Beating the Hunger

Do you find you feel hungry again not that long after a meal or snack? It could be you're eating the wrong kinds of foods.

Even though you think you're eating low fat, healthful foods -- like a low-calorie rice cake - this tactic could backfire on you. Research has found that people who snack on peanuts or peanut butter delayed hunger pangs for 2-1/2 hours. But when they ate a low-fat snack like a rice cake, their hunger returned within a half-hour. In other research, people who snacked on peanuts or peanut butter lowered their "bad" LDL cholesterol by 11% to 14% (peanuts are rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats).

Snacking on peanuts didn't cause any of these people to gain weight, either. The theory is that the protein and fat content of the peanuts keeps you feeling full longer so that you actually end up consuming fewer calories overall.

Source: International Journal of Obesity, Vol. 24, Pg. 1167