Everyone knows that reducing your calorie intake is hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it, right? What gets in the way for most people is appetite. Here are three simple eating habits to make the task of reducing your calorie intake so much easier.

1. Eat a high protein breakfast

Countess studies have shown that eating a high protein breakfast reduced hunger, in particular, late evening cravings. In one study, participants were served either; no breakfast, a low protein breakfast or a high protein breakfast. Later in the day, the participants were all served pizza for dinner. Guess who ate the most pizza? Guess who was feeling less hungry at dinner time? Correct! the protein participants ate the least, and when asked, were less ravenous Tips: Eat meat, have an omelette, make a protein smoothie, add protein powder to your porridge

Richard’s favourite protein smoothie

• 1 scoop of protein powder
• 1 teaspoon of chia seeds
• 250 ml water or unsweetened almond milk
• A handful of spinach or your favourite greens
• A handful of rolled oats
• A handful of mixed berries (organic)
• 1 tablespoon of hemp seed oil
• A sprinkle of cinnamon

Blitz the lot - drink and enjoy

2. Eat more fibre

Diets high in fibre are shown to increase satiety. Fibre slows down the digestive process and helps normalize blood glucose levels Tips: eat a serve of salad or veg 3 times a day, take 2 fibre capsules and a protein shake mid afternoon to curb your appetite at dinner

3. Eat foods high in resistant starch

Resistant starch acts more like fibre than starch, as it takes much longer to digest and will metabolise much later in the GI tract. Resistant starch will give you energy for much longer than sugars and aids in the removal of nasties from your gut Tip: Oats and legumes are high in resistant starch. Letting rice cool after you cook it actually increases the amount of resistant starch.

Just remember to:

• get some veggies
• eat more protein for breakfast and
• choose the right form of starches

and you’ll find it much easier to reduce your appetite.

Weight Loss Consultant & Personal Trainer Richard Taylor

Richard offers 1 on 1 weight loss programs with mentorship and accountability. Get assistance with planning your meals, choosing recipes and advice on the right supplements to take to accelerate your weight loss. Find out more about Richard here