To promote a high level of satiety, you must incorporate a variety of foods in your diet each day that are lower in calories but high in volume, high in viscosity, and low in their glycemic impact. Particularly, if you eat these kinds of foods at the beginning of most meals, your initial hunger will begin to diminish and when you turn to the parts of your meal that are higher in calories, you will be able to eat slower and feel satisfied with a smaller portion size. For example, if you start a meal by eating a very large salad with a minimal amount of low-calorie dressing, or a large bowl of low-calorie, high-fiber soup, you will start to feel full before you turn to the higher calorie foods of your meal like steak and potato, and you will be able to savor smaller portions without being tempted to overeat.
Foods like meat, bread, and pasta can all be an important part of a healthy diet, but they are low in volume and high in calories and need to be eaten in moderation to avoid weight gain. By taming your appetite with foods that are higher in volume and viscosity early in your meal, you give your stomach a chance to communicate to the brain that you are starting to feel satisfied before you turn to the higher calorie foods in your meal. Thus, when you get to those foods, you can practice eating slowly and savoring every bite, while being careful to eat smaller portions and avoid going back for seconds. With this strategy, even very big eaters can push away from the dinner table feeling full without overeating in terms of calories. There is nothing wrong with having a full stomach as long as the calories in your stomach are low enough to promote weight loss.
Learning to incorporate high-volume and -viscosity foods into each meal and learning to choose volumetric snacks over calorie packed snacks and beverages can have a very significant impact on satiety. As well, learning simple ways to increase the volumetric properties of recipes and even how to make volumetric choices when eating out can both be used as simple strategies to feel full after every meal and still reduce your caloric intake significantly. For those who master these principles, weight loss can be hunger free and enjoyable, even when their weight goal takes many months to achieve. That's because this is not just another diet. It is an enjoyable way of life!
