1. Eat Breakfast
Breakfast is the meal of champions. It is also the meal of choice for keeping your weight under control. People who eat breakfast have more energy and tend to snack less throughout the rest of the day. And by breakfast, that means whole grains and fresh fruit and some low-fat dairy--not a bagel smothered in fatty cream cheese and coffee laden with cream and sugar. Try a bowl of oatmeal (the kind you cook, not the instant kind already sweetened) with a cooked chopped apple and some milk. It is tasty, will give you energy and will keep you feeling full longer.
2. Avoid Empty Calories
When you feel hungry, don't go for the vending machine filled with junk food. Eating foods high in sugar, like candy bars, will spike your blood sugar, making you feel good for a little while. Then your blood sugar will come down, making you feel even more tired and irritable. Instead of foods filled with empty calories--like chips, candy and processed cakes and cookies--opt for fresh fruit and vegetables. Two tablespoons of natural peanut butter and some chopped celery sticks is a wholesome snack that will help fill you without all the sugar.
3. Go to Bed Hungry
Late-night snacking is enemy number 1 to any diet. Many people eat while they watch TV. This is bad for two reasons: (1) you aren't cognizant of what you are eating when your mind is on the TV--Bob Greene calls this mindless eating--and (2) your body isn't made to eat late at night, and going to bed on a full stomach sends mixed signals to your metabolism. Have a cutoff time that you will not eat after, such as 7 p.m. This will help you wake up hungry and ready for a healthy breakfast.
4. Rate Your Hunger
One of the tools that Bob Greene gives on his Best Life Diet is the hunger scale. According to the scale, 1 is when your stomach is queasy and empty and you feel lightheaded. In the middle, 5 is completely comfortable. You could eat more, but you really aren't hungry. 10 is how you feel after Thanksgiving dinner--stuffed. Rating yourself around a 3--your stomach is rumbling--tells you that you should eat.
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