Foods to help control your appetite

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU may be someone who has decided to lose weight. But you may also be fearful that you cannot control your appetite and that hunger will spoil your weight-loss programme. Don't worry, the world's most successful weight-control programme, the one I use and recommend, is remarkably effective at appetite control.

However, most people, as they lose weight, do experience hunger at one time or another. Do not despair. There are foods and drinks that you can turn to when you feel hungry that will not wreck your weight-loss plan.

These foods and drinks are what I call appetite-control foods. What they have in common is that they make your stomach feel like it is full of rich foods, but in reality, you are filling up with foods that contain few calories and few carbohydrates. Even though your stomach is full, you are not adding calories to your intake.

Consider this: if you eat one cup of peanuts versus a bowl of salad, your body cannot really tell the difference for the first few minutes. Your stomach, as it fills, turns off the hunger signal regardless of whether you are eating salad or peanuts, but in fact the salad may only contain 100 calories while the peanuts contain as much as 500 calories. Let us look at some key appetite-control foods.

Fresh clean water

That is right: water is a powerful appetite suppressant and if you drink an eight-ounce glass of water when you first start feeling hungry, you will find that it suppresses your appetite in nearly every case. If you just drink a full glass or two of water and have the discipline to wait 10 minutes, you will find that your appetite is either completely gone or dramatically reduced. Experts suggest that the human brain sometimes misinterprets signals of thirst as a sign of hunger. The great thing is that water contains zero calories. Don't be fooled: drinking more water will not cause you to gain weight unless you have some serious medical disorder.

Green tea

Green tea, as distinct from the black tea, found in regular tea bags, is an excellent beverage for weight control. It not only controls appetite, but it stimulates the body's metabolism to burn fat, enhances energy levels, offers protection from several cancers, and is useful for hyper-tension, cholesterol control and circulatory disorders. Modern medical research continues to find more advantages from consuming green tea regularly. These benefits are not dependent on the small amount of natural caffeine found in green tea. Green tea can be had hot or cold with natural sweeteners.

Soy Protein Shakes and Snacks

Soy protein shakes provide an excellent low-calorie meal-replacement drink that will satisfy your appetite. Here is a recipe for the shake I use and recommend to my patients:

Combine eight ounces of unsweetened soy milk with two tablespoons of Herbalife formula #1 shake powder.

Add a slice of papaya, or half of a banana or an apple and blend.

This shake effectively replaces a regular meal. Avoid meal-replacement drinks that contain lots of sugar and not enough protein.

Despite all the recent propaganda against soy, mainstream medical research continues to demonstrate an abundance of health benefits from this food. Roasted soy nuts, soy milk, soy beverages and bars are other ways to use soy for appetite control while enjoying the many health benefits of soy. Read the labels and avoid those with lots of sugar.

Green, leafy Vegetables

Vegetables, such as lettuce, cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, field greens and other leafy vegetables contain so few calories that you do not need to count them. Allow yourself to eat an unlimited quantity of any green leafy vegetables. They are 'free' foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals and cancer-fighting substances, and yet at the same time, they fill your stomach and make you feel full, turning off the hunger signals in your brain.

You can consume these green vegetables in different ways. Most people do not like to eat them plain. Instead, you can make a salad and then add a low-calorie salad dressing, like home-made olive oil and vinegar. Avoid commercial salad dressings that boast of being low fat and cholesterol free, but contain MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, and other unhealthy ingredients.

Apples

Eat the largest apple you can find of either the Jamaican or American variety. Sure, they contain some calories and some carbohydrates, but because they are mainly water and fibre, apples will fill you up and stop you from eating other, more calorie-rich foods.

Let me explain. If you are hungry, it is very easy to reach for some processed foods, like a bag of chips or crackers, for example. You can unconsciously nibble away until you've consumed 1,000 calories or more. But it is almost impossible to eat 1,000 calories worth of apples. You will probably fill up long before reaching 400 calories. Apples are great appetite-suppressing foods, because the fibre fills up your stomach and turns off your appetite before you overeat. Plus, apples contain various vitamins and minerals and anticancer agents.

Fibre supplements

Swallow a couple of fibre tablets with a glass of water before you begin eating. Fibre tablets could include oat bran fibre, apple pectin fibre, or other natural fibres, which create a feeling of fullness with little food. Fibre powders are also available, and these can be blended into your soy protein shake.

Although many fibre supplements are available, a particularly useful one for weight loss contains fibre which has been 'activated' to trap and eliminate any excess fat in your meal. It is called 'activate fibre'. Remember to drink plenty of water when you take these tablets, because without adequate water, they can slow up your digestive system.

You may email Dr Tony Vendryes at tonyvendryes@gmail.com or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on POWER 106FM on Fridays at 8 p.m. His new book 'An Ounce of Prevention, Especially for Women' is available locally and on the Internet.