For example, if I eat a small steak with 500 calories, will I feel full for longer than if I ate 10 rice cakes with 30 calories each?
In: 88
The physical sensation of hunger is tied to the emptiness of your stomach. Carrying on from that, eating a larger portion will make you feel less hungry in the initial moments after eating. Long term (like l, in the hours following eating), it’s protein that makes you feel sated for longer, because it takes the body longer to break protein down so it is working on the floor you ate for longer
Calories definitely play a role in hunger, as the less calories you eat the hungrier you will be. But protein and fiber play a bigger part in curbing hunger. Protein can actually change the levels of certain “hunger” hormones, making you feel more full. And fiber takes longer to digest, making you feel full for longer.
It’s a mix. It’s quite easy to eat a very large amount of calorie-dense food before your body tells you to stop. Doing the opposite – eating bulky food without many calories, can temporarily satisfy you, but your body will still know it’s low on energy prompt you to eat soon after. Otherwise, those diets that are just drinking a bunch of low-cal “juice” would actually be effective and not torturous.
For your particular example, rice cakes are large and time consuming to eat, but they actually contain very little material. They’re mostly air. Vegetables will be more filling because they have lots of fiber rather than the starch in rice. Either way, most of the material has no calories (air in the rice cakes and water in the vegetables), but what’s holding it together matters.
Different nutrient sources produce different levels of satiety (the sense of “hey cool I’m satisfied and no longer need to pursue food as much”). Protein reduces your satiety a LOT, whereas carbohydrates reduce your satiety the least. This is why you can eat 800 calories worth of roast chicken or turkey and sit back satisfied (maybe even a little sick of it), but down 800 calories worth of pasta and still be craving more.
The rice crackers are going to spike and then crash your blood sugar, so you’ll be hungry again relatively quickly. The steak won’t spike your blood sugar so you’ll experience satiety for longer.
Hunger is tied to so many things that there is no straight answer.
In general, the more stuff you put in your stomach the fuller you will feel. But over time, the stuff that is easier to break down will leave first and so will leave you feeling hungry again sooner.
500 kcal steak will fill you up for some time. 10 rice cakes will just make you hungry all the time.
So the answer is neither.
Hunger is effected by glycemic response and how your body handles insulin.
That and grehlin
This is one reason I recommend intermittent fasting as a concept… there is a difference between needing energy and being hungry.
We are hungry a lot! Most of us don’t need energy as often as we are hungry.
You can balance hunger and caloric control by eating more fiber… it does a good job of sating your hunger while also not overloading your body with calories.
Water can also be a huge help… drinking a glass of water before a meal will help you feel full faster.
The sensation of hunger depends on if your stomach is empty or not if you have a very large stomach because it stretched then your stomach feels empty more often.
As long as you’re taking in between 1900 and 2200 calories you will not starve and after a while your stomach will shrink.
And you will feel hungry less often.
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