5 Satiety Solutions: How to Feel Full Without Overeating
In Chef M.D.’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine, Dr John La Puma offers a “food lover’s road map to losing weight, preventing disease, and getting really healthy.” Here’s five of his satiety solutions, also known as how to feel full without overeating. (Click the book cover for more information).
But first… two quips about gluttony from a couple of writers:
“The Gluttons dig their own graves with their teeth.” - James Howell.
“Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.” - Peter De Vries.
Are you finding it difficult to lose weight because you overeat? Try two things: 1) figure out what you’re escaping from or what’s eating you; and 2) learn how to feel full without overeating. Here’s help with option #2….
5 Satiety Solutions: How to Feel Full Without Overeating
1. Eat foods full of water. Dr La Puma calls this volumizing. “If you eat a food that is full of water, you will eat fewer calories and lose weight,” he says in Chef M.D.’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine. This satiety solution revolves around eating foods that are full of water because they take longer to digest, contain fewer calories, and help you feel full without overeating. Enjoy broth-based soups, smoothies, fruits, and veggies.
2. Eat lean protein. “Calorie for calorie, nothing is more filling than lean protein,” writes Dr La Puma. High protein foods slow the movement of food from your stomach to your intestines, which makes you feel full faster - and keeps you feeling full longer, so you don’t overeat later. Plus, protein stabilizes your blood sugar, making it a double effective satiety solution.
3. Eat good carbs. To feel full without overeating, eat carbs that stabilize your blood sugar and insulin levels. “Resistant” starches are great because they resist digestion in the small intestine - thus staying there longer and making you feel fuller. Try legumes (especially lentils), brown rice, whole wheat, steel-cut oats, kidney beans, bananas (especially green ones), cooked-and-chilled pasta, cold rice (sushi), and cooked, cold potatoes.
4. Eat lots of fiber. You may have heard this satiety solution before - and that’s because it works. “Look for prepared foods with five or more grams of fiber per serving,” writes Dr La Puma in Chef M.D.’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine. “Only plant foods have fiber, and most foods that are high in fiber are low in calories.” To feel full without overeating, enjoy the soluble fiber in oranges, apples, carrots, flaxseed, barley, nuts, and dried beans and peas. For insoluble fiber, eat the skins of root vegetables, green beans, leafy greens, whole-wheat bread, and corn bran.
5. Eat long, liquid fats. This satiety solution revolves around fat molecules that are at least ten carbon molecules long. Why? “When fat in food reaches the small intestine, the CCK hormone is released, which can help you feel full in three different ways - through your nerves, stomach, and brain,” writes Dr La Puma in Chef M.D.’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine. He also states that eating the wrong fats can make you feel hungrier and cause you to overeat later. Long, liquid fats are found in olive oils, fish, canola oils, and nuts.
If you found 10 Satiety Solutions: How to Feel Full Without Overeating helpful, try:
