You eat a plate of poha at 9:00 am in the morning and by 10:30 you are already hunting your drawers for that next biscuit. Now if you eat jowar roti, a bowl of rajma with green sabzi on the side, it will keep you full, comfortable until your next big meal.

Quite similar calories, but different outcomes?

Noticed? Why?

The answer actually lies in something that nutrition researchers call, satiety, the feeling of fullness, and satisfaction that one gets after a meal. And it's definitely not random. It's the biology that you can actually use to your advantage.

Your body is a complex hunger system

If you notice hunger and fullness are actually governed by hormones, these nerve signals and physical state of your stomach, they all are working together. So, when you eat, your gut, which is the second brain, releases hormones like GLP-1, PYY, and CCK that travel together with your brain and signal that the food has arrived. Moreover, ghrelin, the hunger hormone drops. The strength and speed of all this actually depends on how you eat, but just by how much.

Protein, the powerful satiety nutrient

Out of all the major macros, protein has the most powerful effect on your fullness. It stimulates the release of your satiety hormones and suppresses ghrelin other than carbohydrates and fat. Research also proves that high protein meals reduce overall calorie intake later in the day.

For a typical Indian diet, it's now suggested to add a good protein source, not just a by a token serving. So now your meals should have a bowl of beans (rajma/ chole, dal), paneer or two eggs or a side greek yoghurt. All of this makes a real difference, because earlier the majority of people used to make the plate more carbohydrate heavy without even realizing it & spiking that blood sugar. This explains why people notice that feeling of hunger returns much more quickly than you expect.

Fibre, the less talked fullness builder

A diet plan needs good fibre because it's the dietary fibre that works through mechanisms in your system simultaneously. It actually slows the rate at which food leaves your stomach, meaning now you feel full for longer. Fibre, which is found in oats, your legumes and fruits is known as soluble fibre, forms a gel-like substance in your digestive system and also slows nutrient absorption. It also weakens the blood sugar spike which is most often seen as a trigger, to make you feel hungry sooner than usual.

While on the other side, whole grains like jowar, bajra and your veggies and fruit skin provide you with a physical bulk. That's why a diet plate consisting of whole grains, millets and green leafy veggies or a nutritious sabzi is naturally more filling than meals which have only simple rice or that white flour, maida.

The food volume stretch effect

You might not be aware, but your stomach actually has stretched receptors that notice how much space the food is occupying. Observe how when you consume a large bowl of soup or dal with veggies you will feel more satisfied, as they create volume. That's why foods like cucumber, lauki, tomato and other green leafy veggies tend to fill your stomach with such low energy cost.

Look closely, and notice how liquid calories almost do nothing for those hunger pangs. Your sweetened chai, coffee, fruit juice or flavoured lassi or shake pass so quickly that they don't even do anything to activate those stretch receptors, the way they deal with solid food.

A Dietitian's Takeaway

Hunger is never a willpower problem. This is an actual food composition problem. You have to build your meals around the three main pillars of your diet, which are proteins, fibre and volume, and your body's own hormonal system will do the rest. And then when you eat, the right combination and staying full actually becomes effortless, not a daily battle of bloating and hunger pangs.



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