In my 23 years as a doctor, I've been trying to answer two questions: Why do people have trouble eating less? Why is it that the more they eat, the hungrier they get? As the founder of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City
, I have worked with so many people who desperately wanted to lose weight but couldn’t. They didn’t have any motivational issues.
They were simply battling strong biological signals that were driving them to eat. When naturally “skinny” people eat moderate amounts of food, they feel full, but many of us need to eat a lot more to feel satisfied. Why? It stems from a condition I call fullness resistance, meaning that you don’t feel full as quickly as you should because the signals from the stomach, intestines and fat cells are taking longer to reach the brain. Successful weight loss is not about starving yourself—it’s about reversing fullness resistance. The first step is to always eat filling foods before eating fattening ones.
The Golden Rule
Eat filling foods first, fattening foods last If you follow this one piece of advice, you’ll automatically eat fewer fattening foods without really thinking about it. So, for example, if you want to have bread, a scoop of chocolate ice cream or wine, go ahead and have it—but only after you’ve eaten a lunch or dinner of filling foods first.
Filling Foods
Slow foods
You’ve probably heard that eating slowly helps you eat less. But I’ve tried to eat slowly, and I can tell you, it’s difficult. An easier solution: Have foods that inherently take a long time to eat. For example, think about how quickly you could eat 500 calories’ worth of fettuccine Alfredo. Five minutes? Now, think about how long it would take you to eat 500 calories of shrimp cocktail. That’s 67 large shrimp! Other slow foods: soup, salad, and anything especially chewy or crunchy.
Lean protein
This includes poultry, lean cuts of beef, fish and seafood. Studies show that protein fills you up faster than fat and keeps you full longer than if you ate mostly carbs.
High-volume foods
Foods that are relatively heavy in weight and high in volume, but low in calories— soup, vegetables, fruit—fill up your stomach, signaling receptors that tell your brain, “I’m full.”
Vitamin-packed foods
When you eat nutrient-rich foods, your body can sense that it’s getting what it needs, so you don’t keep eating the way you do with junk food.
Slowly digested carbs
Unrefined, high-fiber carbs (like legumes, most vegetables, and whole grains like whole-wheat bread) allow blood sugar levels to rise gradually.
Fattening Foods
High-fat foods
These are the most obvious kind of fattening foods, since they often pack lots of calories into a small quantity. Also, they don’t suppress the hunger hormone ghrelin as quickly or as much as protein does.
Rapidly digested carbs
Bagels, white bread, white rice and such can make you gain weight because they cause blood sugar levels to spike, then to plummet—leading to rebound hunger. Sugar, one type of rapidly digested carb, can be especially addictive for many people.
Nutritionally empty foods
When you eat a lot of junk food, cells starved for specific nutrients may signal you to keep eating to eat until those nutrient needs are met.
Eat For Fullness
To lose weight without feeling hungry, you need to eat a high volume of food but a low number of calories. A few dos and don’ts:
Do Have a substantial breakfast. Eating too little in the morning can backfires later in the day when hunger and cravings peak.
Do Load up on veggies (they make great snacks). Many of my patients eat a mound of sautéed bean sprouts whenever they’re hungry. The texture reminds them of rice, for just a fraction of
the calories.
Do Before each meal, try to drink water, unsweetened tea, or seltzer. It helps fill you up.
Do Have a small amount of caffeine (up to three 6-oz cups of caffeinated beverages daily). It may reduce appetite and speed up your metabolism.
Do Flavor your meals with fresh or dried herbs and spices, salsa, vinegar and mustard.
Do Eat from appetizer-size plates. Research shows that small plates make it seem like you’re eating more.
Don’t Torture yourself. If you want a dessert, have it, but try to choose one with a little nutrition, like an oatmeal-raisin cookie or a piece of dark chocolate.
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