It might sound counterintuitive to avoid hunger when attempting to lose weight but hunger actually undermines your intentions. The desire to satisfy hunger is an uncontrollable force—your intellect and good intentions cannot suppress it. Hunger is the stimulus that causes us to eat; it keeps us alive.

When you get hungry you will eat the foods you did not plan on: the pint of premium ice cream or the cold leftovers out of the bowl or the box of chocolates left in the break room. The key to controlling hunger is to give your body the food it needs for satiety without stimulating overeating.  Here is a recipe for Vegetable Barley Soup, it helps control hunger and best of all you can make a batch and have it ready to heat and eat in minutes. For permanent weight control, and good health having good food on hand to satisfy hunger is another key habit to practice and soup satisfies hunger, appetite and it can be quick.

Pork Chop Dinner with broccoli and mushrooms

Foods that have a high water content—fruit, vegetables, yogurt, milk, soup, and so on—weigh more, but the weight comes from water, not calories. Research conducted by Barbara Rolls at Penn State University suggests that over the course of a day we eat about two to three pounds of food. When we eat foods that weigh more but have fewer calories we feel full, and this makes staying on a diet much easier. For example, compare the calories in one pound of the following foods: apples, 260 calories; bread, 1,120 calories; beef, 1,132 calories; and broccoli, 128 calories. To use water to your dieting advantage you simply add fruit and vegetables to every meal.  The simple way to do this at meals is to fill half your plate with vegetables. Learn more about “eating water” in For the Love of Food- the diet that works or try the menu for Pork Chop Dinner with Broccoli and Mushrooms

Healthy eating does not have to be complex, tedious, or depriving. It can be as easy as eating on a schedule and eating enough to feel satisfied.

Our appetite and hunger are controlled by a complex system of checks and balances. If you eat too little, the stomach produces a hormone called ghrelin that increase hunger and calls for the body to eat. Our fat cells produce a hormone called leptin. This hormone is believed to sense when our fat storage is adequate; when the body has stored enough fat the brain is told to stop eating. For some of us this message system to decrease hunger is not as efficient as it could be. Keeping ourselves well fed but not overfed may help this system of appetite control be more effective. Now is the time to put a permanent healthy eating plan into practice. Eat three meals on most days and include breakfast. Have a schedule- try to stay within one hour of that schedule on most days, including weekends. This will prevent you from becoming hungry and give you the mental focus to make healthy food choices.

For a healthier New Year I recommend you make a resolution to eat on a schedule and avoid hunger. Not only will you be healthier and happier you are likely to transform this goal from a resolution to a habit. Read more about  resolutions and the benefits of choosing specific targeted goals in a very interesting artcile  Be It Resolved

Include  a fruit or vegetable every time  you eat,  and you will  reduce calories and decrease your  risk for all diet-related disease . Think of fruit and vegetables as medicine. They control appetite, add fiber to lower cholesterol, and potassium to lower blood pressure. The simple trick of eating a fruit or vegetable at every meal and snack will guarantee you get the nutrition that  leads to permanent weight loss, and improves all diet- related disease.  Besides improving health, eating more produce is good for the environment, when we eat the recommended fruits and vegetables we end up eating less meat, and that helps reduce greenhouse gases. Read the menu below or for more details read The Diet That Works

Here is how you can easily eat 2 cups of fruit and 2 ½ cups vegetables every day:

Breakfast: 4 ounces orange juice; whole grain cereal with ½ cup berries

Lunch:Sandwich; green salad (1cup) and tomatoes (1/2 cup)

Snack: 1 apple

Dinner: Chicken breast with green beans (1 cup);carrots (½ cup), Mixed fruit salad (1/2c) for dessert

 Add up the fruit and vegetables from each meal and snack above,  and you easily get the amount you need . This simple practice will keep you full all day long, try it for a week and you be the judge. Click here for more menu ideas. Check back next week for tip number 2 for weight loss and better health.

Tags: Weight Loss

Have a safe and healthy holiday!

Hoppin’ John Black-Eyed Peas

My mother served black-eyed peas  on New Year’s Day  she said it would bring good luck for the whole year. Here is her recipe from her recipe notebook.

One pound dried black-eyed peas

Two tablespoons oil

One half-pound salt pork, diced

One cup thinly sliced onion

Six cups water

2 cups cooked long grain rice

One fourth to one-half teaspoonTabasco

Pepper

Yield: 10 or more servings

Sort, wash and drain beans in a colander. Soak overnight in six cups of water or cover with water in large pot, bring to a boil, boil for two minutes, cover, and set aside for an hour. Do not drain.

Put oil, salt pork, and onion slices in heavy five-quart pot and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until salt pork has browned and onion is golden, Stir in soaked beans and their water bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer gently for 40 to 60 minutes, until tender.

When black-eyed peas are cooked , there will be some rich “pot liquor” left in the pan. Drain this off into a glass measuring cup. Gently fold cooked rice into peas. Pour back a cup of the pot liquor. Add Tabasco, salt and pepper to taste. Cook stirring, for two to three minutes, until broth has thicken slightly. Serve warm.