Who needs Ozempic to stop feeling hungry? Yes, the active ingredient semaglutide in the weight loss wonder drug helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer, but emerging research shows there are plenty of natural strategies that work when it comes to keeping hunger at bay without resorting to drugs.
A workout is one way to keep the lid on excess calories according to a recent study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, with researchers from the University of Virginia finding that a bit of sweaty effort at the gym significantly reduced levels of ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating hormone.
Kara Anderson, a researcher in endocrinology and metabolism at Virginia and lead author of the paper, says high-intensity exercise has the greatest effect on appetite, her study showing that people felt “less hungry” after a vigorous gym session—in this case, a hardcore indoor bike session in which the intensity was increased every three minutes until they felt too tired to continue—compared with moderate-intensity exercise that would equate to a gentle jog or yoga class. Levels of ghrelin dropped in all participants after the hard workouts, although the effect was more pronounced in women.
“Exercise should be thought of as a ‘drug’, where the ‘dose’ should be customized based on an individual’s personal goals,” Anderson says. “Our research suggests that high-intensity exercise may be important for appetite suppression, which can be particularly useful as part of a weight loss program.”
It’s not the first time tough workouts have been shown to stem appetite. David Stensel, professor of exercise metabolism at Loughborough University, and his team have previously shown that intense exercise not only reduces ghrelin but also elevates levels of the hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) that makes you feel full by slowing down stomach emptying and suppressing appetite.
Semaglutide works by mimicking the effects of GLP-1. A downside with exercise is that the impact on hormone levels are short-lived with most reverting to normal within 60 minutes or so after a workout. This means that regular bouts of exercise are important for long-term appetite suppression alongside other healthy strategies. Here’s what else you can do to keep appetite under control:
Are There Any Foods That Can Help to Curb Our Appetite?
Vegetables and fruits, wholegrain cereals and breads, legumes—peas and beans—and nuts are top of the list of appetite-controlling foods we should be eating. Plant-based foods such as these are packed with fiber, some forms of which are known to increase in volume when we eat them, boosting the feeling of fullness.
“It’s a powerful ‘satiety effect’ that has the effect of making us less inclined to snack and binge if we consume enough fiber on a regular basis,” says Alex Ruani, researcher in nutrition science at University College London and chief science educator at the Health Sciences Academy.
Most of us don’t get enough fiber. Health chiefs in the UK recommend an intake of 30g of fiber daily but we fall short with a consumption of just 15g.
In June, Dr. Aygul Dagbasi, a researcher at Imperial College London’s School of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, published results of a study that showed how higher fiber plant foods have the additional benefit of stimulating the release of a key appetite-reducing hormone, peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY), in the ileum, part of the small intestine. PYY works by slowing the absorption of glucose into the blood, resulting in a steady supply of energy that offsets hunger.
Foods high in protein—eggs, beans, yogurt, tofu—also help with blood-sugar regulation and appetite control, says Dr Linia Patel, a researcher in the Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health at the Università degli Studi di Milano in Italy and a spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association.
“Including protein will slow down the absorption of healthy carbohydrate in a meal, releasing it more slowly into your body so that you feel less hungry later on,” Patel says. “Eggs on rye bread will stem appetite for much longer than a refined carb croissant for these reasons.”
Does When You Eat Make a Difference to Appetite Control?
Forward-loading your calorie intake so that you consume more food earlier in the day could help with appetite control, according to a study published in Cell Metabolism. Nutritionists from Harvard Medical School and other institutions tracked what happened to a group of adults when they stuck to an early eating schedule of breakfast at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, and their final meal at 4 p.m. for six days before then switching to pushing each meal back four hours for another six-day trial.
Frank Scheer, director of the Medical Chronobiology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the lead author on the paper, said that despite doing the same amount of exercise and consuming the same foods for both of the six-day episodes, people felt significantly more hungry on the later eating pattern. The reason, he said, is that eating later had profound effects on the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin that influence our drive to eat.
Will Oats for Breakfast Really Tide You Over Until Lunchtime?
Oats have a reputation for curbing appetite that, says Patel, is well deserved. “They can help to regulate hunger and appetite if you eat them regularly,” Patel says. Whichever way you eat them—as overnight oats, oatmeal or oatcakes—oats are rich in soluble fiber, particularly beta-glucan, which forms a gel-like substance in the digestive tract that slows digestion and influences appetite hormones, leading to an increased feeling of fullness after eating.
This was confirmed in a review of evidence published in the journal Current Nutrition Reports last year that found oat consumption to be beneficial for appetite control. Start the day with oatmeal or Bircher muesli and you are set.
Is It OK to Succumb to an Urge to Snack in the Afternoon?
According to Dr. Sarah Berry, at King’s College London, who is also chief scientist at Zoe Nutrition, “the act of snacking itself isn’t in itself a problem for our health,” What matters is how and when we do it. Her research at KCL in 2023 showed that people who snack on healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, hummus and seeds earlier in the day had a healthier weight and body mass index than some non-snackers.
Predictably it’s the sugary, ultra-processed snacks we need to avoid. And the worst time to snack is in the evening. “Eating after 9 p.m. is likely interfering with our internal body rhythm and impacting our body negatively,” Berry says. “In general we would recommend that you try to finish eating by 8 or 9 p.m. at the latest and try to fast overnight for about 14 hours.”
Is Apple Cider Vinegar Really an Appetite Suppressant?
Celebrities credit apple cider vinegar (ACV) with stemming appetite and preventing sugar cravings. Made by fermenting apple juice, ACV contains an active compound, acetic acid, a by-product of fermentation, that provides its distinctive sour taste.
A review of 12 studies in Current Developments in Nutrition journal did find that people who added ACV to a meal reported better appetite suppression for up to two hours after eating and that they consumed fewer snacks in the next 24 hours.
Although the same researchers from the University of Virginia found no evidence that ACV had a longer-term effect on appetite, Patel says it’s worth adding a couple of tablespoons to salads and vegetables. “It’s possible, although not yet proven, that as a fermented food ACV can enhance gut health if you use it regularly,” she says. “Mixing a few spoons with oil for a dressing is the best way to take it.”
Will Eating a Starter Curb Appetite?
Opting for soup or salad as a starter if you are eating out is a good tip, says Ruani, as food scientists at the Pennsylvania State University showed either choice before a main meal had a powerful effect on reducing appetite.
“A series of studies by that team demonstrated that eating a portion of vegetable soup as a starter may result in people eating one fifth less calories in their main meal,” Ruani says. “If they chose a chunky salad as a starter, there was 17 per cent lower calorie intake from foods that followed.”
This can be explained by the high water and fiber content of vegetable-containing meals that helps to buffer our appetite and causes us to eat smaller amounts of higher-calorie foods. Vegetable crudités and hummus would have the same effect. “Basically, pack in the vegetables,” Ruani says.
Does Swimming Increase Your Appetite?
I’m more ravenous after a swim than a run, but in this I am not unusual because swimming does seem to have a unique impact on appetite. Led by Stensel, the Loughborough sports scientists put young adults through either an hour of swimming or cycling in which both groups repeated intervals of eight minutes of hard effort and two minutes’ active rest on different days while a control group did neither form of exercise. Half an hour after each exercise session, all participants were invited to eat as much as they wanted at a carb-laden buffet.
Hunger levels were predictably higher after cycling than sitting, with the exercises consuming 94 calories more than the control group after being on the bike. But appetite peaked after swimming when an average 142 more calories were consumed compared with the control group. Of the findings, which were published in the journal Nutrition, Stensel says that one reason swimming makes us hungry is that the body uses a greater amount of energy to generate heat when submerged in cool water and that translates into a need for food when we get out.
Do Ultra-Processed Foods Make You More Hungry?
If you need another reason to reduce UPFs in your diet, it is that they override appetite signals and encourage compulsive overeating. Rob Hobson, nutritionist and author of Unprocess Your Life, says highly refined foods and ready meals are typically low in fiber and often contain additives and emulsifiers that potentially interfere with hunger levels. “High levels of UPFs in the diet have been shown to disrupt satiety signaling between the gut microbiome and brain,” Hobson says. “Since this signaling is what tells us we are full after eating, the theory is that our appetite is thrown off kilter so that we end up eating more.”
Peta Bee is a U.K.-based freelance health journalist
