerobic exercise lowers ghrelin levels and increases the amount of an appetite-suppressing hormone in your body," says study author David Stensel, Ph.D. To maximize the hunger-dampening effect, make your cardio workout more intense by adding intervals (short bursts of speed with periods of rest in between).

Gobble Up Grapefruit

Grapefruit diets went out of style with Jane Fonda aerobic videos, but this citrus is staging a comeback.

people who eat half a grapefruit with each meal lose an average of 3.6 pounds in three months. these yellow-orange orbs lower your post meal levels of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar and fat metabolism. 

Chew on This

people who chew gum for one hour in the morning consume 67 fewer calories at lunch and don't compensate by eating more later in the day. "One theory is that chewing stimulates nerves in the jaw that are connected to the brain region responsible for satiety,"  So pop a piece of sugarless—chewing it can keep the munchies at bay and burn 11 calories an hour. (Hey, it's better than nothing!)

Take a Whiff

Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten. One study found that people who inhaled a peppermint scent every two hours ate 2,700 fewer calories per week than they normally did—that's nearly a one-pound loss! Banana, green apple, and vanilla had similar effects in other studies. And the more often you sniff these aromas, the more weight you'll lose, says Alan Hirsch, M.D., neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Stash some vanilla-scented candles in your snack drawer or cupboards. And if you tend to eat when stressed, hold your left nostril closed and sniff through the right one to activate the side of your brain where emotions are processed. It could help reduce your anxiety and your appetite.