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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How can I curb my appetite if I am overweight and tend to overeat?

    Related Topic
    Nutrition
    I am constantly thinking about and craving food!! I am overweight and it's extremely difficult for me to control my appetite… what are healthy foods that can help reduce my appetite?
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  • Melissa Adamski

    Dietitian, Nutritionist

    I am an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) with over 15 years’ experience working as a dietitian – advising both businesses and patients. I am founder … View Profile

    When choosing a snack it is important to choose foods that are nutritious and filling. If you are feeling full, you may not be thinking about food so often. If you are hungry you are more likely to be thinking about foods.  Choose foods high in protein, high in fibre and are low GI.  Sound confusing? Its not as bad as it sounds. Foods such as low fat yogurt, small handful of nuts (30g), 2 ryvita and low fat cottage cheese and tomato can be great choices. If you are chilly and would like something sweet and warm- a low fat hot chocolate can be warm and filling in the afternoon.

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  • Peta Adams

    Dietitian

    I am an Accredited Practising Dietitian locally born and working within the Riverina.I have a passion for helping people to achieve their nutrition goals, coaching … View Profile

    An excellent summary of ways to manage your appetite.

    It may be worth looking at the quality of foods eaten in your meals, if your meal lacks adequate protein, includes high GI carbohydrates such white bread, white rice and potatoes and lacks adequate bulk from salads and vegetables than this can cause constant hunger.

    For example.

    If your breakfast choice is white toast with vegemite, a better swap for appetite control maybe 1cup of All-bran cereal and milk (or other high fibre cereal) with 200g tub of low fat yogurt.

    If your lunch choice is a white roll with ham, tomato and cheese, a better swap would be a Barley Wrap (high fibre) with 95g tin of salmon and 2 cups of mixed salad.

    If dinner, is mostly meat and potatoes with peas and corn, try reducing your potato and meat and increasing other vegies such as brocoli, zucchini, carrots, cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms, beans, caluliflower etc.

    All of these swaps help to lower the GI, improve the protein distribution and increase the bulk of your meals without adding extra calories.

    Low Gi, moderate protein diets have been shown to be most effective in managing weight.

    Using Mel's ideas for snacks at planned intervals during the day can assist with curbing that appetite between meals.

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  • Joanna Baker

    Nutritionist, Registered Nurse

    Everyday Nutrition founder Joanna Baker has been working in healthcare for 2o years. As an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and a Registered Nurse, she has seen … View Profile

    This is a huge question but I'm trying to be really brief with it. First of all do you spend a lot of time thinking about the foods that you can't eat and how to not eat them? Where I usually start is turning this around and putting the focus on what you can eat. So there's lots of fresh fruit and veggies, high fiber, unprocessed grains, like rice, quinoa, oats, lean meats and poultry.

    If you're constantly hungry then you're probably a bit of a grazer. If this is the case, plan to have about six meals a day; breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. You're eating something every two to three hours.

    When it comes to breakfast, things like high fiber and whole grains add bulk and help you feel fuller for longer and if you add a bit of milk or yogurt, that will give you a bit of protein which increases feelings of satiety.

    At lunch and dinner you want to be looking at your plate and see half veggies, and quarter lean meat (or meat alternatives like tofu, kidney beans or lentils) and a quarter low GI carbohydrates.

    For your snacks, make sure that they are always a piece of fruit or a veggie plus a low fat source of protein, like milk, yogurt, or nuts, things like that actually decrease feelings of hunger during the day.

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  • Maria Nguyen

    HealthShare Member

    When you crave food, try to eat healthy snacks such as low fat yougurt, low fat cheese, nuts, fruits and vegetable. I crave food often as well. What also help me to manage my weight is to keep myself busy and stay outdorrs more. When I am busy or active I rarely think about food. 

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    Jane O'Shea

    Dietitian, Nutritionist

    I am an Accredited Nutritionist and Accredited Practising Dietitian. I am also a licensee for the “Am I Hungry?” Mindful Eating Program, “Am I Hungry” … View Profile

    It is my belief that there are two aspects to weight management.  The first is the science of nutrition and eating the right amount of a wide variety of healthy foods that are going to provide our body with all the nutrition it needs to achieve being healthy on the inside.  And the second, is our relationship with food.  For people who say "I am never hungry" but eat often during the day, or people who say "I am always hungry" and eat often during the day, I would want to talk to them about their relationship with food, and discuss their triggers to eating.

    Social messages making us believe that we must be thin actually drive us to overeating. Being on a diet make us think about food all day.  Our pursuit of thinness makes us fat.  There is more to managing our weight than food.  We are social creatures, are influenced my many factors, and just trying to change our diet is only half the equation.

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