Somewhere in the brain hides the neural circuit that controls appetite. Appetite can feel like something stronger than one’s own will. It can drag us into an unbalanced diet or make us feel an irresistible attraction to foods that we know should not be consumed in excess. However, there are natural ways to regulate ghrelin, lThe hormone involved in the sensation of appetite is ghrelin.

10 natural strategies to reduce appetite

When the appetite is felt exaggerated and there is a progressive or accelerated increase in weight It may be advisable to take some practical and everyday measures that contribute to regulating it

1. Eat slowly

The nerve signal that transmits the message to the brain that the stomach and intestine are full travels slowly and arrives late. It is advisable to chew well and have fun eating without rushing. This helps the nervous stimuli and chemicals that suppress appetite to do their job.

2. Limit variety

The diversity of recipes that make up the daily menus and the amount of food on the table should be just enough for the diet to be balanced. We must especially limit the presence of highly palatable foods (such as those rich in fat) and those concentrated in calories (sweets, soft drinks…).

3. Respect the schedules

It is as negative to eat too few meals a day as too many. Eating only at scheduled times and limiting snacking helps enormously to regulate the desire to eat. It is recommended to take between three and five doses daily.

4. Exercise

It is not true that it only serves to whet your appetite: it is actually more manageable after a session of activity. On the other hand, the anxiety caused by a sedentary lifestyle is more intractable and a greater cause of overweight than appetite related to energy needs.

5. Eat foods rich in fiber

Vegetables and fruits are satiating because their fiber fills the stomach and intestines. A balanced intake of soluble fibers (legumes, apple, eggplant, sweet potatoes, plums…) and insoluble fibers (whole wheat and rice, nuts…) is recommended.

6. Use satiating plants

The Garcinia cambogiaindicated for weight control, helps reduce cholesterol and burn fat. The cactus Hoodia gordonii It has helped the African population endure famines due to droughts.

7. Sleep well

Sleeping for a few hours or interrupting dreams increases the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and decreases the production of leptin, one of the chemical messengers of satiety. It has been proven that sleep disturbances are common among overweight people.

8. Control the glycemic load of foods

Some scientists are investigating other ways to influence appetite and their consequences. One of them is control glycemic load of foods, that is, their ability to quickly raise blood sugar levels.

The faster the rise, the more intense the feeling of satiety.but then a descent what’s going on accompanied by voracious hunger. Consequently, people who consume foods with a high glycemic load (sweets, white bread, potatoes…) usually snack abundantly before the next meal.

The solution is to dominate foods with a low loadsuch as legumes, vegetables and whole grains.

9. Lose weight to control hunger

Other theoretically simple strategy but which has proven difficult in practice is reduce weight. That is, instead of starving to lose weight, it is about lose weight so as not to go hungry.

Barbara Rollsprofessor of Nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, proposes the «volumetrics» diet. The idea is very simple: consume only foods that have a lot of volume and few calories.

The goal is to fill the stomach and provoke the reaction of the digestive nervous network before an excessive amount of calories have been ingested. The Barbara Rolls diet does not make you hungry, because you eat until you feel satisfied.

Therefore, from their point of view it is a mistake to recommend small portions that ghrelin levels increasethat is, from hunger.

The problem is not large portions but excess calories. A large salad is satiating and provides fewer calories than a cookie that leaves you empty and hungry.

There are sensations of appetite and satiety for each of the four basic flavors. They must be satisfied without the diet becoming unbalanced.

But the most interesting thing about Barbara Rolls’ diet is that recommends eating as much variety as possible of foods, flavors and textures, because we need to satisfy our needs for each of them.

There is a «sensory-specific satiety»According to Rolls: after a generous meal dominated by salty flavour, we still crave dessert to get our necessary dose of sweet.

Not taking it into account, for example, in a diet that recommends abstinence of sweet or carbohydrates, It provokes a great appetite precisely for forbidden foods and flavors.

10. Pay attention to hunger traps

However, sense satisfaction should not be an alibi to rush into certain traps.

A person can compensate the pleasure you don’t get in other aspects of your life –affections or professional fulfillment, for example– with an extra dose of gastric pleasure. Stress or boredom They also trigger the appetite.

And in today’s society, Food producers excite the hunger of consumers. Brian Wansink, an expert in eating psychology, has studied how the food industry whets our appetite:

• The packagingplates, glasses, cups or large spoons They make us consume between 20 and 30% more.
• This art of whetting your appetite takes into account the shape of the glasses: in a wide one we drink more than in a narrow one.
• Offering a wide variety of shapes and colors. It is known that you eat with your eyes. Before a good and attractive assortment We are capable of ingesting twice as much as if we were only faced with one or two foods.
• The lightningthe background music or the company are other factors that determine dietary decisions. Every day we have to make countless decisions of this type and most respond to unconscious reasons.
• What appears on the label It is designed to awaken the appetite. The images, the name, the supposed health properties or the use of words like succulent or delicious can make the mouth water and consume a product that was not really needed.

Books on appetite regulation

• The volumetric diet; Martin Junz. Spanish-European Ed.
• The new glycemic diet; Patrick Holford. Ed. Robinbook
• The Shangri-La Diet; Seth Roberts Ed. Urano