1. Eat more protein enriched food.
Studies indicate that eating high protein food can reduce appetite. So instead of having a pure vegetarian diet, you should try to add food with a high protein content such as chicken and fish into your lunch salad, which will suppress your food cravings more efficiently. However, a high protein diet may not be suitable for people with certain diseases, for example, kidney disease.
2. Eat non-fat or low-fat desserts.
Do you like cakes? Can you say no to cookies? It is hard to say “no”, right? If you worry about putting on too much weight by eating desserts, you should look for desserts made from margarine (vegetable oil) instead of butter. Vegetable oil such as olive oil is full of monounsaturated fat, which is good for your health. Unlike saturated fat, monounsaturated fat will not lead to high blood cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart attack. Monounsaturated fat, instead, can help to suppress your appetite and lose weight in the long run.
3. Drinking juice gives you more calories compared to eating fresh fruits.
If you are thirsty, drink water. If you want something sweet, eat fresh fruits. Comparing to fresh fruits, juice contains more added sugar and less vitamins.
4. Eat snacks.
Don’t feel guilty about snacking as long as it is an appropriate amount and a healthy snack such as nuts and fruits. If you feel hungry, you should take some snacks instead of waiting for the meal. Hungry is not a happy feeling for anyone. And low blood glucose is not good for your health either. A small amount of healthy snacks can help you maintain a stable blood glucose level and keep you energetic. It also can help you control your food cravings.
5. Drink more water.
Many people confuse hunger and thirst. Sometimes you feel you want to eat ice-cream or chocolates, but actually what you really want is water. You are simply thirsty. Whenever you feel a craving to eat something, you should drink a cup of water first and wait to see whether that quenches your food craving.
6. Dine at home.
Statistics show that people eat more than usual when they dine out. Try to cook your meals at home. You can control the quality of the ingredients, and it is healthier and cheaper. If you really want to dine out, try to avoid food with high calories such as corn chips in Mexican restaurants and salad dressing in Italian restaurants.
7. Long duration is better than high intensity when you do physical exercise.
If you would like to lose weight by doing physical exercise, you don’t need to do it with high intensity, for example, running at a high speed. Intensive physical exercise challenges your heart and improves cardiovascular fitness, but may not help you lose weight. Intensive physical exercise can cause pain and cause you to quit. What you really want is lengthy moderate exercise, such as hiking. Therefore, 30 minutes of walking is much better than 5 minutes of running for losing weight. The key point is if you desire to lose weight by doing exercise, you have to do it regularly and as frequently as possible.
8. Walk at least 5000 steps per day.
If someone asks you “what gift do you want?”, your answer should be “ A step counter”. A step counter is a small device which can be put on your belt that counts how many steps you have taken. On average, people need to take 3000~5000 steps to maintain their body weight, which means if you want to lose weight, you have to take more than 5000 steps per day. So starting from tomorrow, take the stairs instead of the elevator to go to your office, and take a walk after your lunch outside, which also helps you get enough sunshine for your body to synthesize vitamin D.
9. Keep a record of what you ate.
Do you want to lose weight by changing your diet? Before you try to make the change, you need to know more about your eating habits. One easy way to know your diet structure is to write down whatever you eat. This way, it is easy for you to count your calorie intake later. Only when you are conscious about your energy intake can you start to control your body weight.
10. Relax
Don’t be anxious. Don’t stress yourself. Anxiety and stress can increase your appetite by perturbing your hormone system. If you feel stressed, try to relax by taking deep breaths, meditating, doing yoga, or taking a walk outside. If your negative moods increase your food cravings, do something interesting to distract yourself. Once you concentrate on something, your food craving may magically disappear.