Soup: The Secret Weapon For Weight Loss

I have tried to diet and I can tell you that it's hard work. I simply can't overcome those cravings... My body just seems to will me into picking up that extra biscuit and eat that pudding that I do not really need. The trouble of course is that our bodies have evolved this way. When we were just evolving into human beings (a couple of million years ago) we didn't eat regularly - we had to catch our food, and therefore our brains have evolved to tell us to eat as much as possible. In today's world of cheap and high calorie food though, this is not ideal, with our brains constantly telling us to fill up on the highest calories!

Scientists tell us that a recently discovered hormone is one of the main reasons why people feel hungry. It's a hormone called "ghrelin" and was only discovered in 1999.

This hormone is released by cells in the walls of our stomach. It then travels through in our blood to the brain, where the part of the brain monitoring hunger detects it. Once detected, it tells our body that we must eat.

But, the hormone is only released when your stomach is empty (and the body knows this because the stomach wall is not stretched). If your stomach is stretched, then the hormone isn't released, so you're not hungry.

Pretty straightward so far isn't it - a stretched stomach wall means you don't feel hungry. Not too taxing...

At lunchtime, say you have a sandwich and a drink of water. This will fill your stomach up and therefore stretch the walls of the stomach, and therefore the hormone is not released, and therefore you won't feel hungry. This will be the case for at least a couple of hours.

Now, something interesting happens if you blend the water and the food (make soup). You will fill fuller for longer. But why is that? You've had the same amount of food...

The reason is that if you drink the water and eat the food separately the stomach allows the water through quickly, but holds the food back so it can digest it. But, if you blend the water with the food, the whole lot is kept back, therefore keeping your stomach walls stretched further for longer, therefore no ghrelin is released and therefore your brain isn't telling you to find food!

This is a really simply way of tricking your body into thinking it's eaten more than it actually has. Try eating soup every lunchtime and you will help stop those afternoon cravings!

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