Getting The Full Feeling

After finishing my evening meal I again immediately wanted a PBJ. Like last time I talked myself out of it. I even stared down a jar of jelly in the fridge before I gave it up. It did get me thinking about the subject of fullness again, however.

What makes the body give off the fullness signal that it's time to stop eating? Is is a physical reaction from GI track to brain that says - whoa, hold on, that's enough - or is it something else?

I did manage to find an interesting study about the subject of feeling full or satiated. What was curious about the study was that it pointed to both neurological and hormonal triggers. Basically the area of the brain called the left posterior amygdala switches on when people feel full. The study found that area switches on less in more overweight/obese people than it does in thinner folks. To go along with that, the hormone ghrelin also show up when people feel full. The larger the increase in ghrelin levels, the more active the left posterior amygdala. Here's the link to the study.

ABC also had an interesting article on ghrelin. No new ground plowed as far as research - reiterates waiting 20 minutes between servings, but it had some suggestions on what foods suppress ghrelin production more than others:

Nicole Beland, a senior contributor at Women's Health magazine, says you can suppress ghrelin by eating certain foods, so you will then feel full. Carbohydrates and lean protein have been found to slow the production of ghrelin, while foods that are high in fat do not.

Hang on now. One study talks about increasing levels of ghrelin being linked to the amygdala and the other talks about slowing the production of ghrelin. Which is it, or am I misunderstanding? The Wikipedia article on ghrelin also talks about decreasing ghrelin production as being good for weight loss/hunger suppression. So can there be an increase in levels with a decrease in production? I'm really stumped by the relationship. From my googling around it would appear that there really isn't a clear definition on what causes the full feeling.

Just as I was about to close this entry down, I ran across an article on Healthy Satiety. Explains thing pretty well and has some interesting suggestions.

Food Log

Brunch (11 AM)

• Leftover Enchilada Casserole - 2.5 helpings
• water

Lunner (4 PM)

• Large Caesar salad
• Left over pork chop
• Cool Ranch Doritos - 3-4 handfuls

Evening (9 PM on)

• bag of microwave popcorn
• 3-4 handfuls of Lays potato chips
• 4 scotches over a 4 hr period
• 2 tsp peanut butter and 1 tsp strawbery spread

Saturday Confession

Friday is my stress release valve. I let it all hang out on Friday evenings and last night, while not exactly typical certainly wasn't that far off. Before stepping into the confessional booth, I did manage to walk for almost an hour from my house down the to college and back. It was a great spring evening and I didn't want to waste it.

From there, it went down hill as far as watching what I eat goes. I had quite a number of Rum & Diet Pepsi's and eventually some SmartFood popcorn, Lays Potato Chips and about 2/3rds of a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. From a perspective standpoint, there have been worse Friday night binges on the drink and food front, but given that I'm trying to watch what I eat I felt like a failure this AM.

But it's not failure, it's learning. Learning about what leads to bad choices. Certainly the early evenings alcohol consumption led to the late night food consumption. Being up at 2 AM didn't help matters either - heck, at 2 AM I'm usually asleep and not thinking about food or drink.

So today I'll get back on the horse again and continue the journey. BTW, what is it about eating crunchy food that's so appealing?

Dinner for One

With my daughter off to her boyfriend's house for the evening and my son sleeping (he works nights), I figured I'd do something for my marriage today and see if my wife wanted to go out to dinner. Nope. She was ready to relax and not go anywhere. She already changed out of her work clothes. So I'm left to my own devices for dinner.

I contemplated a set of finger foods from the freezer: french fries, couple of egg rolls and a mini frozen pizza. After some serious talking to myself about food choices, I elected to have a large Caesar Salad - home made of course. One romaine heart, some Parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing later I was in business. Read the on-line news for about 20 minutes while eating.

Just as soon as I was done eating, I needed a PBJ. Don't know why I needed one, but I talked myself out of it. Instead I tried something to drink, thinking that maybe I was just thirsty instead of hungry. Had a small glass of diet Pepsi, waited about 10 minutes and wham - I'm reasonably full and I while I still would like to have a PBJ, I don't need one.

And yes, I did eat a bit after 6 PM if you're playing along at home...

Lunch Window

Due to the later breakfast this AM, I wasn't really hungry until close to 2 PM. Usually I eat around 12-1 PM. Sure enough at 12 I was thinking I needed to eat. But I wasn't hungry after eating only 2.5 hours before. Why was I thinking about eating then?

My lunch window is centered around eating dinner with my family in the 6 PM time frame. If I eat at 12-1 that's a good 5-6 hours before I eat dinner so I'm hungry for my main daily meal. If I eat later than that, I'm still not quite hungry going into dinner, which will be the case this evening I think. Still, do I really need to be hungry at 6 PM? Wouldn't I just, well, eat less if I wasn't that hungry? Do I really have to wait until I'm completely hungry before eating dinner? Wouldn't I not "snack" even if dinner took longer to make than usual?

If the goal is fewer calories per day while still feeling adequately nourished and well fed, then would eating later be better? Perhaps a way to phrase that would be to eat off from of my normal meal schedule - skip breakfast, eat lunch around noon and dinner around 6. A better schedule may be: eat breakfast and lunch when I feel hungry and then dinner on time with family (and hopefully less since I'm not likely to be as hungry).

Humm....

Food Log

Breakfast

• Toasted 7-Grain bagel with plain cream cheese
• small coffee - black

Lunch

• Leftover enchilada casserole - 2 servings

Snack

• gum
• Rum & Diet Pepsi - 6-7 over a 6 hr period
• Cool Ranch Doritos - 2/3rds of a bag
• SmartFood Popcorn - 8 handfuls
  
• Lays Potato Chips - 6 handfuls
  

Dinner

• Large Caesar Salad
• small glass diet Pepsi
  

Breakfast Delayed

This AM started SLOW. I just could not get moving and as a result didn't have time for breakfast at home like I did yesterday. Besides I wasn't really in the mood for it and after yesterday's heavy feeling from the cereal I wasn't anxious to repeat that. So, per some of the breakfast advice reading from the other day, I just decided to delay eating until I felt like it.

Long about 9 AM, I need coffee and I'm a bit hungry - just starting to get that pinched feeling in my stomach. I'm extremely lucky from a choice standpoint as I have a Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, a local bagel shop and a local coffee stop all within a short walk from my office. Choices, choices - why not make an experiment out of it and try their breakfast offerings until I hit on some things I like.

From the local bagel shop I have a toasted 7-Grain with plain cream cheese and a small coffee - which I end up spilling while I'm filling the cup. Feels more like a Monday than a Friday at this point. The 7-Grain is OK - I'm a toasted garlic person usually but I'm trying to appear healthy (ya, like all that cream cheese is healthy). Wonder if all their bagels are from whole grain or only some?

At any rate the bagel is gone within 10 minutes of my return and my GI track is making a lot of noise. I'm still working on the coffee.

Update from last night: No snacking after the enchiladas - well OK I licked the spoon after storing the left overs. That and a medium decaf coffee. No walking last night due to the rain.