- Effects on the Body
- List
- Contraindications
- Usage Guidelines
- Recipes
The reasons for being overweight can vary widely, and each person’s reasons are unique: stress, a sedentary lifestyle, heredity, the postpartum period, age… The list can go on and on. Different methods must be used to combat each of these factors. If you are sure that your problem is exclusively overeating, and you can’t control yourself when it comes to food, there is a solution to your dilemma. Try starting to drink herbs that quickly and lastingly reduce your appetite and satisfy your hunger. You won’t have to berate yourself for eating one too many buns, and the plant-based origins of the foods you use will have only a beneficial effect on your body.
Effects on the Body
As of late, appetite suppressants have had some good competition in the form of herbs with the same effect. Only some of them achieve results by eliminating excess fluid (diuretics), others by intensively burning fat cells (fat burners), and still others by controlling appetite (suppressing hunger). The latter, from the perspective of physicians and dietitians, are considered to be the safest for health, as they have a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract. It is typical to classify them in the following way.
- Mucilaginous (Enveloping)
Upon entering the stomach, these herbs coat its walls with a special mucus. For a time, it becomes a protective barrier, repelling gastric juice. And it is gastric juice, after all, that causes hunger. If it is blocked, the brain receives no signal to eat. Accordingly, even if it’s lunchtime, you won’t eat a large portion. This means you will consume fewer calories. The result is weight loss.
- Bulking
These appetite-reducing herbs are true professional tricksters. When exposed to fluid, they have the property of swelling, thereby giving the body the impression that the stomach is full. Accordingly, you can’t eat much. If you follow the principles of proper, fractional nutrition after a course of herbal therapy, the weight won’t come back. You will simply get used to eating in small portions.
- Acidity Reducing
Their action is also connected to blocking gastric juice. However, they differ from the first group in that they do not create a mucous membrane barrier. These plants act directly on hydrochloric acid, decreasing its concentration. No acid, no appetite. However, if these remedies are taken for a long period of time, they can seriously disrupt the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Soothing
It’s no secret that the appetite often arises during times of anxiety and stress. To reduce it, you need to calm down. Doing so on your own is not always possible. Antidepressant herbs are a solution to this problem. In medicine, this is called “compulsive overeating”; in everyday life, it’s “psychological hunger”.
- Energy Boosting
Many of us don’t perceive these plants as medicinal, even though they can be found in almost every home. We are used to them as ordinary refreshing beverages. However, besides their ability to give an energy boost, they also reduce appetite. Most teas contain substances that contribute to this: caffeine, theobromine, theophylline. And let’s not forget about their diuretic effect.
- Sugar Reducing
Herbs that can lower blood sugar primarily affect metabolic processes in the body. They contain inulin, which most people know as a sugar substitute, a plant polysaccharide. It slows down the intestines’ absorption of fats and simple carbohydrates, and it reduces products’ glycemic index. This naturally blocks cravings for sweets and reduces the appetite.
To lose weight, you can choose herbs from any group, taking into consideration their effects on the body. All of them are designed to reduce the appetite and satisfy even the most savage hunger.
Lifehack. If you often feel hungry between meals, always keep flax seeds, soaked in cold water, on hand (they have an enveloping effect on the stomach). As soon as you want to eat, take a small handful and chew slowly. You’ll see – your appetite will be cut in half.
List
To buy appetite-reducing medicinal herbs in a pharmacy, you need to know which ones are the most effective, since more than 70 plants have this effect on the body. Some of them are given on our list.
Mucilaginous:
- aloe;
- marshmallow (root);
- fireweed;
- flax (seeds);
- linden (flowers);
- coltsfoot (root).
Bulking:
- nettle;
- kelp;
- oats;
- wheat;
- bladderwrack;
- sage.
Acidity reducing:
- betony;
- heather;
- St. John’s wort;
- linden (flowers);
- mint (leaves);
- fennel (fruit).
Soothing:
- valerian;
- oregano;
- fireweed;
- linden (flowers);
- mint;
- motherwort;
- chamomile.
Energy boosting:
- ginger (root);
- mate;
- pu-erh tea;
- chicory;
- green tea.
Sugar reducing:
- birch (buds);
- immortelle;
- hawthorn;
- blackberry;
- St. John’s wort;
- strawberry (leaves);
- clover;
- nettle;
- corn silk;
- burdock (root);
- plantain;
- wormwood;
- lilac (buds);
- black currant;
- chicory;
- bilberry (leaves).
You can use a single plant or a whole collection of herbs. The main thing is to maintain the proportions when mixing them together. Sometimes, ready-to-use mixtures are sold in pharmacies. If you have the opportunity to prepare raw materials yourself, nothing is stopping you. You just need to know how to distinguish, for example, field horsetail, great horsetail, and wood horsetail from each other, because each of them has different specific properties.
Note. Can’t stop yourself from eating and consuming too much food? Try starting your meal with kelp salad. It may be seaweed, but it’s also a herb in a certain sense. Since it has bulking properties, it leaves practically no room in the stomach for other foods.
Contraindications
If you decide to take herbs that reduce your appetite and help you lose weight, you need to get a doctor’s permission to do so. Despite the fact that many sources insist that they are completely safe for your health, it is no secret that each plant has a complex effect on
