03/06/2023
Why are satisfying meals important? 🍩🌮🥗
Having a satisfying meal is what can be the key to prevent cravings, reaching out for the snack crumbled and overeating.
🔵 Food satisfaction can be physical, e.g., fullness, and mental, e.g., enjoying taste.
🔵 Combining different food groups helps to make a meal more physically satisfying.
🔵 Some foods nourish our soul more than our bodies, but these are still important in the diet.
The quantity of food we eat in a meal will influence physical hunger, but so will the type of food. Meals which are missing key macronutrients like carbohydrates or protein, are likely to be less satisfying.
It is possible to feel full without feeling satisfied, though, which may make you more inclined to want to eat more after a meal. This can have several reasons, including:
The meal you ate didn’t fulfil your expectations.
Perhaps you didn’t sit down to eat, or you ate too fast or were distracted, so your brain feels like you’ve missed out on the experience of eating.
You may not have included foods you like, or foods you were craving.
If your diet includes a lot of ‘diet foods’ (foods which may be high in volume but low in energy and nutritional value), you may not feel satisfied after meals, either physically or mentally.
Similarly, if you regularly turn to food because of positive or negative emotions (emotional eating), you might also feel dissatisfied, even when you feel full.
The best way to build a satisfying meal is to make sure you include a carbohydrate, protein and fat, but also an element of enjoyment, which might be adding textures or flavours, or changing up the eating environment.
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