Control Your Hunger

BREAKFAST WAS TWO Krispy Kreme strawberry-filled doughnuts. I needed something quick, so I downed the pastries in my car on the way to work. Feeling full and high on sugar, I tackled my inbox with gusto. But by 10am, my gut was grumbling again - and lunch was still hours away. It was nothing like the previous morning, when I made an egg and Swiss cheese sandwich on wholemeal toast. Even though that had about 800 fewer kilojoules than my Krispy Kreme binge, it kept me full until 1pm. Both breakfasts were satisfying - at the time.

So what was the difference? The answer, fellow hungry men, lies in your brain's dual perceptions of fullness. "Satiation" is the feeling of fullness at the end of a meal.

"Satiety", on the other hand, is a measure of how long it takes before you're hungry again. Of course, food manufacturers don't want you to stay satisfied. Fifteen years ago, University of Sydney researcher Dr Susanna Holt, who ranked foods according to their satiety power, approached several food manufacturers for funding to continue her work. She's still waiting.

The companies were motivated to decrease the satiety of their foods - so people would buy more. Take control. Master satiation and you can keep portion sizes in check; boost satiety and you can prevent needless snacking. Read on and Learn how to fill your gut - then lose it.

SATIETY SECRET No.1

KNOW WHAT (AND WHEN) TO DRINK

Think of your stomach as a balloon. As you eat, it stretches. And once it expands to its maximum capacity, the sensors throughout your digestive system tell your brain's amygdala (the area that helps regulate emotions) that it's time to stop chomping away - regardless of what you've filled your belly with. As nutritionist Alan Aragon puts it, "Eating half a roll of toilet paper would make you feel full."

To stretch your stomach without stuffing it with kilojoules (or paper products), you need water. Aragon recommends drinking a glass 30 minutes before a meal and sipping frequently while eating. Water-rich foods, such as soup, salad, fruit and vegetables, will also fill your belly without contributing excessive kilojoules.

SATIETY SECRET No.2

FILL UP WITH FIBRE

Fibre draws water from your body and from the food you've eaten, and transports it to your intestinal tract, helping to deliver that meal-ending satiation, say University of Washington researchers. Fibre may boost satiety, too. Since it passes through the body undigested, fibre slows the absorption of nutrients and makes you feel fuller for longer, report researchers at the University of Minnesota.

A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that adding six grams of soluble fibre (such as ground flaxseed) to yoghurt provided the satiating power of an additional 1090kJ. To reap the satiating benefits of fibre, aim for 25-35g daily.

Refined carbohydrates on the other hand - like in those Krispy Kremes - are satiety killers. When participants in a University of Sussex study drank a high-carb beverage for breakfast, they reported feeling hungrier at lunch than when they drank a beverage high in protein. Here's why: too much sugar brings on a rapid spike in insulin, which causes a sugar crash later and triggers a craving for more food.

SATIETY SECRET No.3

PACK IN THE PROTEIN

Protein, your muscle-growing fuel, also has the power to raise levels of peptides - synthesised amino acids - in your stomach. "These peptides initiate cross-talk with the brain on a molecular level to send out satiety signals," says Aragon. He recommends aiming for 20-40g of protein at each meal. (See "Block That Binge", right, for a sample day of foods to fill your belly.)

SATIETY SECRET No.4

SAVOUR THE FLAVOURS

Your belly is rumbling and the waiter sets a juicy steak down in front of you. Resist the urge to unhinge your jaw and swallow it whole. Thoroughly chewing your food increases what researchers call "oro-sensory factors", which send satiation signals to your brain, helping you feel full on less food, report Dutch researchers at the Top Institute for Food and Nutrition. Study participants who chewed each bite for an extra three seconds ended up consuming less. For the same reason, skip meal-replacement shakes and kilojoule-clogged smoothies.

SATIETY SECRET No.5

TRICK YOUR BELLY FULL

You can't trust your gut. Maybe you've heard about the Cornell University study with the trick bowls: people who ate soup from bowls that continuously refilled ate 73 per cent more than those who ate from ordinary bowls. The kicker: they rated themselves as feeling no more full.Scientists call this use of sensory cues to assess fullness "learned satiation". Try this: serve a portion of food on a smaller plate and immediately place the rest in the fridge. Once you eat, the visual cue of a clean plate will signal that you've had enough - and the leftovers will stay out of sight and out of mind.

SATIETY SECRET No.6

AVOID DISTRACTION AT DINNER

What you're doing while you eat might be as important as what you're eating. You're likely to consume much more food and eat for longer periods of time when you're distracted by television, music or a computer, according to a review of studies published in Trends in Food Science & Technology. Eating while distracted interrupts brain-to-stomach satiation signals, making it harder to monitor your food intake. Also, distraction raises the risk of overeating the wrong types of foods - like that oversized popcorn/soft drink combo at the movies.

The takeaway from all this is simple: when you eat, actually eat. Grab a seat. Focus on your meal. Stay away from Twitter and Facebook, and don't slump in front of the TV. Pay attention to your first plate of food and you might find that you don't need to go back for seconds.

SATIETY SECRET No.7

DOWNSIZE YOUR SNACKS

As long as you're eating satiety-inducing nutrients at every meal, you'll reduce your urge for food between mealtimes, explains Aragon. But if your gut's growling and your next meal is far away, a snack can help prevent you from doing a Homer Simpson impression at dinner. The secret is to keep the snack, well,snack-sized. Grab food that's high in protein or fibre, such as tuna, nuts, cottage cheese or beef jerky, and keep your consumption under 800kJ, advises Aragon.

That way, you'll keep gut gurgling at bay without packing in a mini-meal.Whatever you do, skip the processed snacks that prime your gut for more, more, more. It's how a doughnut leads to a growling stomach before lunch. It's how a drive-thru dinner can lead to a plate of cheese on toast at midnight. And it's how you can eat all day and never feel full.

by: Paul Kita
source: Men's_Health_Australia_May2012