As summer approaches, many are still looking for the magic formula to lose a little weight without turning every meal into a math test. Good news, the secret could well be hidden in the way of cooking.
Like every year, as soon as the temperatures rise, the slimming advice comes back again and again. Between “what I eat in a day” videos, high-protein recipes and Excel tables to monitor your carbohydrates, you can lose your appetite before even sitting down to eat. Above all, many want to succeed in eating better without feeling like they are being punished at every meal. And in fact, several studies have looked at a way of cooking that could influence satiety without requiring you to take out the calculator before dinner.
The subject is of increasing interest to specialists because it touches on something very simple: the feeling of having eaten enough. Certain ways of preparing food could help the brain send that signal more quickly that says “OK, that’s enough“. As a result, we tend to eat less or finish our plate more quickly when we are full. And that changes a lot of things, because many diets fail because of frustration. When we spend our meals thinking about what we are not allowed to eat, we often end up breaking down in front of a bag of chips in front of Netflix.
British surgeon Karan Rajan, known for his popular videos on Instagram, recently looked into the issue. According to him, certain foods can trick the brain by creating a sensation of heat in the mouth and in the body. Behind this sensation which sometimes makes you drink three glasses of water at once, the body also reacts by sending signals of satiety more quickly. Basically, we tend to be less hungry during meals. A meta-analysis published in 2017 showed that people who consumed this type of food generally ate fewer calories during the meal than those who did not consume them.
The way of cooking in question therefore consists of occasionally adding spicy foods or hot sauce to your dishes. No need to make dinner an impossible challenge, but challenging certain meals a little more could help you eat less without feeling like you’re on a strict diet.
There is still a limit: the body eventually gets used to it. People who already eat very strong meals every day experience this appetite suppressant effect less. Karan Rajan also explains: “Regular consumers of spices showed a reduced appetite suppressant effect compared to those who rarely consume them. So if you are in the habit of adding hot sauce to all your dishes, your receptors are less active and the signal is attenuated.”
