10 Ways to Turn Down Your New Year's Appetite

So maybe we got a little off track during the holidays. Let's just say our appetites seemed to get bumped up a few notches due to irresistible party and holiday fare.

But now that it's January, many of us are in the market for a way to tame those out-of-control appetites without resorting to popping appetite suppressants or smoking cigarettes.

As luck would have it, there are food choices we make daily that can help cut our appetites -- and the number of calories we consume. Here are 10 tips to help you get your appetite back under control.

10 Tips to Turn Down Your Post-Holiday Appetite

1. Bulk up your meals. There is a lot of evidence that bulk -- that is, fiber -- reduces appetite. So turn up the volume with higher-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans.

2. Cool off your appetite with hot soup! Have a bowl of broth- or vegetable-based soup (hot or cold) for a first course, and you'll probably end up eating fewer total calories at that meal. Creamy or high-fat soups need not apply for this job -- stick to the low-cal, high fiber choices like minestrone or vegetable-bean type soups.

3. Crunch your appetite away with a big salad. A recent study found that when people had a large (3 cups), low-calorie (100 calories) salad before lunch, they ate 12% fewer calories during the entire meal. When they had a smaller (1 1/2 cups and 50 calories) salad before lunch, they ate 7% fewer calories overall. You can make the same salads they used in the study: Just toss some romaine lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, celery and cucumbers together, and dress with fat-free or low-fat dressing.

4. But beware high-fat, high-calorie salads! Eating a high-calorie salad, even a small one, can encourage us to eat more calories at the meal than if we ate no salad at all. People in a recent study who had a large, high-calorie salad (400 calories) with a meal took in 17% more calories overall at that meal. People who ate a small, high-calorie salad (200 calories) ate 8% more calories.

5. Stay on course. A little bit of variety in our meals is good and even healthful. But having several courses during a meal can lead you down the wrong path. Adding an extra course to your meal (unless it's a low calorie salad or broth-type soup) usually increases the total calories you consume for that meal.

A Fruit A Day...

6. An orange or grapefruit a day helps keep appetite away. Research suggests that low-calorie plant foods that are rich in soluble fiber -- like oranges and grapefruit -- help us feel fuller faster and keep blood sugars steady. This can translate into better appetite control. Of the 20 most popular fruits and vegetables, oranges and grapefruits are highest in fiber!