We've all experienced it: The meal is too good to stop eating. This is applicable whether it's nightly pizza and you can't stop at one or two slices or dessert after dinner and you eat a second (and third) cookie.
(Plus, fresh chocolate chip cookies are irresistible!) When our eyes are bigger than our bellies, we may overeat. What if we told you one activity can prevent overeating?
Working exercise and hunger control are commonly studied—and for good reason. Recent Appetite reviews show that acute moderate- to high-intensity exercise reduces appetite and ghrelin, "the hunger hormone."
Exercise alters hunger-related peptides and hormones. It lowers the "hunger hormone" ghrelin and raises peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which slow food intake and boost energy expenditure.
These findings have more scientific support. Nine middle-aged people were divided into four groups: a non-exercising control group, moderate-intensity continuous training, HIIT, and sprint interval training. The outcome? Both HIIT and SIT reduced ghrelin.
The researchers say these benefits are transitory and hormone levels will return to normal two hours after exercise. Good news: these findings disprove the myth that exercise boosts hunger and daily calorie intake.