Natural Ways to Rein in the Appetite, Part 3
Make sure your meals and snacks include a good bit of lean protein. This is a big help to reducing appetite.
People have noticed for a long time that if they had meals that had a noticeable amount of protein in them, they weren't hungry so soon.
Back in 1999, there was a report in The International Journal of Obesity about 65 overweight folks were put on one of two low-calorie diets. One diet had 12% of its calories from protein and the other was 25% protein. Nobody was asked to exercise. After six months, the higher protein group had lost more weight.
There are a lot of people who think that's why the Atkins diet works. People who are on this diet for more than a couple of days start to eat less than they did before, even though they can have unlimited amounts of protein and fat. Their calorie consumption goes down into the 1200 kcal range, which is where most people will lose weight, at least until they hit plateau. It was discovered that it was the protein that was suppressing their appetites, not, surprisingly, the fat.
In May of last year, Science had a report that injection of a very small amount of one of the building blocks of proteins, an amino acid called leucine, into their brains caused starved rats to eat less than their brothers who got no such injection. And, in December, there was a report on the positive effects of high protein diets on levels of a biochemical appetite suppressor protein called PYY and weight loss in mice in the journal Cell Metabolism. Of course, humans aren't rodents so the mechanism by which we feel fuller longer after protein-containing meals will still have to be worked out.
It seems pretty clear, though, that one very good natural way to rein in the appetite is to make sure our meals and snacks get somewhere between a quarter to a third of calories from proteins. My own opinion is that the ratio shouldn't go higher than that, on average, because we need the vitamins, phytonutrients, fiber, and so on from fruits and veggies, too, for our overall health. There is also some evidence protein stimulates the metabolism a little. It is also muscle-sparing, meaning we don't have to turn into skinny fatties after dieting for a while. –Di
technorati tags:high, protein, diet, weight, loss, appetite, suppression