• When eating a fresh whole food diet, you will feel satisfied after eating a meal without feeling bloated or uncomfortable. It is the level of nutritional value that is in the meal that is the true indication as to how long this feeling of satisfaction will last. It should last for a minimum of 2 – 2/12 hours and when it comes to your bedtime this is different. As you don’t necessarily want to go to bed on a full stomach.
• By having an understanding of how much to eat, what to eat and portion sizes this will help with the level of satisfying your hunger. An example of this is that when you eat a meal with a healthy amount of protein, [animal protein to be the size of the palm of your hand], 4 – 5 vegetables and or salad, then your body will feel satisfied for longer. What will upset this equilibrium is if you mix your proteins with dairy, cheese will make digestion difficult as will commercially made sauces. If your meat protein is too large: as mentioned meat protein should only be the size of the palm of your hand. The rest of your plate should be made up with vegetables such as sweet potato, pumpkin, kale, parsnips, peas, corn etc.
• The level of feeling satisfied after eating a meal is controlled by a number of factors. Beginning with how you are thinking about how much you need to eat to feel full. It is also about the timing of when a food or drink is consumed.  How the food enters the gut and is digested and absorbed. The first process being chewing. The slower you eat your food, the more effective you chew your food, assists the digestive processes improving the feeling of satisfaction. As this signals  specific areas of the brain in response to the expansion of the stomach, your sensory responses.  This improves the brain’s perceptions of the food and drink consumed.
• Hormonal signals are released in response to the digestion and absorption of nutrients. There are also hormones that tell the brain how much fat you have stored in the body, which affect your feeling of satisfaction over the longer term. These signals are integrated in areas of the brain involved in the regulation of energy intake, which lead to the feeling of satiety. You may well feel the stomach filling as you eat. However it can take up  15-20 minutes after food is first eaten, for you to feel the whole range of satisfied signals to reach the brain, saying that you have had enough to eat.
• Despite all the knowledge about managing your diet and eating habits, people will still tend to eat when they are not hungry. To refrain from eating when you are not hungry will provide additional benefit to your overall health, improve your energy levels, your body’s ability to health and help with maintaining a healthy weight. Overeating or continuous eating can be a problem if a person has cognitive problems, that may lead them to believe that they are hungry all the time. People eating a diet of mostly  junk foods, refined foods, soft drinks, juices, lollies, chips these will lack adequate nutrition therefore leaving them feeling hungry even shortly after having something to eat.  

7 Easy Steps to Feeling Satisfied Eating a Balanced Diet 

The best way is to begin with Fresh Foods diet is to eliminate eating baked, processed and packaged foods such as sauces, meals, chips, lollies, sauces. Keeping this simple to Rice, Pasta and  whole flour or baking goods.

1. Eating Healthy Protein will assist with you with feeling satisfied for longer: these include meats such as chicken, nuts, pork, kangaroo, turkey or lean beef, fish, eggs, beans, root vegetables and pulses.
2. The portion size of these proteins especially the chicken, pork, beef, turkey or kangaroo should be that of the size of the palm of your hand. You want to know why, this is the size of your tummy!!!
3. High Fibre foods are full of great nutrition therefore will satisfy you for longer:  include each day one to two serves of  wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruits such as apples, pears including the skin and vegetables.
4. Herbal teas such as peppermint, green & white tea will help to stimulate appetite.
5. Drinking of filtered water between meals will help you to feel full for longer, also keeping you well dehydrated will have a positive effect on your level of satisfaction when it comes to eating and feeling nourished.
6. Eat a variety of High energy dense healthy foods such as yoghurt, almonds, cottage cheese, salmon, avocado, sardines, oats & wholegrains
7. Eat a variety of Low energy dense foods such as watermelon, rockmelon, grapes, berries, apples, pears honey dew, vegetable soups and natural popcorn. 

Do Not go longer than 2 1/2 hours without something to eat, This can include one of your low density foods if it isn’t meal time. This Stops the inclination to Eat something unhealthy because you are hungry.

The Food you Eat on a Daily basis is the Foundation for Building a Life of Optimal Health & Vitality

Learn More about the Foods to Eat & Why with Easy to Follow Recipes in my eBook: Eating to Live