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To control your food intake and maintain a healthy weight,
you would first need to understand why you feel the
need to eat?
Appetite
Appetite is the desire to eat food, felt as hunger.
It is regulated by a close interplay between the digestive
tract, adipose tissue and the brain.
Food Intake & Appetite
We should not forget to eat when we have the appetite.
We should have frequent small meals. Nutritional drinks
between meals are good.
Factors Related to Appetite
Researchers believe that the appetite is influenced
by the brain stem, which is independent of the hypothalamus.
The hunger center stimulates an individual to eat while
the satiety center extinguishes the need for food. Appetite
is often referred to in the same sense as hunger.
What about Appetite
According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA),
use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners, low-calorie
sweeteners etc can be used to control weight and it
is also beneficial in controlling the glucose levels
in the blood.
Over-the-Counter Appetite Suppressants
Over-the-counter (OTC) appetite suppressants are generally
less regulated, less studied and in most cases less
effective than prescription-only appetite suppressants.
Some of the active ingredients in OTC include:
1. 5 - Hydroxytryptophan: 5-Hydroxytryptophan
(5- HTP) is the intermediate metabolite of the essential
amino acid L-tryptophan (LT) in the biosynthesis of
serotonin. Intestinal absorption of 5-HTP does not require
the presence of a transport molecule and is not affected
by the presence of other amino acids; therefore it may
be taken with meals without reducing its effectiveness.
5-HTP is well absorbed from an oral dose, with about
70 percent ending up in the bloodstream. It easily crosses
the blood-brain barrier and effectively increases central
nervous system (CNS) synthesis of serotonin.
2. Phenylpropanolamine: Phenylpropanolamine
may cause restlessness, irritability and high blood
pressure in some patients. In a patient who has a history
of heart disease or high blood pressure it would be
a good idea to think carefully about using phenylpropanolamine.
Appetite Use to control Hunger for Healthy
Weight
The fundamental principle underlying adequate eating
is to use your appetite to control your hunger. If you
wait to eat until you are physiologically hungry, you
may eat four or five times the amount you need to fill
the nutritional stores. Many people skip meals and then
'pig out'. It is relatively easy to fight off your appetite
but nearly impossible to fight off your hunger. To prevent
this situation you should eat a nutritious and balanced
meal every day. Avoid allowing yourself to become physiologically
hungry by using your appetite to control your hunger.
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