05/16/2011 22:22
HUNGER?
I've been reading through quite few blogs this week, and have noticed something in common for many of the people who mention they are experiencing extra hunger and hard-to-manage cravings.
They carefully list everything they have eaten for the day, but rarely is there ever mention of veggies or fruits in that list. The lack of important volume and nutrients from fruit and veggies explains why the cravings and hunger happen.
According to Dr. Barbara Rolls, our bodies look for a certain amount of weight of food from our meals each day, before we can experience satiety. If we become accustomed to getting that food weight from high calorie, low water content foods like sugar and other carbohydrates, it is more difficult to experience satiety, so our bodies signal that they are hungry.
That doesn't mean that we necessarily give them what they are hungry for, so those hunger-driven urges to eat are not satisfied until we have eaten way to many calories. Veggies and fruit give satiety much more easily, simply because their high water content gives them more of the weight that signals satiety.
So there's one lifestyle change that can lead to better nutrition, more satiety, and a slimmer body. Those who "don't like" veggies clearly need to train their tastes if they want lasting slimness. A "big appetite" is just as satisfied with a 173g bowl of vegetable soup for 50-100 calories as it is with a 173g double cheeseburger for 459 calories. Accompany that soup with a couple of ounces of lean meat and a half cup of rice or pasta, and you will be really full and satisfied in a complete meal for about 300 calories. Accompany that cheeseburger with fries and a sugary soft drink, and you're blown all the calories for the day on a meal that will leave your body craving the nutrients you get from veggies and fruit—but the bad habit of thinking you can satisfy those cravings with junk food will lead you to eat more unsatisfying, empty calories. You may think your body is craving chocolate or ice cream, but that is just from habitually eating those foods when you feel, or think your feel, hunger.