These Are the Expert-Approved Appetite Suppressants That Totally Work

To keep yourself in peak form and fitness, it’s important to maintain balanced meals along with a healthy lifestyle.

We all have occasions where our main meals just don’t seem to be able to satisfy us, and we sometimes find ourselves rummaging through the pantry looking for a tasty treat. To stop this from happening too often, you can include a few appetite suppressing foods into your diet that will help you reach the next meal time without resorting to unhealthy snacks.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 of these foods to help suppress those mid-morning or mid-afternoon hunger pangs:

Coffee

Consuming moderate amounts of coffee (minus the sugar and cream) is an excellent appetite suppressant, which also stimulates your metabolism.

Caffeine is the not-so-secret ingredient that makes coffee so effective at helping you to feel full for longer. Caffeine has also been shown to provide relief from headaches and even improve your mood.

Water

With zero calories, water is definitely right up there as a means to hold those hunger pangs at bay for longer. Drinking an 8-ounce glass at the first sign of hunger helps to suppress the appetite in most cases.

If you can drink one full glass and wait 10 minutes before you start snacking, you will likely find that your appetite has been successfully repressed – if not gone completely.

Green Tea

Well-known already for its powerful antioxidant content, green tea also stimulates the release of hormones that are responsible for reducing food cravings.

A cup of green tea will also start a process called “thermogenesis,” which means your metabolic rate increases, fat digestion will be reduced, and your energy levels will rise. Green tea can also naturally increase your fat-burning properties by up to 43%.

Low-Calorie Soup

Most dieticians would include at least two low-calorie soups if you were going on a meal plan.

Because of their high water content, soups are naturally good at suppressing your appetite and increasing your weight loss because of their low-calorie content. For best results, stick to broths and vegetable soups.

Studies conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University discovered that men and women who included two servings of low-calorie soup into their diet were 50% more successful at losing weight than those who snacked – despite the snacks containing the same amount of calories.

Dark Chocolate

Due to dark chocolate having its distinctive bittersweet flavor, it is a surprisingly effective appetite suppressant. Include the antioxidant properties, and you can have a guilt-free snack of your favorite treat (keeping it in moderation, of course).

Dark chocolate suppresses the appetite via way of its ability to lower levels of ghrelin in your body – a hormone responsible for hunger pangs.

Oatmeal

There’s plenty of fiber in oatmeal, and it’s the fiber that helps to give you that satisfying feeling that you have had enough. It also contains lots of healthy carbs which provide for a sustained release of energy, rather than the quick burst often associated with unhealthy snacks.

Salad

Salads also contain lots of fiber. For best results, mix in cabbage, broccoli, endives, and other leafy greens for a delicious and satisfying meal. Make sure you use a low-calorie dressing, so you don’t spoil your weight loss efforts during the first course.

Apples

Apples are an excellent snack to help get you through to lunch or dinner. They are packed full of fiber, which helps to keep you feeling full. They also have a high water content that effectively fills in the gaps. You will also benefit from the pectin found in apples as this reduces spikes in blood sugar levels.

Boiled potatoes

The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Sydney released a Satiety Index of Common Foods revealing the satiety level of foods compared to common white bread. Boiled potatoes ended up with the highest satiety level, with a satiety level over three times more than white bread. This means potatoes—sweet and even white potatoes—can squash that hunger after one meal, according to Cecere.