5 Appetite Suppressant Hacks For Weight Control
Hunger is one of the most common issues we struggle with throughout the day and is especially challenging when one is on a weight loss journey. It’s those subtle, midday cravings for delectable snacks like Oreos or even savory meals like a burger and fries where your stomach tries to trick your brain into thinking you need them right now.
Controlling hunger and cravings can be difficult when junk food is heavily marketed throughout the United States and the world in general. Often, you can’t even scroll through the internet or social media without being hit by a food ad that sets those cravings into overdrive.
Not being able to resist the urge of hunger can lead to excessive eating or making unhealthy diet decisions. Issues like this have pushed obesity into the limelight as it now affects 100.1 million adults, which is almost half of the adult population in the United States, and 14.7 million children in the United States alone according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [1]
Hunger presents itself in many ways that trick us into believing our body needs food. Something as simple as boredom, or not drinking enough water plays a significant role in your ability to control food consumption.
So, what’s the best way to help reduce cravings and support weight loss without having to make drastic changes?
Well, there are many different natural ways you can suppress your appetite. After all, if you’re looking to transform your body and lose weight – you know how difficult this can be after altering your diet completely and being in a caloric deficit. Needless to say – you’re going to feel hungry all the time.
Let’s look at the top five ways you can suppress your appetite.
Drink More Water
Yes, drinking water can help reduce hunger and suppress your appetite naturally. It is as simple as it sounds – just by staying hydrated and drinking more water, there’s a general feeling of fullness as water can take up more space in the stomach which can reduce the urge to eat.
Studies have shown that in one clinical trial in which participants were given up to three 500 ml bottles of water throughout the morning, they consumed less food when allowed to partake in a lunch buffet. [2]
The overall conclusion is that due to the effects that water intake has on the stomach, the fullness gained from proper hydration can reduce hunger cravings and naturally suppress your appetite.
So, if you’re feeling hungry quickly after eating a meal or just feel the need to snack on something throughout the day – try to drink a bottle of water or two so you’re not scurrying away to the vending machine or pantry scoping out snacks that can throw off your diet.
Eat Your Greens
Your parents probably gave you lasting PTSD as a child when you were forced to eat all your vegetables before you could have that scoop of ice cream for dessert. Well, maybe they were onto something with this. As a kid, I know I couldn’t fathom eating all my dessert once I had to force down a cup of broccoli – I simply was always too full by the time I even got my tasty treat.
Simply put, micronutrients are great not only for health benefits but also because of being extremely low-calorie.
Now, why does that matter?
Consuming low-calorie foods like greens are also high-volume foods which means you can eat a lot more of them and with their slower digestion periods, you can feel a sense of fullness for much longer while keeping calories relatively low.
Vegetables are also packed with healthy fiber to help improve the secretion of gut hormones and suppress appetite naturally. Studies show that those who have a diet consisting of fibrous foods like vegetables and other high-volume low-calorie selections are less likely to eat more throughout the day and help support weight loss altogether. [3]
Chew More Gum
No, this is not a joke.
Chewing gum can provide you with a great way to suppress your appetite and you probably do this already without even knowing the benefits that it has on weight loss and the contributions toward reducing the urge to snack. While this may come as a surprise to most, there’s a reason for this being high on the list.
This doesn’t mean you should run to the store and get your favorite flavor of Big League Chew or Hubba Bubba. When looking to suppress appetite using the gum chewing method, it’s best to get sugar-free options or lower sugar when you can find them so you can keep your caloric intake down.
Sugarless gum is low in calories, cost-effective, and keeps your mind off junk food for the time being especially if you have a sweet tooth and need something to fulfill that desire.
Chewing gum has been used as a tool for weight loss and can help reduce cravings throughout the day just due to the simplicity of having something to keep your mouth busy and because of the flavor profiles, making it less tempting to pull some snacks out of your desk during a workday.
One randomized controlled trial showed that those who chewed more gum throughout the day had a significant impact on appetite suppression and had a lower desire to eat or snack on other foods. [4]
Dietary Supplements
Nutritional supplements formulated around weight management and hunger control are great for immediately impacting appetite.
Appetite-suppressing supplements have been around for a very long time and have become very popular as of late due to their ability to assist in weight loss and reduce hunger cravings that occur when one is in a caloric deficit.
The best supplements for appetite suppression can range anywhere from thermogenic fat-burning compounds to glucose disposal agents and other non-stimulant-based products. Finding the best products for you can vary depending on what you’re looking for.
Most thermogenic fat burners contain cayenne pepper or similar ingredients to help increase your internal temperature which leads to more sweat production and in turn, helps burn more calories. However, most of these products are stimulant based which means if you’re sensitive to caffeine or don’t want an immediate energy boost, then this probably isn’t the best route to go.
If you do like the effects of stimulants, then most thermogenic fat-burning powders/pre-workouts are beneficial as you will commonly find formulas that have an ingredient panel specialized in raising internal thermal production while combined with energy-producing ingredients like Theobromine or Caffeine Anhydrous for fast-acting energy output.
Some of the best-rated appetite-suppressing supplements on the market can be non-stimulant based like L-Carnitine. This amino acid is great for reducing hunger and can support weight loss with its ability to convert fat storage into energy. NuEthix Formulations takes it one step further with their L-Carnitine supplement by utilizing liposomal technology for a better absorption rate within the body and compounding that with L-Citrulline to improve fullness and blood flow when you’re in the gym.
One study conducted by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism concluded that adults who supplemented their diets with L-Carnitine products showed a reduction in body weight, BMI, and fat mass during the systematic review. [5]
Glucose disposal agents are also considered one of the best fat loss prevention supplements as they can help shuttle nutrients directly into the bloodstream instead of storing them as fat. By adding glucose disposal agents such as GDA-Max+ by NuEthix Formulations to a carb-dense meal, you can maintain a sense of fullness for longer while having the extra energy expenditure in the gym which will help assist with the burning of calories.
Protein Enriched Diet
Having a diet that consists of higher protein foods is essential to appetite suppression for many reasons. One of those reasons is that you burn calories trying to digest foods that are high in protein. Your body burns roughly 20-30% of those calories when metabolizing protein [6][7] – a clear win/win situation, wouldn’t you think?
Eating more protein can also reduce cravings throughout the day significantly and in one such study conducted on a group of teenage girls, there was a total reduction in cravings when they were given a breakfast consisting of higher protein-based foods. [8]
Foods that contain more protein can help release a hunger-suppressing hormone within the body (peptide YY) making you less inclined to feel the need to snack during the day or just eat more in general. [9]
Opting for more protein-dense foods or properly consuming a certain amount of protein with each meal is a great way to naturally curb your appetite while burning calories at the same time as your body is burning them off trying to digest them.
The Take Home
Controlling your hunger and cravings may seem difficult or perhaps you just find it next to impossible to stop yourself from hopping on Uber Eats to get yourself the new meal being advertised all over social media. Finding ways to stop this is fairly easy and can be done more commonly than most would expect.
Following the steps listed above should help keep your hunger at bay so you can continue with your weight loss journey without feeling like you’re constantly hungry all the time. Let’s be honest, nothing is worse than feeling like you’re starving but making these simple changes to your lifestyle or diet can almost significantly make an impact on this right away.
If you’re someone who has ultimately found yourself running into this issue for a very long time and maybe you feel like you’ve tried everything to fix it, these natural solutions may just be the answers you’ve been searching for all this time.
References
- Notice of Funding Opportunity: HOP. (2023, February 23). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/state-local-programs/fundingopp/2023/hop.html#:~:text=Obesity%20in%20the%20United%20States,in%20annual%20health%20care%20costs.
- McKay NJ, Belous IV, Temple JL. Increasing water intake influences hunger and food preference, but does not reliably suppress energy intake in adults. Physiol Behav. 2018 Oct 1;194:15-22. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.04.024. Epub 2018 Apr 17. PMID: 29678599.
- Slavin JL. Dietary fiber and body weight. Nutrition. 2005 Mar;21(3):411-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2004.08.018. PMID: 15797686.
- Park E, Edirisinghe I, Inui T, Kergoat S, Kelley M, Burton-Freeman B. Short-term effects of chewing gum on satiety and afternoon snack intake in healthy weight and obese women. Physiol Behav. 2016 May 15;159:64-71. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.03.002. Epub 2016 Mar 3. PMID: 26948161.
- Talenezhad N, Mohammadi M, Ramezani-Jolfaie N, Mozaffari-Khosravi H, Salehi-Abargouei A. Effects of l-carnitine supplementation on weight loss and body composition: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 randomized controlled clinical trials with dose-response analysis. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2020 Jun;37:9-23. doi: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.03.008. Epub 2020 Apr 18. PMID: 32359762.
- Pesta DH, Samuel VT. A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014 Nov 19;11(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-11-53. PMID: 25489333; PMCID: PMC4258944.
- Pesta DH, Samuel VT. A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014 Nov 19;11(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-11-53. PMID: 25489333; PMCID: PMC4258944.
- Hoertel, H. A., Will, M. J., & Leidy, H. J. (2014). A randomized crossover, pilot study examining the effects of a normal protein vs. high protein breakfast on food cravings and reward signals in overweight/obese “breakfast skipping”, late-adolescent girls. Nutrition Journal, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-13-80
- Batterham RL, Heffron H, Kapoor S, Chivers JE, Chandarana K, Herzog H, Le Roux CW, Thomas EL, Bell JD, Withers DJ. Critical role for peptide YY in protein-mediated satiation and body-weight regulation. Cell Metab. 2006 Sep;4(3):223-33. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2006.08.001. PMID: 16950139.
