So I’m relatively new at the whole weight loss thing. It’s not that I’ve never tried to lose weight before—I have, many times in fact. The reason why I say I’m new is because this is the first time I’ve been able to sustain a diet plan for more than than a week. I started CICO (calories in vs. calories out, basically just counting my calories with a calorie tracking app) just over three weeks ago and I’ve already dropped about 8-ish pounds so far. (For the record, I’m a 6’3” teenager, SW: ~234 lbs, CW: 225.6 lbs.)
I’ve been doing several things to make my current journey actually last long enough to be called a journey, and today I’d like to share with you one of the things that’s seriously helped me the most: making meals that’ll actually keep me full.
Now that may sound obvious to many of you. And while it may be simple and obvious, making satiating meals has helped me immensely in reducing how much I snack, and I’ve also found that it makes me think a lot less about food throughout the day (which has made my relationship with food a lot healthier). So what’s the key to making satiating meals exactly?
Three things: fiber, protein, and fat. Including a healthy supply of each in every meal can greatly increase how full you feel after eating. Let’s go over why these three components are so essential to satiety.
First: fiber. Fiber is incredible at increasing satiety for a couple of reasons. Firstly, fiber takes up a LOT of space in your gut. Fiber molecules are big and complex structures, and it’s exactly those structures that make fiber so bulky and, more importantly, hard to digest. They take a lot of time and energy to break down, meaning they mostly just sit around in your gut, taking up precious space that COULD be occupied by other, faster digesting nutrients. Secondly, fiber absorbs water. Have you wondered why when you make oatmeal, a soggy, paste-like gel forms around the oats? That’s because the fiber in the oats is soaking up the water you’re using to cook them! This absorption quality makes fiber expand like a balloon in your gut, taking up MORE precious real estate, and thus making you feel fuller for longer. (This may be TMI, but this is the reason why fiber helps you poop—it makes your stool softer and wetter, helping it slide right through.)
So, fiber’s great. But how does someone get more of it in their diet? That’s easy—fruits, root vegetables (like carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes), cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, etc.), beans and legumes, and whole grains are all very high in fiber. Oh, the variety!
Let’s move on to the second filling nutrient: protein. Protein increase satiety for one very simple reason—it’s digested in the stomach. You see, fats and carbs are really only affected by the stomach because of mechanical digestion (as in, your stomach squeezing the food you just ate back and forth to make it small and mushy enough to be able to be digested by the small intestine). Meanwhile proteins are both mechanically digested AND broken down by enzymes that live in the stomach. This breaking down process can take quite a while, meaning if you eat a lot of protein in one sitting, it can take a while for your stomach to make space for more food. Therefore, more protein means higher satiety.
Protein’s also pretty simple to incorporate into your diet in that it comes primarily from one type of food: meat. Incorporate a piece of meat in each meal (or a serving of beans, legumes, or tofu), and you’re good to go.
Finally, we have fat. Fat’s main purpose in an organism is to store energy. That’s why fat has almost twice the calories per gram than protein or carbs. That doesn’t mean fat is bad for weight loss, however. Fat is a key part of a healthy diet, and while I personally don’t know exactly why fat increases satiety, science says it just takes long to leave the digestive system.
There are fats that we should eat more of and others less, however. Unsaturated fats, like those found in plants and fish sources, are a great part of a healthy diet. Saturated fat, like that which is found in red meat and butter, should be eaten in moderation.
So there you go! I hope this post has helped you in some way. Sorry for the length, there was just so much information that I wanted to include. Try including a source of fiber, fat, and protein in your next meal—I’m confident in saying you’ll feel a little more full than usual. Goodbye, and good luck in your journey!
