How to calculate food calories and combat hunger?

How do I determine the quantity? How do I estimate the calories?

When doing intermittent fasting, you should have a rough estimate of the calories, weight, and volume of the food.

If you can't remember, you can check the food's calories on relevant websites or apps.

Quickly and intuitively estimating food portions and calories helps control calorie intake in daily life, which is extremely beneficial for weight loss and overall health.

1 box of low-fat milk: 250 ml; 107 kcal

One white square bag: 36 grams; 84 kcal

1 bowl of white rice: 100 grams; 143 kcal

One hard-boiled egg: 50 grams; 70 kcal

One fried egg: 50 grams; 100 kcal

1 cup of fresh orange juice: 250 ml; 112 kcal

1 apple: 250 grams; 130 kcal

1 bowl of broth: 250 ml; 75 kcal

1 bowl of vegetable soup: 250 ml; 32 kcal

1 piece of boiled chicken breast: 100g; 133 kcal

1 potato: 120 grams; 93 kcal

6 bok choy hearts: 100g; 25 kcal

How to combat hunger?

The main idea of ​​intermittent fasting is to encourage fasters to voluntarily and appropriately restrict their diet.

If you are really hungry or really want to eat, it's okay to satisfy yourself a little.

The goal of intermittent fasting is to create a breathing space for the body without food.

Relaxing the calorie restriction to 520 kcal is perfectly fine, the key is that you can adapt to it, otherwise it will ruin the purpose and meaning of fasting.

Indeed, reducing calorie intake to one-quarter of the usual amount on fasting days is a clinically proven practice that can improve metabolic rate.

While 500 kcal doesn't have any special magic, please try your best to stick to this calorie limit.

Taking small bites and chewing slowly while eating is also a good way to combat hunger.

Modern research has found that it takes time for the brain's feeding center to sense satiety.

The small molecules produced during digestion in the mouth and stomach are crucial for controlling appetite.

Therefore, the amount of food consumed when eating too quickly is not controlled by the brain, but can only be sensed by the mechanoreceptors in the stomach.

However, when you feel full from such refined and soft foods, you've already eaten more than your body needs.

Therefore, for intermittent fasting that requires calorie control and increased satiety, eating in small bites and savoring food slowly can help fasters feel full more quickly, thereby reducing total food intake.

Hunger can be a problem when you first start intermittent fasting. To combat hunger, you must first overcome your fear of it.

Since each fast lasts no more than 12 hours, this brief feeling of hunger is almost harmless to the body.

The feeling of hunger won't bother you for long. Generally speaking, if you ignore it for 5 minutes after feeling hungry, the hunger will subside automatically.

In addition, you can shift your focus by concentrating on your work, which can make the hunger less intense.

Eleven secrets to making intermittent fasting easier

To make the intermittent fasting plan more successful, fasting participants can follow these tips to begin fasting.

Find a partner to do intermittent fasting.

Before you start fasting, find a supportive friend and have them join you in your journey. This way, you can support each other, share experiences, and it will greatly help each other's fasting plans to go smoothly.

It is even more convenient if couples or spouses fast together, as you can support each other during the fast and build a closer "revolutionary bond".

In addition, eating with someone who understands the basic principles of a fasting plan makes things much easier.

Prepare food for the fasting day in advance.

Preparing food for your fasting day in advance not only makes cooking easier but also prevents you from being tempted by other high-calorie foods in the refrigerator.

Before starting intermittent fasting, clean up any junk food in your home.

Otherwise, those foods will just keep calling out to you from the cupboard, unnecessarily making the fasting days more difficult.

Check the portion size on the food calorie label.

Because fasting days require strict calorie restriction, the actual amount of food consumed must be strictly controlled.

For example, if a box of corn chips is labeled "30 grams per serving," you should accept whatever the actual weight of 30 grams is.

The book concludes with a comprehensive calorie chart of common foods to help you control your calorie intake.

The important thing is that you shouldn't count calories when you eat on non-fasting days; there are more interesting things you can do.

No need to rush to eat

Try resisting your appetite for at least 10 minutes before eating, or up to 15 minutes if you can, and see if your hunger subsides (usually).

On fasting days, eating requires focus, allowing yourself to fully recognize that you are eating.

If you really want a snack, choose foods that won't raise your insulin levels, such as carrot sticks, a handful of unseasoned air-fried popcorn, a slice of apple, or some strawberries.

Of course, you can't keep eating, otherwise you'll quickly exceed your calorie limit and ruin your intermittent fasting plan.

Stay busy

Anyone who has ever skydived knows this feeling: in those few seconds of skydiving, you're guaranteed to forget all about hunger.

If we fully engage in activities other than eating, our sense of hunger will be greatly reduced.

Delicious and tempting food is everywhere these days, waiting for you on every street corner. Leisure and entertainment activities are your best shield against them.

Remember, if you absolutely must eat donuts, please do so after your fasting day; you can still eat them the next day.