9 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Feeling Full

Whether you're trying to lose weight or you just want to adopt an overall healthier lifestyle, understanding your body’s satiation cues is a big part of succeeding in eating the right amount. 

Here’s how to make yourself feel full so you are able to reach your health and weight loss goals:

1. Drink water - Before every meal, down a tall glass of room temperature water and wait 10-20 minutes before eating. The water fills your stomach, and makes you feel like you can't fit as much food in. Avoid drinking water with your meal however, as this dilutes your digestive enzyme, receiving digestive function, and may leave you feeling bloated.
2. Use a smaller plate - We associate an empty plate with feeling full and satisfied. To trick yourself into feeling fuller with less food, choose a smaller size plate to eat off of, fill it up and finish it, and you will likely feel full!
3. Choose complex carbohydrates – Complex carbohydrates over refined carbohydrates are more nutrient dense and contain a higher amount of fiber, and less sugar.  The nutrient and fiber content means it takes longer for your body to process and digest the food and this means you feel fuller for longer.  Complex carbohydrates include things such as whole-wheat pasta instead of white, whole grain breads and whole grain cereals.  The other benefit to complex carbohydrates is that it takes less to fill you up, so you will be eating less than you would if you were having refined carbohydrates.
4. Add fiber – Fiber aids in digestion, helps bulk up our stool to facilitate healthy digestion, and also is one component of food that makes us feel full.  If you add oats to a pot with water and come back and look at them an hour later, you’ll see that they have soaked up the water and expanded.  This is exactly what fiber odes in our stomach: it helps take up space and make us feel full, leading us to eat less, and to be satisfied for longer.
5. Add protein - Protein is one of the essential macronutrients for our body, but it takes a long time for the body to break it down.  As a result, when we consume a protein rich meal, it digests slower and makes us feel fuller for longer.  Combing your protein rich meal with a complex carbohydrate and healthy fat further maximizes the digestive time and you should feel full and satisfied for a few hours, whilst eating less because the meal is bulky and full of nutrients.
6. Wait 20 minutes - Our bodies don't signal fullness right away. After your meal, wait 20 minutes before eating anything else, as this is how long it takes for your stomach to communicate to your brain (and you) that it's full.
7. Choose low glycemic foods – The glycemic index is a rating system for how fast the sugars contained in food reach your bloodstream.  Lower glycemic index foods take longer to be distributed through your bloodstream, and therefore fill you up for longer.  These include things such as high fiber foods and certain fruits like apples.  Eating these as opposed to their higher glycemic counterparts means you will be more satisfied and not reaching for food in an hour’s time.
8. Drink tea after your meal – If you aren’t completely satisfied after you eat your meal, have some tea instead of reaching for more food. One option is to choose the Skinny Teatox Chocolate Energy Tea.  It is fat free, tastes like chocolate and fills you up without adding any extra calories.
9. Avoid your craving foods - Refined carbohydrates and sugars cause a spike and then drop in our blood sugar, which then leads to cravings and the desire for more, leading us to eat beyond when we are full. Stay away from refined carbohydrates and sugary foods to ensure you stop eating when you're full!

By: Laura Peill – (Check out her blog Viand Nutrition & Facebook)