Tricks to Stop Hunger Pains

Hunger pains is the term used to describe the feeling of hunger or emptiness when the body sends signals that it needs food. When your stomach is empty and your body "thinks" it is starving, it produces a hormone called ghrelin that encourages you to eat and causes the contractions in your stomach that lead to hunger pains.

Eat More

• Make healthy food choices instead of skipping meals.

  Instead of skipping meals, make different food choices to get the right nutrition and avoid hunger pains. If you want to avoid weight gain or desirt to lose weight, swap unhealthy foods for healthier choices but do not reduce the portions so drastically that you are left feeling hungry. Fill up on fruits, vegetables and snacks such as air-popped popcorn, all of which will give you the sensation of feeling full without adding calories.

Eat More Often

• Healthy food choices mean you can eat more often.

  Eat five or six smaller meals throughout the day instead of just the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner. Smaller portions, eaten regularly throughout the day, keep hunger pains away. Eat small meals or snacks every three hours or so to stop the body from perceiving that it is starving; for example, a handful of almonds can be enough to ward of hunger pains until your next meal.

Eat Protein

• Breakfast is widely considered the most important meal of the day.

  Lean protein makes you feel fuller, for longer, so you should include it in your meals, especially breakfast, to ensure that you get a head start on hunger first thing in the morning. Eggs are a popular source of breakfast protein that you can use to avoid hunger pains later in the day.

Eat Healthy Fats

• Avocadoes contain unsaturated fat.

  An excess of fatty foods should be avoided in a healthy diet, but the unhealthy fat found in burgers, for example, should not be confused with the healthy fats such as the oleic acid found in avocados, olive oil and nuts. Small amounts of foods containing oleic acid can help curb hunger.

Drink Water

• Make sure you are not dehydrated.

  Hunger pains are a sensation that people immediately assume is the body's cry for food, when in fact the body is dehydrated. Drink a glass of water when you have hunger pains before eating anything and you may get an instant feeling of fullness as you address your need for water.