If your stomach starts yelling at you as soon as you finish a meal, you may be making one or more of these common nutrition mistakes!
You’re probably reading this article because you’re hungry ALL THE TIME. You might think you have a superhero metabolism or maybe you are concerned that’s is something wrong with your nutrition.
Think about it real quick, when was the last time you ate? If it was more than three hours ago, you’re probably just due for your another meal. But if you ate an hour ago and you’re already hungry again, it’s probably time to look at what you’re eating. I’ll give you three tips to keep your stomach feeling full and happy!
1. You Don’t Drink Enough
Our bodies need a lot of fluids every day to optimize cognitive and physical performance. I’m including cognitive performance because alot of people feel sluggish mid-day thinking they are hungry or even tired, when their body really just cries for water The average woman should drink a minimum of 3 liters of fluid a day, while the average man needs at least 4 liters. That’s a lot of liquid for your average busy person to consume every day. And if you’re training, you need to drink even more.
For every 15 minutes you work out, you should drink another 150ml to 250ml of fluid. That means if your workout lasts 60 minutes, you need to get another 0,5-1 liters. One of the easiest ways to drink enough water is to carry around a water bottle. Not one of those tiny 0,35L bottles, either; invest in a container that will hold 1 – 3,8 L (1 gallon). I have three 1 liter bottles in my house that are filled with water so I can drink throughout the day and never come short of my daily requirements. Whenever I go outside, I take one with me. Totalling about 5 liters a day.
The best fluid of all time: water, can do a lot to help you deal with hunger pangs. First of all, it helps create a feeling of fullness. When you consume water (or any fluid), your stomach expands, which sends a signal to your brain that you are full just like you are with food.
Then there are those times when our bodies get confused. For example, we don’t usually feel thirst until we’re already slightly dehydrated. And our brains can confuse thirst with being hungry. Our brains tell us we need to eat, when all we really need to do is drink!
Keep filling up on fluids, preferably calorie-free fluids and you can to keep your appetite in control. When you’re bulking and NOT lactose-intorelant I might even recommend drinking a few liters of whole milk a day together with some additional liters of water.
How to get more liquids: Keep a water bottle with you at all times. Bring it with you in the car and into meetings. Put one at your desk during the day and on your nightstand overnight. Take a gulp every time you look at it, and keep replenishing it with a variety of fluids. Fill it with sports drinks when you’re working out and with low-calorie juices and water when you’re not. Watch out with caloriedense fluids like fruit juices, you might go over your calories and gain weight because it isn’t very satiating and the calories really add up when you’re drinking 2+ liters of fruit juice.
The best moments to drink water is right after you wake up and during your workout. You’ve lost or are losing a lot of water in those moments so it’s important to replenish your body accordingly.
2. You Don’t Eat Enough Fiber
Fiber is often one of the most overlooked parts of our diets. nowadays people only look at our macros: carbs, protein and fat. But our bodies need fiber too. In fact, the recommended daily intake for fiber is 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women. Which will be a struggle for most people if you’re not conscious about what you’re eating.
But how much fiber people actually consume tends to be a lot less than that: 18 grams for men and 15 grams for women! Considering the powerful appetite-suppressing punch fiber packs, you might want to make sure you’re getting at least the daily recommended amount—and it’s not that hard to do.
How to get more fiber: Just by swapping white carbs (white bread and pasta, white rice, and white potatoes) for brown carbs (whole-grain breads and pastas, brown rice, and oats) you can increase your fiber by 4-5 grams per meal. Another great source of fiber is flaxseed. At 3 grams per tablespoon, flaxseed can give a big fiber boost to your morning oats, post-workout smoothie, or nightly Greek yogurt / quark!
3. You Don’t Eat Enough Vegetables
To give you a guideline of how much vegetables you need: aim for atleast three servings (one serving is about a handful). When you’re dieting to lose weight you might even increase this until the point that you feel full all the time.
Vegetables suppress those feeling of hunger, because they’re about 90 percent water—and loaded with fiber. They really fill up your stomach. Vegetables also contain very few calories per portion, so you can just eat plates piled with vegetables without ruining your diet.
How to get more vegetables: Sneak them in by blending them through your shake, cooking them with your eggs to make an omelet or just eat them straight up, they are pretty tasty fresh or undercooked.
