A few days ago I was shopping in an organic market that gives out food samples. Contrary to my own advice I had gone food shopping  while hungry and  was walking around trying to see what I could buy and eat immediately, Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a table filled with small cups of something that smelled wonderful. I strolled or more accurately jogged over and saw that the cups were filled with  a mixture of couscous, roasted corn and string beans . I took a cup; the salad was warm and delicious. In fact so good I could have (and would have) made lunch out of it except that it would have been rather rude to eat all the samples myself.  As I moved on, continuing my food shopping, I noticed almost right away that I no longer was prowling for foods to satisfy my hunger as soon as I left the store. Instead the only items I put in the cart were those on my  shopping list.  And by the time I reached the check out counter, it occurred to me that I was not longer particularly hungry.

Could that small amount of food have satisfied my hunger? Not really. But as I thought about it, I realized that the reason the tiny cup of couscous salad took away some of my hunger was because it stimulated my brain into  making serotonin. Since serotonin is made after we eat sugary or starchy carbohydrates, the  couscous and corn were perfect partners to bring about this event.  Since serotonin has the useful function of turning off hunger, that tiny cup of salad really was able to take the edge off of my appetite. And the effect persisted. When I arrived home, rather than grabbing something to eat right away, I was able to assemble a balanced meal.

Spoiling our appetite with the power of serotonin is a useful technique for weight loss and weight stability. One problem dieters and those trying not to gain weight have is preventing ourselves from eating larger portions than we should. This is of course made difficult by the oversized portions served in restaurants, relatives insisting we eat until we cannot move, and our own generous hand when dishing out home cooked foods.

It is much easier to be satisfied with a small meal if when we start to eat, we don’t feel very hungry. The feeling is similar to being not very thirsty when we drink a beverage. In that case, you are willing to sip rather than gulp. Taking away hunger before eating allows us to eat slowly and eat less rather than inhaling our food and cleaning the plate.

A small carbohydrate snack will do this if eaten about 30-45 minutes before a meal. Eating about 2 ounces of pretzels for example is sufficient to get your brain to make serotonin. Other easily available low or no fat carbohydrate snacks are: graham crackers, rice cakes, rice crackers, cracker jacks, popcorn, dry breakfast cereal or  even a piece of bread and jam. The snack has only about 130 calories and will save you many calories in uneaten food at the meal.

Most of you know the effect of having a roll from the bread basket in a restaurant on your appetite. If you nibble on one while waiting for  your meal, you will find yourself able to resist eating all of what may be a too large serving of food. If you have done this, you probably have said to yourself when the food does arrive,” I am not even that hungry anymore.”

The one situation in which this may not work is when you are being fed by a relative who insists that you must be hungry and gives you enough food to feed a small village. The only way to deal with this is to eat very slowly so your plate looks full and hope there is a skinny dog under the table waiting to be fed.

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written by Pete, October 24, 2007

Yeah, I remember when supermarkets used to give away free samples in store - it was madness business-wise and they soon realised it!

i've enjoyed reading your blog, thanx.

enjoy,
Pete