Have you ever eaten a large carbohydrate-rich meal and, despite having ingested a lot of calories, felt hungry in a short time? Or maybe you’re hungry after a long day and wolfed down a healthy dinner that didn’t wow you?
Even if you know you’re not “technically” hungry, you’re ready to head back to the kitchen for something better. Welcome to the wonderful world of satiety, which is the time it takes before you feel hungry again after eating.
What is satiety?
Satiety is the feeling of being full or full. While eating the right foods is an important factor in feeling full longer, our minds also play a part, hence the importance of mindful eating. Being aware of your physical and mental satiety in the moment can have a huge impact on satiety. Satiety is essential for maintaining a healthy weight or losing pounds. If your meals leave you feeling hungry or if you’re constantly dissatisfied with your food choices and fall back on extra snacks, you’re likely to start adding calories to your diet.
Satiety is also a recent problem. After all, when our ancestors foraged for food or prepared meals with what they harvested, most of the time there was no opportunity to take it back or supplement a meal with anything else. We modern eaters really need to think about satiety during and after ingesting food, instead of jumping from one food to another even though we have no appetite. Fortunately, there are ways to achieve satiety that allow you to control your food intake.
High satiety foods
We know that we feel satisfied when we have eaten enough food, but it is true that some foods control appetite better than others.
The best satiety foods are:
1 Grass-fed beef
2 Organic poultry
3 Wild salmon
4 Leafy green vegetables (spinach, kale, mustard greens and collard greens)
5 Watermelon (and other fruits with high water content)
6 Blueberries (and other nutrient-dense berries)
7 Banana
8 Lawyer
9 Root vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squash and turnips)
10 Beans and legumes (black beans, chickpeas, lentils and split peas)
11 Nuts (almonds, walnuts and cashews)
12 Seeds (flax seeds, hemp seeds and chia seeds)
13 Whole grains (quinoa, oats, farro, barley and brown rice)
14 Herbs and spices (coriander, parsley, cayenne pepper, turmeric and garlic)
15 Coconut oil and olive oil
The 10 best ways to achieve satiety
1. Eat lean protein
Protein-rich foods are proven to help you feel fuller and stay that way longer. Eating lean proteins, such as grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, and organic chicken, can prevent overeating and may even help you lose weight. One study found that increasing protein intake, along with moderate exercise, helped people burn more calories and lose more weight than those who didn’t increase their protein.
2. Grab a starter
Before embarking on the main course, start with a healthy broth-based soup or salad. You’ll assuage your hunger before the main course, allowing you to cut down on your intake and feel fuller with a smaller portion.
3. Consume low-density foods
Low density foods are the ones that offer the best value for money. They offer the highest nutrient density for the lowest amount of calories. For example, eating 100 calories of french fries does not provide the same amount of nutrients as eating 100 calories of blackberries, even though the amount of calories is the same. Incorporating low-density foods into meals and snacks allows you to eat filling, nutrient-dense foods with fewer calories. The health benefits of kale, wild salmon, and blueberries make them great options.
4. Choose fiber-rich foods
Turns out your grandma was right: eating fiber has multiple benefits, including helping you feel full and controlling your food intake. Eating fiber-rich foods is proven to help reduce hunger and increase satiety. Per gram, fiber contains about half the amount of calories as carbs – nutrient density hits it again. Fiber-rich foods also take longer for your body to digest, helping you control your appetite.
5. Consume fruits and vegetables
One more reason to get your daily dose of fruits and vegetables: They are the holy grail of satiety. Not only are they full of fiber, but fruits and vegetables are also full of water. A large amount of water in foods gives them weight without increasing the number of calories. The result is that fruits and vegetables, especially when eaten whole, improve satiety. Juicy fruits like watermelons, oranges, and peaches, as well as leafy green vegetables, are good choices. Seasonings like goodness-rich cayenne pepper, dried herbs and spices add extra flavor to your food and heighten your senses, increasing satiety. In fact, the more aromatic a food is, the faster your body sends a signal to your brain to tell it that it’s full.
Think about it: It’s much easier to savor every bite when it’s bursting with flavor and aroma than when it’s bland. If you need inspiration to wake up your taste buds, try this Coconut Chicken Curry.
7. Eat healthy fats
Not only are healthy fats good for your body, but eating foods that feel indulgent and are actually beneficial (like avocado, coconut oil, and salmon) affects your mental and physical satiety. . Fats also take a while to be digested, which makes you feel fuller for longer. Interestingly, a review of the functions of the keto diet revealed that people are able to withstand longer periods of hunger and feel more satisfied when following this high-fat, low-carb diet.
8. Take your time
Since it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to let your brain know you’re full, it’s helpful to slow down when eating to control your appetite and avoid overeating. If you think you’re too hungry to eat slowly, think again. One study found that spacing out a meal over 30 minutes instead of five increased satiety and decreased hunger in participants. Test it by taking a full hour to eat instead of wolfing down your meal and returning to your desk.
9. Clear your (smaller) plate
Because our brain relies heavily on visual cues, you can trick it into feeling full. Creating a sense of bulk by filling and then finishing a small plate of food provides greater satisfaction and feelings of satiety than the exact same amount of food on a large plate. When there is room left on the plate, our mind thinks there is still room in our stomach for food, leading to unnecessary food consumption. A 2005 study tested this theory with a soup. The participants were divided into two groups. The first group received an accurate picture of the food portion by receiving the soup in a normal bowl. The second group received a self-filling bowl of soup, a biased visual cue. Those who (unknowingly) used the self-filling bowl consumed 73% more than the other group.
However, at the end of the study, they did not think they had eaten more and did not feel fuller. As the study concludes, “it seems that people use their eyes to count calories, not their stomachs. The importance of having salient and accurate visual cues can play an important role in preventing unintentional overeating. »
So go ahead: Clean up your plate, but make it smaller.
10. Pay attention
Eating in front of the television, taking mindless bites while surfing the computer, checking e-mails, all these distractions during the meal make it more difficult for the brain to assimilate the fact that it has reached satiety, and the effects last after the distraction and the meal. The researchers point out that food distractions can also lead to weight gain, as people end up eating more when they’re not paying attention or eating more frequently.
The solution ? When it’s time to eat, turn off the TV, put away gadgets, and focus on the food and company around you to feel full in no time.
Benefits
When it comes to achieving satiety, what are the benefits? Controlling your appetite and satiety helps you
– avoid excessive consumption of calories
– maintain a healthy weight
– promote weight loss
– avoid bloating and digestive disorders
– engage in mindful eating
– increase energy levels
– avoid feelings of food deprivation
– improve the pleasure and satisfaction of meals
Risks and side effects (early satiety)
While the ideal is to reach satiety before consuming too much food, some people have difficulty reaching this level of fullness. Early satiety is when a person is unable to consume a full meal because they feel full prematurely. This is usually due to digestive problems such as stomach ulcers, blockage or tumor in the abdomen, heartburn, or slow emptying of the stomach. If you suffer from premature satiety, consult your doctor for more information on diagnosis and treatment.
Conclusion
Satiety is the feeling of being full or full. Being aware of your physical and mental satiety in the moment can have a huge impact on satiety, as can eating certain foods. Achieving satiety is key to maintaining a healthy weight or losing pounds. If your meals leave you feeling hungry or you’re constantly unsatisfied with your food choices, you’ll likely start adding calories to your diet. To achieve satiety, slow down your meals and eat foods with fiber, lean proteins and healthy fats. Opt for nutrient-dense foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds.
