Does satiety signal really exist or is it just the absence of hunger?
When we eat, hunger, that gnawing gut feeling, 4 to many hours after we last ate is real. It does not take much food to relieve it a bit. Is satiety a feeling or the absence of one? I do not I have ever felt anything that I would call satiety after a moderate meal. I ate enough to be able to stop, yes, but I still want more, is my normal reaction. That is not satiety as defined. So the new mental message must be just that, satiety is eating enough to be able to not get more food, a negative sort definition.
This reminds me of Epicurious's definition of pleasure, the absence of physical or mental, pain, torpor, angst, fear, despair, grief.
So is satiety just the absence of acute hunger?
Any opinions on the subject?
What do I know about this anyway?
Why would a few leaves of fresh lettuce, eaten in the garden, make me hungry?
"What do I know about this anyway?"
ReplyDeletewhat you know is what you actually experience -- which puts you head and shoulders above all the theorists in their ivory laboratories!
If I start the day off well with some eggs, bacon and mushrooms - it keeps me going 'til lunch time.
ReplyDeleteBefore I discovered a low carb, high fat, moderate protein lifestyle I would have had some toast or a bowl of cereal and then needed a snack at eleven to keep me going til lunch. My experience has shown that fats 'fill me up' better than too many carbs.
Just my experience .......
All the best Jan
My vote goes to the idea that satiety is indeed defined by the lack of hunger.
ReplyDeleteIn this post, it seems you struggle with excessive hunger. From previous posts however, I had the impression that you had solved you hunger issue by avoiding carbs and vegetable oils (roughly). You seemed to be mostly bothered by food cues/pushers/adds/cravings, but not by hunger. Did something change? Or did I just misread you? If someting did change, are you able to guess what the problem is?
Your comment about the lettuce-triggered hunger reminds me that for a long while, I avoided eating breakfast, ate only a very light lunch, and had a long, enormous dinner. I did not really intend to "save" calories for dinner, but I knew that once I started eating, I would be plagued by ravenous hunger and food preoccupations for the rest of the day. I'm still kind of stuck in that pattern (not as pronounced), but I am thinking about changing things up because of what I read recently about the importance of circadian rythms. But then I am worried about waking up the hunger early in the day. How does your pattern of three meals a day affect your overall hunger? Have you tried something else?
Thanks for sharing your experience, Fred.
Valerie, like you if I eat too early in the day it will cause hunger and pre-occupation with food. I cringe at the thought of breakfast as I know it would start a day of overeating and misery. I thought it was blood sugar but now I'm thinking it may be cortisol or circadian issues; that my cortisol is higher in the daytime and I shouldn't eat at that time. Keep as active as I possibly can during the daytime to deplete stress hormones and then have dinner. I probably drink too much coffee as well. I wish I could just not even think about food until I'm hungry but it's always on my mind.
ReplyDelete