Can’t get no satisfaction?
Are you constantly feeling hungry or as if you’re always eating? Maybe you’ve got teenage boys or girls at home and feel like they’re eating you out of house and home. Understanding when we are truly physically hungry is important not only if we want to lose weight, but also to help us enjoy a healthy balanced approach to eating.
Satiation and satiety are both important in determining how much food we eat and our total energy intake. Satiation is the feeling of fullness we get while we are eating that signals to us it is time to stop eating. Satiety; the feeling of fullness we have for a period of time after a meal has finished, is often what determines when we next eat. Many factors can cause us to ignore these feelings of fullness, such as the availability of great tasting food, eating in social situations, boredom and hormonal cravings! But ignoring satiation and satiety and repeatedly overeating eventually results in weight gain, accompanied by associated health issues.
To help in weight control it has been recommended over the years that we eat slowly to allow time for our brain to register we are getting full and acknowledge satiation to avoid overeating. The latest research from the 2009 British Nutrition Society Satiety Conference has taken a new approach and looked at satiety rather that satiation. It has suggested the key to maximising satiety is found in the kinds of food we eat. In particular research suggests the energy density of foods can be crucial to understanding how to eat sufficient quantities of food to feel full, but also to lower calorie intake. Energy density refers to the number of calories contained in a food divided by the serving size in grams e.g. low energy dense foods such as fruit, vegetables and legumes contain a small number of calories per gram versus high energy dense foods; chocolate, chips and cheese which contain higher calories per gram. It stands to reason that eating large amounts of low energy dense foods and small amounts of high energy dense foods will help us feel fuller and keep our total calorie count in check.
Energy density
Energy density = number of calories/weight of serving size (grams)
Very low energy density foods = less than 0.6 e.g. apples, broccoli, trim milk, porridge
Low energy density foods = 0.6 to 1.5 e.g. bananas, kumara, legumes, whole milk
Medium energy density foods = 1.6 to 4 e.g. avocado, meat, chicken, fish, cheese, bread
High energy density foods = more than 4 e.g. biscuits, chips, chocolate, nuts
Things you can do
By making more of your meals from foods with very low, low or medium energy density and keeping the high density foods for occasional treats or to be eaten in small amounts, you will maximise satiety for you and your family.
Satiety helpers; Fluids and Fibre.
- Foods high in water (fruit and vegetables) or foods cooked in water such as soups, casseroles and rice have lower energy density
- Foods rich in fibre have been linked to satiety and also tend to be lower in energy density
So try the following satiety hints.....
- Add extra fluids where possible in cooking e.g. an extra tin of tomatoes to pasta sauce
- Try adding legumes to meals and reduce meat content
- Aim to drink more low energy density fluids such as herbal teas and water instead of soft drinks, juices and alcohol
- Choose wholegrain varieties of bread, rice and pasta
- Bulk up meals by adding extra vegetables and reducing quantities of higher energy density foods
- Avoid or reduce salad dressings. These are high in energy but have little volume to increase satiety.
- Add extra fruit to desserts and reduce cream and ice cream