The guaranteed “apple a day” diet

A medium sized apple has only 95 calories and is loaded with restorative
phytonutrients. A recent European study found that those eating more than an apple
a day cut their risk of colon cancer in half. Not only that, an apple can teach us how
to better understand our hunger cues.

Most of us have had the experience of digging into a high calorie snack even though
we weren’t hungry. The high fat, high salt, and high sugar stuff goes down easy.
Since junk food bypasses our satiety cues, we keep on eating - whether we are
hungry or not.

Unlike junk food, an apple triggers natural hunger awareness:

* First, if you aren’t hungry, an apple doesn’t sound so good. Do you think food
scientists are designing products that someone eats only when they’re hungry?”

* However, if you are hungry, an apple sounds great.

*And then, when eating an apple, the mix of fiber and nutrients triggers our satiety
mechanism so that even after just 100 calories, we feel fuller.

An apple can also tell you how tuned-in you are to your appetite system. If an apple
never sounds good, the chances are you aren’t tuned in at all, because your system
has crashed from an addiction to fat, sugar, and salt.

So how does the apple diet work? Bring an apple to work and place it on your desk.
If you have an urge for one of the donuts in the break room, look at your apple and
ask, “Am I hungry, or not? If not, skip the donut. If you are, eat the apple.”