11 Ways to Curb Your Appetite

Whether you need to lose weight or you’re just tired of leaving the table feeling like you swallowed a beach ball, the following tips will help you eat just enough—and no more.

1. Stock your home with mounds of fresh fruit, dried fruit, carrots, celery, tomatoes, granola bars and high-fibre breakfast cereal. Here’s your new snack food. For more healthy snack ideas, try 100-Calorie Snacks.
2. Make a simple salad for a big, healthy splurge. Feel desperate for a big bowl of crunchy food? Throw into a bowl half a head of iceberg lettuce, ripped up; a fistful of bite-size carrots; half a tomato, sliced up; and half a cucumber, sliced. Drizzle on olive oil, shake on a little balsamic vinegar, sprinkle on some oregano, salt, and pepper, and mix. This is a huge bowl of flavorful food at relatively few calories.
3. Another great snack option: nuts in their shell. The truth is, compulsive eating often begins with boredom, stress and other non-food issues. The great thing about nuts is that the effort to crack the shells and extract the nut meat without breaking it is highly therapeutic and distracting. In addition, nuts are very healthy to eat (in moderation). Choose walnuts, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts or hazelnuts. It’s too easy to open and overindulge in peanuts and pistachios.
4. Get picky. As a rule of thumb: If it doesn’t look good, don’t eat it. Watch naturally thin people: You won’t see them scarfing down wilted lettuce, or what’s left in the bowl when the soup’s gotten cold. Follow their example.
5. Get into the habit of ordering the small size. There’s no need to feel deprived. Today’s small was the medium or large just a few decades back. Eat (or sip) slowly. Savor the flavors. Before long, small will feel just right.
6. Always allow a half-hour between your last bite of dinner and dessert. This gives your brain time to get the fullness signal and, most likely, will make it easier to skip the sweet stuff.
7. Only eat portions the size of the palm of your hand. Any more will be considered overeating. To find out more about proper portions, check out Perfect Portion Size Guide.
8. As soon as you feel the first stirrings of fullness, remove your plate from the table or, if you’re dining out, cover your plate with a napkin. This tells your brain that food time is over.
9. Buy (or package) snacks and other foods into single-serving containers. For instance, don’t leave a half-gallon of ice cream in your freezer; it’s too easy to add that second or third scoop when you’re dishing it out. Instead, scoop the appropriate serving size into individual containers and freeze. Do this after you’ve eaten, so you’re not tempted to increase the size or sneak a bite.
10. Don’t talk while you’re still chewing. Instead, put your fork down, chew, and swallow your food before you begin talking. This will force you to slow down while eating, and you’ll be full before you know it.
11. Write down every morsel you eat in a food diary. It’s likely you’ve been overlooking some calories, and it’s time to start looking them over! Seeing all you ate in black and white will help keep you from overeating.