Sometimes, a full-frontal assault doesn't work as well as you might like. Severe diets that deprive you of calories are difficult to maintain. Small lifestyle changes, though, are easier to implement and easier to sustain. Adjust your life and reduce your waist using some stealth diet techniques.
Chew Gum
Chewing gum suppresses your appetite, reduces food cravings and burns calories, reports the University of Rhode Island. Chewing gum can burn 11 calories per hour of chewing.
Drink Green Tea
Green tea contains chemicals called catechins which increase heat production, burning calories. Green tea also has caffeine which provides a further boost to your metabolism.
Shake a Leg
Tap your feet, shake your leg and fidget away one pound in 10 days. Research conducted by Jim Levine at the Mayo Clinic found that thin people fidget more, burning 350 calories per day through their nervous activity.
Spice it Up
Capsaicin -- the fiery compound in habaneros, cayenne and most chili peppers -- increases metabolism. Spicy food can raise your metabolism by 8 percent for a couple of hours. Spicy food also may suppress appetite, decreasing energy consumption by an average of 200 calories, reports the Nov. 28, 2006 "The New York Times."
Eat Green
Salad greens and green vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus and peppers are nutrient rich, loaded with appetite-suppressing fiber and are low in calories. To reduce your caloric intake and assist with weight loss, fill half your plate with vegetables.
Go Nuts
Eat nuts to stave your between-meal cravings. The healthy fat in nuts helps to satiate you and the protein slows digestion. Women who ate nuts showed a slightly lower risk of obesity and weight gain in an 2009 eight-year prospective study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."
Say No to Soda
Each 20-oz. full-calorie soda you drink has about 240 calories. If you drink two sodas a day, you are probably drinking about a quarter of your recommended daily calories. Replace full-calorie soda with water.
Eat an Apple
Eat an apple 30 minutes before dinner. Apples contain the fiber pectin, which fills you up, decreases your appetite and binds with fat to prevent its absorption. Antioxidants in apples may reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases your abdominal fat and waistline and heightens your risk for health problems such as cardiac disease and diabetes.
Eat Slow Food
Eat foods high in fiber, such as whole-grain bread, brown rice, oatmeal, vegetables and fruit. Fiber slows your digestion and prolonging the release of glucose into the bloodstream, which suppresses your appetite and helps you resist post-meal snacks.
Stop Fast Food
Americans eat 14 billion fast-food hamburgers each year. Loaded with calories, fat and cholesterol, these fast-food favorites and their fatty friends, French fries, are not kind to your waistline. Instead of a burger, eat grilled chicken or a salad.
References
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition": Prospective Study of Nut Consumption; Maira Bes-Rastrollo et. al.; 2009
- Discovery's Edge: Comparing Apples and ... Pears
- Fox News: Chew Gum, Cut Calories
- NewsWise: Adults who eat Apples, drink Apple Juice have lower risk for Metabolic Syndrome
- NPR.org: The Hamburger
- NPR.org: Wiggle While You Work: Fidgeting May Fight Fat
Member Comments