Biscuits, cakes, pastries, chips, cereal bars, squares of chocolate… Our cupboards are full of things that we really want during the day. Far too often, instead of three full meals a day, we spend our time to snack. Yet nutrition experts keep reminding us: “For your healthavoid snacking between meals..
So, how can we apply this healthy recommendation? In her latest book co-written with Valérie Expert, Not everyone is lucky enough to have a nutritionist friend, the doctor Jean-Michel Cohen revealed 10 tips to avoid succumbing to temptation.
⋙ Flat stomach: these foods to ban to deflate
Tips from Doctor Jean-Michel Cohen
Those for whom cravings are familiar will be happy to learn that the famous nutrition expert has more than one tip to avoid cravings between meals. Here they are :
- Eat a hard-boiled egg: the hard-boiled egg is only 70 calories. It contains a lot of protein and little fat. It is therefore an ideal food to satisfy our hunger while waiting for the meal.
- Eat whole foods: wholemeal pasta, bread or rice “contain more fiber and therefore have a greater satiating effect” explains the expert.
- Consume cottage cheese or skyr: To avoid cravings, cottage cheese is an ideal ally. His strong point? It is rich in protein. To be healthy without increasing your body fat, choose 0% white cheese.
- Always eat vegetables during a meal: vegetables have a satiating effect during the meal and therefore help regulate appetite. In addition, fiber increases the feeling of satiety (between meals), that is to say, it prevents you from quickly feeling hungry again.
- Drink herbal tea or tea: the ideal is to take a cup one hour before meals to effectively calm hunger.
- Have a balanced diet: “It is important to have a balanced diet throughout the day, because it is by eating little or not a balanced diet that we risk cravings” alerts Doctor Jean-Michel Cohen.
- Drink soup: “you can drink vegetable soup, no matter the time: it takes up volume in the stomach” declares the expert.
- Do not skip meals: by skipping a meal, it is very likely that you will be very hungry at the next meal and therefore eat much more than if you had not skipped a meal.
- Play sports : some people may not know it but “the secretion of endorphin, the feel-good hormone, reduces appetite” explains the expert.
- To eat an apple : Doctor Jean-Michel Cohen details that the pectins contained in apples “form a kind of gel in the stomach causing the feeling of satiety”.
Photo credits: AGENCE / BESTIMAGE