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StillnessNutrition tip

Fullness builds from several signals at once, from the stretching stomach, gut hormones, nutrients and the brain, and they begin to change while the meal is still under way. There is no fixed rule that the brain only learns you are full 20 or 30 minutes later.

Nutrition science

Health

The story behind the card

Physiologists distinguish satiation, the process that makes you stop eating, from satiety, the fullness that lasts until the next meal. As the stomach stretches, sensors in its wall send messages along the vagus nerve to the hypothalamus, the brain's appetite centre. When food reaches the small intestine, the gut releases hormones such as cholecystokinin (CCK) and GLP-1, which slow digestion and add to the feeling of fullness; GLP-1 is the hormone copied by weight-loss drugs such as semaglutide. Eating slowly may help: in a 2008 US study, 30 women ate about 67 fewer calories when they ate the same meal slowly, and felt fuller at the end. The effect varies from person to person.

Türkçe oku
Tokluk hissi tek bir sinyalden değil, birçok kaynaktan gelir: gerilen mideden, bağırsak hormonlarından, besinlerin kendisinden ve beyinden. Bu sinyaller daha yemek sürerken değişmeye başlar. Beynin tokluğu ancak 20 ya da 30 dakika sonra fark ettiğine dair sabit bir kural da yoktur.

Fizyologlar iki şeyi birbirinden ayırır: yemeyi bırakmamızı sağlayan doyma süreci ve bir sonraki öğüne kadar süren tokluk. Mide gerildikçe duvarındaki algılayıcılar, vagus siniri yoluyla beynin iştah merkezi olan hipotalamusa haber gönderir. Besinler ince bağırsağa ulaşınca bağırsak kolesistokinin (CCK) ve GLP-1 gibi hormonlar salgılar; bunlar sindirimi yavaşlatır ve tokluk hissini güçlendirir. Semaglutid gibi zayıflama ilaçları da GLP-1'i taklit eder. Yavaş yemek işe yarayabilir: ABD'de 2008'de yapılan bir çalışmada 30 kadın, aynı yemeği yavaş yediklerinde 67 kalori kadar daha az yedi ve sofradan daha tok kalktı. Ancak bu etki kişiden kişiye değişir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Satiety
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He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.

English quotation books have called this an “Arabian proverb” since at least the 1860s; Tryon Edwards's A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891) is one, but these books give no Arabic original, so the label is best taken loosely. The idea is widely shared: good health gives people the strength to plan and to recover from setbacks. Turkish says “Her şeyin başı sağlık”, health comes first, and when a glass breaks people say “Sağlık olsun”: never mind, as long as everyone is well.

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Protein helps with satiety, the feeling of fullness that lasts after a meal. Meals that include beans and lentils, eggs, fish, dairy or other protein sources can help people feel full for longer, although appetite and digestion vary from person to person.

In studies that compare meals with the same number of calories, the higher-protein version usually keeps people satisfied for longer, although the effect is modest. One reason is that protein prompts the gut to release more of the hormone PYY, which tells the brain that food has arrived; a 2006 study led by Rachel Batterham at University College London found the strongest PYY response after high-protein meals. Another is that the body works harder to process protein: a 2004 review by the Maastricht University physiologist Klaas Westerterp reports that digesting and using it burns 20 to 30% of its calories, against 5 to 10% for carbohydrate and up to 3% for fat. UK guidance puts adults' needs at about 0.75 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, around 45 g for women and 56 g for men, and average intakes are well above that.

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The fibre we eat comes from plant foods: fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy naturally contain none.

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