Several times throughout any given day, your brain probably tells you that it’s hungry and then commands you to stop whatever you’re doing and grab a quick snack. Health experts see these ‘quick snacks’ as one of the major cause of weight and food-related problems. People tend to overdo the whole snack routine and, even when it’s moderated, the kindof food people snack on causes them health and weight problems.

Think about it, if you’re at work and suddenly feel hungry, what kind of food is immediately available to you? That’s right, junk food. Cookies, chips, soda pop and coffee help alleviate the feeling of hunger, but at the same time they also make it tougher the next time you try to hop into your jeans.

Luckily, there’s a simple and very effective ways to suppress your hunger.

H₂O So Good

One of the emerging trends in dieting is to drink water to suppress your hunger. The brain sees the sensation of thirst as very similar to that of hunger. It’s just that you oftentimes mistake one for the other, and mistaking thirst for hunger can have disastrous effects on your weight. Besides, a large percentage of people are dehydrated, especially at work, so increasing your water intake helps you avoid being a statistic.

The primary benefit of water is that it satisfies your body’s thirst and even hunger signals without costing you a single calorie of fat. You excrete most of it as urine, so there’s no damage to the reading on your bathroom scale. Best of all, it’s cheap and always very accessible, so you can fight off the hunger pangs whenever they strike you.

Moderation and Regulation

Here’s a word of warning, though. Even if you do find that watering the hunger away is effective (and it is), don’t down a glass of water every time you feel hungry. Some of those instances are bound to be times when you’re really hungry for food, and giving your stomach just water instead of the nutrition it needs can be disastrous. Though increasing the amount of water you drink during mealtimes can help reduce the amount of food (and therefore, calories) you eventually eat, don’t overdo it and subsist on nothing but water. You still need the proteins and carbohydrates in food as the building blocks for the beautiful body that you’ve always wanted.

How Much To Drink

Over the years there have been varying recommendations by health experts. Your water requirements will largely depend on your physical activities, current health and which geographical region you live in.

The Institute of Medicine advises men to drink around 13 cups (3 litres) and women 9 cups (2.2 litres) per day. The average adult loses 1.5 litres per day from urine, and another litre from breathing, sweating and bowel movements. We gain 20% of our daily water intake from food, so if we drink 8 cups of fluid per day, then we will typically replace those lost fluids.

Though, a good rule of thumb is that we drink enough to quench our thirst and produce about 1 to 2 litres of colourless or slighly yellow urine per day.

Here is a quick rundown on hunger suppressants from everday food. No need for pills here when you can enjoy wholesome foods that do the same trick.

• Green leafy vegetables. You can eat these in unlimited supplies without the risk of getting fat. Cabbage, lettuce, bokchoy are just some of the foods also known as "negative calorie foods". You get just about as much energy from these foods as it takes your body to digest them.
• Water as mentioned above
• Natural Pickles. This does not include the type you buy at your local supermarket that contains added sugars and artificial colouring. A jar of natural pickles will have only around 50 calories. Natural pickles are satisfying and can fill you up. And by the way, whilst you're enjoying the pickles, now is the time to take your calcium and mineral supplements. The acidity in the pickles will help you absorb calcium and minerals better.
• Apples. Sure they will contain calories and carbs, but nowhere near the amount you would get if consuming a packet of chips. Even the biggest of apples would be fine as they fill you up fast and offer plenty of fibre. You can easily consume 1000 calories or more from a packet of chips, but you would struggle to do the same if eating apples.

• Natural Fiber. Here you can take fiber supplements such as psyllium husks, oat bran, glucomannan, apple pectin fiber, or other natural fibers. But be careful to monitor the amount of fiber you take and ensure adequate water intake with them. Excess fiber can block your digestive tract and make things very uncomfortable. So before a meal, you can trick your brain into thinking you have just partaken in an all-you-can-eat buffet by taking some fiber with a glass or two of water. The calories contained will be next to nothing.

But Wont I Feel Hungy Afterwards?

Yes, and this is something to keep in mind when suppressing your hunger. An hour or so after consuming these hunger suppressants, your body will realise that you have tricked it and there isn't much energy in the food you consumed. But at least you have prolonged your craving for food. What you could then do is some exercise which will burn excess fat and convert it to energy for your body. Result = fat loss! Simple idea, but effective.

Something interesting that many don't realise - the more obese you become, the lower the amount of leptin produced in your body. Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) conducted a study and found that obese patients become decensitised to the hormone leptin, which actually helps control one's appetite.

Leptin is secreted by fat cells and plays an important role in regulating energy intake and expenditure. Therefore, the more obese you become, the less these leptin hormones work for you.

I'm always a firm believer in nature's way to full health. But one needs to take caution with those manufacturers selling products such as Fenfluramine, Phentermine and Ephedrine.

In 1997, the Mayo Clinic reported that 24 patients had developed heart valve disease as a result of taking Phentermine. The FDA has also taken considerable to close down many manufacturers of Ephedrine also due to their health dangers. Though one also has to wonder if the intentions of the FDA to close down these herbal drug manufacturers for the sake of generating more profits with prescription based pharmaceuticals.

Prescription drugs injure more than 2.2 million people per year and with more than 100,000 deaths. Buprofen and other NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) account for more than 40,000 deaths each year from gastrointestinal hemorrhaging. Yet Congress and the FDA make no attempts in removing these products from the market.

I personally wouldn't take any form of tablet to suppress my hunger, but instead resort to wholesome foods that have similar suppressant qualitities.