Today's Consumption
Two slices buttered toast
1 can condensed soup + 4 slices buttered bread
4 scoops ice cream
Quarterpound burger + beans + 2 slices buttered bread
If nothing else, I am learning a lot about how different food groups affect me. Carbohydrates are much quicker at satisfying hunger, but the satisfaction wears off quicker and more sharply. Fats and proteins take longer to "kick in" but once they do, the satisfaction lasts much longer.
In an ideal world therefore, the heaviest meal would be breakfast, and the other two meals much lighter. Since however I have to fit my meals with family life, the structure has to be more complicated.
I have learned that if breakfast is mainly carbohydrate, I will need another carbohydrate snack mid-morning. If I don't, I will be ravenous by lunchtime and overeat to compensate, meaning that I won't enjoy supper! The snack will probably be peanuts, as they have got protein and carbohydrate in equal amounts, plus the bonus of fibre.
An additional learning point is that the feeling of fullness doesn't come directly from what's in the stomach at that given moment, but a hormone released from the stomach, and the level of sugar in the blood. This is why carbohydrate, rapidly absorbed into the blood, satisfies hunger quickly.
Unfortunately this also triggers insulin to convert it to glycogen. Lots of sugar means lots of insulin which means the sugar level suddenly drops like a stone, causing the ravenous hunger of a "sugar crash". Protein and fat don't put sugar directly into the blood, so the fullness feeling comes solely from the stomach hormone, which responds only very slowly, around 30 minutes once protein is in the stomach. However, once it's in the blood, it hangs around for ages, making you feel staisfied for longer.
The "trick" therefore is a potein/carbohydrate mixture, so that a sugar surge lasts long enough to allow the fullness hormone to kick in, or a small carbohydrate meal followed by a snack two hours later. Still lots of trial-and-error to be undertaken!
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