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What is hunger
Is it that sound in the stomach - you know, when it rumbles? Is it that pain in the stomach? Is it when your stomach feels empty?
Try and satisfy those and you will find yourself overweight and never really hungry.
What your body wants
Your body wants to have a balance between the energy that you burn and the food you take in. If your body thinks you are not eating enough it will send some hormones out to drive you to eat. You may have noticed when you diet that you have the sensation of being "hungry all the time."
Hunger Hormones
When you eat a small amount of food, and your body doesn't think you have had enough it starts to send out some hormones, and they keep driving you to eat. Things that otherwise wouldn't interest you become very interesting. Ever go to a grocery store when you are hungry? Fascinating place isn't it. Ever go to a grocery store when you have just eaten - not such an interesting place, chances are you will get what is on the list and leave.
Those hormones are so powerful that if you just ate the largest meal of your life and I was to inject you with those hormones you would want to eat again. Even though your stomach is stuffed.
Your Stomach and Pavlov
Did you know that your stomach empties solid food in two hours, and liquids in about 15 minutes?
If you eat a small amount of food, your hunger hormones stick into high gear in two hours. That is the same time your stomach is emptying - making noise, rumbling, and you can feel it a bit.
But, if you ate a huge meal, you wouldn't be hungry -but you will still hear that noise.
Most people know that if they eat enough food they won't be hungry until the next meal - so they rely on the stomach to tell them that they are "full." But that is just a trick. Your stomach is not what tells you when you will be hungry again.
I have always enjoyed raising tropical fish - and when I would feed them I would ring a bell. The fish would see the fish food, head to the top of the fish tank and start to eat. They would also hear the bell. After a while I would just ring the bell, and the fish would head to the top of the tank anticipating a meal. That is called a Pavlovian response.
Your stomach has done that trick to you. Eat a small meal, in two hours you start feeling hungry, your stomach empties, and you hear a noise. When you hear that noise you have trained yourself to think you are hungry.
How much does your stomach hold
For most people, the stomach is remarkably consistent, it holds about a liter to two liters of food. But it just isn't the amount of food your stomach can hold, it is the kind of food that it holds and how long it takes for that food to get through the stomach. But most people feel "full" after eating 12 ounces of food.
If you eat 6 ounces of steak (after cooking) you will have 42 ounces of protein (about the daily requirement for most people). If you eat that, chances are you won't have those hunger hormones around for hours later. If you drink a shake with 42 ounces of protein in it, chances are you will feel hungry sooner.
What to do
The key is to have a lot of food that has low calories, and a bit of protein. If you were to eat 12 ounces of broccoli that has 50 calories. Blueberries - twelve ounces just 85 calories. That is a lot of food, and not too many calories. In six ounces of steak - 852 calories. Six ounces of salmon - 354 calories. Six ounces of chicken is 250 calories. But while the salmon has more calories, because of the oil, however - it is a healthier food than the other two - for a lot of reasons we will talk about in another newsletter.
Don't limit Fruits and Vegetables
If you want to fool your body to thinking you eat more- than make your diet around a lot of fruits and vegetables. No limits about those foods. This allows your stomach to fill up - and
What about nuts and cheese?
Two ounces of almonds have 326 calories (that is about 23 almonds). One cube of cheese has about 70 calories - so when you have 5 of those small cubes you have had 350 calories! Both nuts and cheese are primarily fat, not protein - and don't make great snacks if you are trying too loose weight.
But a whole cup of edamame has 189 calories, with 17 grams of protein (about 1/3 of what you need in a day) and only 8 grams of fat. That is a great snack.
Salads?
Salads are nutrient poor, generally, and the salad dressings are calorie rich. I'd rather you eat whole plants- fruits, and vegetables, instead of something in a salad.
The stomach rumbling isn't hunger - it is just noise.
Learn that! You may be trained to listen to it- but know that your stomach is empty in two hours, and in fact, most of the time your stomach is empty. So don't think if it rumbles that you need to eat.
Volume - think Volume
Your brain is fooled by volume- so don't limit: fruits, vegetables, or edamame. Avoid the big meals, and you should be quite healthy!
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