Dr. Ann's News

September 2009

Check out Dr. Ann's advice for "Reining in your Appetite."

Reining In Your Appetite

·        Pre-plate anything (meals, snacks, dessert etc.) you eat. We tend to eat less if we can view it all before we start.  Eating directly out of a box or container is especially high risk.

·        Buy small packages/containers of high risk, high calorie foods.  The bigger the package size, the more we tend to serve ourselves.

·        Downsize your dinner-ware.  We tend to serve ourselves less and eat less when we use smaller plates, bowls and utensils.  A full plate of food is more appetizing and satisfying then one that appears sparse and puny.

·        Minimize your exposure to a wide selection of food choices.  The greater the variety or selection of choices, the more we tend to eat.  Buffets and cafeterias are especially high risk.  Turn this risky behavioral tendency to your advantage by serving yourself or exposing yourself to a variety of big volume/low calorie foods like fruits and veggies.  Salads and salad bars or an obvious healthy choice in this regard.

·        Avoid the foods known to most adeptly promote and perpetuate your appetite – “The Great White Hazards.”  These include: white flour products, white rice, white potatoes, and sugar/sweets.  These quickly digested carbs give rise to sudden, precipitous spikes in blood glucose levels that set off a cascade of metabolic events that drive hunger and promote sugar cravings.

·        Include a serving of a healthy protein at each meal.  Protein is nature’s diet pill – satisfying our appetite longer than any other food group.  The healthiest choices are seafood, poultry, nuts/seeds, omega 3 eggs, beans, whole soy foods, and low fat dairy products.

·        Don’t skip meals.  The hungrier you get, the more you tend to eat and the more you crave sweets.  Always eat 3 meals a day with snacks in between to keep ravenous hunger at bay.  It takes less calories to prevent hunger than it does to combat it if you let it occur.  A regular intake of food also primes your calorie-burning metabolic machinery.  Withholding food for more than a few hours slows down your metabolic rate.

Copyright 2009, Just Wellness, LLC

      ________________________________Wellness Delivered. Pure & Simple

1 Pitt Street / Charleston, SC 29401 / Tel: 843.329.1238 / Fax: 843.973.3499 / www.DrAnnwellness.com