Everything we do is controlled by the brain. Whether consciously or subconsciously, it's in charge of all our body's functions.
So when we say that our stomach is telling us it's time to eat, it's actually our brain that's giving us the message - and it is also responsible for telling us when to stop.
For those of us who are overweight, understanding how the brain works, and its relationship with our appetite and how much we eat, can actually provide us with a number of different ways to 'trick' our brains into helping us eat less.
So, here are 5 things you can try to curb your appetite and reduce the amount of food you eat. You can do all of them without much effort, and they could have a big impact on your weight loss.
Have A Starter
When most of us are having a meal at home, we usually only have one course. When we eat out at a restaurant, we often feel a bit naughty if we order a starter as well as our main meal - especially if we're watching our weight. But having a little starter before your main meal can actually be a great way to trick your brain into helping you to eat less.
You see, it can take a while for the stomach to send the message to your brain that you're getting full; so if you're only eating one course, those messages might not be received until after you've finished it - even though you probably didn't need to eat all of it to feel full.
Eating a suitable starter 10-20 minutes before your main meal starts this communication process a little earlier; so the brain gets the message that you've eaten enough while you're eating your main meal, and helps you to stop before you eat more than you need to. Starters that contain lots of air, water and/or fiber are best for this, and an apple or light salad before your meal is a great way to make you feel like eating less.
Eat More Tomatoes
Whether you're a big fan of them or not, if you're trying to lose weight, adding more tomatoes to your diet could actually be a great way to help you eat less. A recent study showed that, of those who took part, the ones eating the food enriched with tomatoes reported feeling fuller and more satisfied.
This is probably because of the effect the compounds in tomatoes have on our appetite. Our stomachs stimulate hunger and increase our appetite by producing a hormone called Ghrelin.
It's thought that the Lycopene in tomatoes, which is actually responsible for making them red, reduces the level of Ghrelin and therefore our appetite. This means we feel full when we have actually eaten less food than normal - and all we have to do is add more tomatoes to our diet.
Make Meal Times Blue
Scientists have long been aware of the impact colors can have on our brain. Red colors can make us feel dynamic, yellows make us feel happy, and greens can have a calming effect. But if you want to try to eat less, you might want to start going blue at meal times, as scientists have found that of all the colors, blue is actually an appetite suppressant.
This is possibly because there are very few, naturally occurring blue foods, so our appetite isn't automatically stimulated by this color; or perhaps because our ancestors evolved avoiding poisonous foods which were often blue in color.
Whatever the reason, the more blue you have around your food, the less likely you're going to feel like eating it. That's not to suggest that you should take it to the extreme and dye your food blue (although you could quite easily and it would still taste pretty much the same), but simple measures like eating off a blue plate, having a blue table-cloth, or even putting a blue light in your kitchen or fridge could help to reduce your appetite and the amount of food you eat.
Reduce The Size Of Your Plate
Not many of us consciously choose our crockery with size in mind, and for those that do, bigger might seem better - but not if you're trying to lose weight. We tend to judge the size of things by comparing them to other objects close by, and this also applies to the size of our plates and the servings of food on them. A small portion on a large plate will usually look out-of-place to us, and studies have shown that you are more likely to take a larger serving of food if you are using a larger plate.
Also consider that as kids, many of us were told that we weren't allowed to leave the table until we'd 'cleaned our plate'. So, with large portions on large plates, and a brain that's been conditioned not to leave anything, is it any wonder so many of us are overweight? Using smaller plates for your meals is a great way to reduce portion size, and you could even try to re-condition your brain by leaving some of the food on the plate - so you start to eat until you're full, rather than till it's all gone.
Slow Down!
When we think about how our body sends messages to and from the brain, we typically imagine that this is something it does very fast - your brain tells your hand to move or your mouth to smile and a split second later it happens. But when it comes to communication between the brain and the stomach, this is something that happens much more slowly - and understanding this could help you to lose weight.
Scientists estimate that it takes around 20 minutes for the stomach to let the brain know that it's full and that we can stop eating, and for a lot of us, that is much longer than it takes for us to eat our meal. As a result, the brain doesn't actually receive the message until after we've finished eating.
Eating much more slowly gives the brain more time to get the message that we're full. Chew your food more, put your knife and fork down after each mouthful, maybe even take a short break halfway through your meal. It does need a conscious effort, but it can really help with your weight loss, and this is the same reason why the earlier tip of having a starter before your meal is such a good idea.
The secret to losing weight is eating fewer calories than you burn off during the course of the day, and one of the easiest ways to eat less calories is to eat less food. For anyone looking to lose a few pounds this is often easier said than done, and it can be difficult to still feel satisfied when we're eating less than we're used to.
Fortunately, our understanding of the relationship between the brain, our appetite, and how much we eat means that with these handy little tips just about anyone should be able to reduce their appetite and eat less. They're not difficult to do and something you can start doing straight away.
Adult acne can be caused by lots of things but it is rarely received well. Sometimes you will have a particularly bad case that scars and requires you to visit and be treated by a dermatologist. Still, for the most part, all you need are some at home remedies or products you can buy over the counter at the store. In this article we will be checking out some of the methods you can use to cure your case of adult acne. You can't cure moderate to severe acne simply by washing your face a lot. It is still, however, something that can help you as you work to cure your acne. Some people, who have acne, are too rough with their face washing in their attempts to rid themselves of zits but this just irritates the skin. It is much better to wash your face twice daily with warm (not hot) water and a soft cloth instead of a rough washcloth. Over the counter cleansers is fine but only when they are free of harsh cleansers because otherwise they can make your acne even worse, particularly if your skin is sensitive.
Your primary objective is to have clean skin and to be as gentle with it as possible. You may be able to get relief from adult acne from herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. One fairly common Chinese herb that's used for a number of ailments is dong quai. This is the herb that helps with all sorts of different female problems, clearing up the skin is just one thing that it does. Both men and women can clear up their acne with dong quai. This is an herb that will not usually get applied to the skin directly but is taken orally in the form of a powder, capsule or a pill. You can also use herbs that are part of the India Ayurvedic healing tradition. Doctors who practice Ayurvedic healing will recommend Guggul to help patients treat cholesterol, arthritis and skin conditions. Some cosmetic procedures are good for removing acne scars. Shallow acne scars and issues can be cured with chemical peels--a procedure that removes the top layer of your skin. Chemical peels can be used, for example, to get rid of or alleviate any scarring on your face that occurred because of acne.
Most people use chemical peels to help themselves look younger or to remove lines from their faces but some still use them for severe acne cases. Your doctor's office or a cosmetic surgery center can do the procedure. They will often cause temporary skin irritations that can be incredibly painful and they could cause discoloration of your skin. When the skin heals, however, the acne scars should be gone. This is a process you may want to consider if you have acne scars, and it can be combined with other treatments. If you want to find a way to get rid of adult acne, there are all sorts of options available to you and we've talked about some of them in this article. You ought to start paying attention to all of the various aspects of your life from what you put into your body to what you put on to your body because any of those things could be contributing to your acne problems. Adult acne is absolutely annoying but it can be cured.
Oils produced by the body help keep skin healthy. But too much oil leaves your face looking shiny and greasy. Excess oil can lead to blemishes and acne flare ups. How you wind up with having oily skin is primarily genetic, ask any close relatives or your parents if they had acne when they were younger and most will say yes. Hereditary isn't the only way you produce too much oil either, oil production is influenced by hormones and even the climate or season your living in everyday. These oils under normal circumstances play a role in lubricating the skin and hair, protecting them from environmental challenges such as pollution. Your skin's role as a whole is to keep bacteria out and water in. The areas with the most oil-producing ability is the one more crowded with sebaceous glands ( the glands that produce oil) is the T-zone. The T-zone is your forehead, nose, and chin. People with combination skin will notice the most shine in these areas.
As I'm sure all of you already know there are tons and tons of foundations available out in the market place at any given moment on any given day. For most of us that brings up the question which product is going to work best for my skin type? This especially rings true for people with a tendency to become oily or even break out with the dreaded acne.
The first thing to know when looking for foundation is most makeup companies label their products based on different skin types. Your best bet is to check the labels for descriptions with normal, oily, combination and dry. Why is it important to look for these you ask? For one the main ingredient in liquid foundation is usually water, but they often include some type of oil, and for those of us with already oily skin we don't need extra oil.
To find a foundation that helps control oil look for ingredients like serecite, kaolin clay, and silica. Zinc oxide, chamomile, green tea, and petrolatum is good for soothing inflamed skin from breakouts.
Avoid pore clogging ingredients such as bismuth oxychloride and dimenthicone. These tend to be found more often in powder based foundations.
Alcohol also isn't good for oily or acne prone skin, these will dry out your skin, but not in a good way and cause you to produce more oil.
Mineral foundations are the most wearable and breathable of the foundation options for your skin. Mineral Foundation is makeup produced using pigment found in the earth as opposed to synthetic products.
1) Because of that they won't clog your pores, the minerals will not absorb into the skin.
2) Mineral foundation also have the benefit of being finely ground powder which does absorb excess oil.
3) Most also offer sun protection with the daily recommended minimum of SPF 15 or higher so no need to put on extra sun screen underneath it.
4) Mineral foundation are also hypoallergenic, contain no silicone, fragrances, chemicals, or powders.
Liquid foundations are the most common form in the foundation family. These foundations can range in pigmentation from sheer to full coverage. The makeup industry has watched the rise in adult women with the onset of acne and is now offering more options in the oil-free variety. Some of the varieties contain ingredients that reflect light off the face and can give you a "soft" look. The soft look draws peoples eyes off red pigmentation and breakouts. Liquid foundations also contain the skin soothing ingredients I discussed earlier and help to sooth inflamed skin. Others contain fruit acids that work to exfoliate skin and brighten post hyper pigmentation (the red marks) left after breakouts.
Cream foundation or sometimes known as stick foundation is the thickest of the foundations and has the most coverage of all them all. The problem with most is that the cream foundation is very heavy on the skin causing a caked on look. If you have an existing case of acne or a severe break out you want to cover up cream is the one use. Cream foundations also come with all the extra perks as the liquid foundations.
The most important thing to remember when shopping for your next foundation is to always read the labels. If your not comfortable browsing the beauty aisles at your store or makeup counter be sure to research online to find the prefect products for your skin.
To learn more about foundation brands great for oily skin.