What Are Appetite Suppressants?

It is hardly surprising that many people who want to lose weight feel like they are on some kind of merry-go-round.  They try diet after diet because most of these plans fail to address one simple, basic factor – hunger.  It is all very well to say that if you only eat 1,000 calories per day that you will lose weight, but how many people are going to be able to tolerate living like that for very long?  On top of that, many people who are overweight are used to eating almost constantly, so any interruption in what has become a normal activity will cause hunger cravings, even if there is no actual reason to feel hungry.

Appetite suppressants are designed to work by tricking your brain into believing that you are full, so that you simply will not want to eat.  When we eat, our bloodstream carries glucose to all parts of our body, and it is the presence of a lot of glucose that tells the brain that we are satiated and do not need to eat anything more for a while.  Of course, when the glucose has been distributed to cells, tissues, and organs, the level in the blood will drop.  When glucose levels fall, a signal is sent to the brain that activates what you might call the ‘appetite center’, and this shouts out “Feed me!”

There are several bodily chemicals that have a direct bearing on whether we feel hungry or not, and these are serotonin and catecholamine.  Both of these have a direct bearing on hunger and appetite, and when levels of serotonin are low, cravings and hunger set in.  If the level of serotonin is increased, it acts on neurotransmitters to tell the brain that there is no need to eat again. 

A number of appetite suppressants are available either as prescription medication or as over-the-counter supplements.  Prescription appetite suppressants are usually only meant for short term use, and some of them carry potentially serious side effects, including the possibility of addiction.  Appetite suppressants that you can purchase without a prescription will usually be based on natural substances such as hoodia gordonii, green tea, or raspberry ketones.  Many of these products are combined with caffeine or acai berry extract to assist in burning fat while suppressing the appetite.

Part of the way that appetite suppressants might be able to assist with your weight loss will be that you will be retraining yourself not to eat as much.  Breaking the habit of constantly putting food into your mouth can be hard if you feel hungry, but if you feel full or not hungry at all, this behavior has a good chance of being corrected.