Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch...

 In my previous post about the 'stomach-nerve' (as I call it :-)) I was writing about the fact, that when you start dieting, there is a cca. 2 week period during which your stomach and your brain need to get used to you eating less.
This period is hard - because your stomach still expects that amount of food that you used to eat before you started dieting... As a result, you will struggle with feeling hungry until your stomach gets used to the 'new rules' of the diet.

To help you and me out in getting through these 2 weeks of hell I put together a couple of tips about things we can do to sort of trick our brain into thinking that we are eating more than we actually are and getting it thus used to the actual amount of food that from now onwards will become the norm...

TIPS:

1) Still the thirst: 
Drink a big glass of water before every meal! This way your stomach-nerve can start working on sending the satiety signal to your brain before you even start eating. Anyway, we usually drink less than we should anyway, so adding one big glass before each meal will help manage hydration as well as appetite.

2) Start light: 
Many cultures have a custom of starting their meal with a salad or a light soup - that is very clever! While you eat your (low in calorie & big in amount) salad or soup, your tummy starts to send out those satiety-signals and once you get to the main course you will eat less of it, as you tummy would already be filled with your starter.  

3) Take it slow: 
Eat slower & chew more! :-) Other than making most of those 20 min. that you brain needs to recieve the satiety-signal; the benefits of slower eating are also that you start savoring the taste of your food more and it also improves digestion... 

4) Keep them clean: 
Brush your teeth after every meal. Besides it being good for your teeth, it's also good for preventing you to continue eating after you finished your meal. 

5) In between: 
Chew gum: but careful, it can get painful if it pulls out your filling... So an even better advice would be: Drink water!! You can 'spice' it up by creating your own 'spa water' drinks by adding cucumbers, mellon and lemon to the water or even slices of ginger or cinnamon (both these spices have an appetite-suppressant quality).