One of the first things that often come to mind when reading about a very low calorie diet is how to combat hunger? It can be difficult enough to not eat even when you aren’t following a calorie reduced diet plan, let alone when you are. The HCG diet has a particularly low, 500 calorie a day limit, and hunger can sometimes be an impediment to success. However, there are a few tips and things you should know in order to ensure success and help curb any potential hunger that may occur:
- First and foremost, if you’re worried about feeling hungry on the HCG diet protocol, you should know that the HCG itself acts as an appetite suppressor. The reason so many people are able to complete this diet at all is largely due to this fact alone. Many of the other low calorie diets out there lack any real appetite suppressors, and often are unworkable due to this.
- Eating protein helps suppress hunger. Whether you’re on the HCG diet or not, protein is well-known in the diet community as a hunger-fighter. It takes longer for the body to break down, and as such will help you keep full for hours. This is a tool often used by dieters to help with their hunger pangs. Protein in the diet, in addition to the natural appetite suppressing powers of the HCG hormone works as a 1-2 punch to hit hunger right in the gut.
- Both broccoli and cauliflower are also natural appetite suppressors. They’re also rather large, and the larger the food you eat the more your stomach will stretch. What makes you feel full is that when your stomach stretches, it releases chemicals in the brain telling you you’re fulla nd should stop eating.
- Drink water with every meal. Another way to help your stomach stretch and feel full faster is to drink a full glass of water right before every meal. Water does not stay in the stomach for long, so it’s important to take this step immediately before eating, and continue drinking water during your meal. You’ll be surprised how much fuller you feel simply by drinking a large glass of water before eating.
- The HCG diet meal plans are designed to fight cravings. Each type of food listed on your approved foods list is a craving-fighting food. They are all high in nutrients and vitamins necessary to keep your body running, and as such cravings will often be minimal, if not entirely absent.
- Space out your meals. Don’t eat one larger meal just in the morning or in the evening, but space your calorie intake throughout the day. This will help keep your blood sugar stable, and unstable, fluctuating blood sugar is a large cause of hunger in people’s lives.
If you ask around, you’ll probably hear that a lot of the people who follow the HCG diet feel very little hunger and HCG diet side effects when they’re on it. Most of the hunger that does appear is usually not your body actually feeling hungry, but your mind telling you that you should be eating. It’s very important to know the difference between real hunger and mental hunger, because not knowing can cause you to overeat and reduce your potential weight loss results… often dramatically.