Dealing with hunger and cravings is probably the most important thing you need to do to manage your weight. That goes double for people who are dieting and trying to shed some pounds. Too many people start strong and succumb to cravings after a few days or a week. Your past eating and diet have conditioned your body to expect a certain amount of sugar and carbs. When it suddenly stops coming, your body and mind cry out. There’s a physical and mental adjustment you have to go through to overcome the feelings of cravings that drive so many people to cheat on diets and put on weight. When you want to change the way your body feels and communicates about food, you need to take incremental steps to recondition your body. Changing from a horrible diet high in sugar and other junk foods to broccoli and boiled chicken breast in a day are likely to set you up for failure. The long, slow path to dietary shifts has a higher chance of success. There are steps you can take to beat your hunger and craving that will change your body and how you feel about it. Here are some simple things you can start doing today.
The Slow Approach
Don’t change everything at once. If you do, it will be a lot for your body to process. You’ll get killer cravings that will be extremely difficult to ignore. So many people start diets with great intentions. They stop eating sugar, chips, pasta, and other foods cold turkey. The weight starts coming off, then the cravings hit and the next thing you know they’re in a heavy binge session erasing all of their progress.
Choose a slow and measured approach for long-term success. Start by eliminating one bad food from your diet at a time. You can even start by eliminating that food from a single meal. Slowly cut the portion sizes of the foods you eat. Eat until your body is satisfied and stop there. Over time, your stomach and your mind will become accustomed to eating less and healthier foods. It will be less jarring and you’ll feel like your diet change hasn’t been drastic when in fact it has.
Stay Hydrated
Drinking large amounts of water is one of the best things you can do to fight off hunger cravings. A lot of people mistakenly think their body is crying out for food when it is needing water. Most people walk around every day dehydrated. There are a lot of fitness experts that recommend drinking a gallon of water a day to help lose weight. That’s because the water lowers cravings and your appetite. Your stomach will feel full if you drink water before and during meals. It also helps speed up your metabolism. Skip the sodas and juice and grab a bottle of water instead. There are a lot of zero-calorie drink powders you can add to water to give it some flavor to help you drink more of it.
The Potential of Peptides
There has been a lot of excitement recently in the world of research peptides and how it can change the way bodies work. Melanotan 2 is a peptide that has been successful at changing appetite and food preferences in tests done on rats and mice according to this site. Melanotan 2 inhibited rats and mice from eating fatty foods that they otherwise preferred. It also significantly reduced their overall appetites. These results provide an exciting opportunity for wider use cases and changes to hunger cravings and many future medical possibilities.
Choose Filling Low-Calorie Foods
Not all foods are created equal. You’ll experience fewer cravings by sticking to foods high in protein and vegetables that offer substantial amounts without the high-calorie count. Eating chicken, steak, turkey, and other foods high in protein will keep you feeling fuller for longer. Vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, celery, and so many more can be eaten in large quantities without worrying about overeating. Food preferences vary from person to person, so find the foods you like and stick to them. Don’t try to force yourself to eat foods you hate. That will likely end in long-term failure because you’ll despise your new diet.
