How to eat less and feel full longer helps you slim down

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Digestive Surgery, Central Military Hospital 108, said one of the causes of weight gain is an uncontrolled diet. Many people eat a lot but get hungry quickly, on the contrary, some people eat little but feel full for a long time. It is important that you choose the foods you put into your body.

Here are 5 ways to help you eat less, feel full longer, avoid weight gain, and are good for your health:

Choose foods with low energy density

Energy density is the amount of calories per unit weight of food. Usually, foods with high energy density contain a lot of sugar and high fat such as cakes, fried foods, and jams. Meanwhile, foods rich in water, fiber and protein have lower energy density and less fat. Therefore, you can choose to eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meat, fish, milk, beans… to still provide enough energy for your body without worrying about gaining weight.

Consume large quantities of food

With the same energy level of 100 Kcal, there are two options: A small piece of cake with 7-8 pieces of french fries or a glass of milk with a large plate of vegetables. The second food group will take up more space in the stomach because vegetables have a water content of over 90%. The amount of fat and sugar in food group number two will be less, so you can stay full longer, limiting the possibility of weight gain.

Add fiber

Fiber is a nutrient that helps prevent the possibility of cancer and is good for health. Fiber is not easy to digest, so after eating it usually stays for a long time, easily absorbs water and expands 15-25 times, thereby making people feel full longer.

Foods rich in fiber include vegetables and fruits, coarse grains, soybeans, mushrooms, and algae.

The recommended amount of fiber to consume per day is about 30 g, equivalent to about 200 g of cereals, 500 g of green vegetables, 250 g of fruit and about a handful of soybeans. For people with gastrointestinal diseases, they should cook before eating.

Eat slowly, chew thoroughly

The body’s blood sugar level usually increases significantly 15 minutes after the person begins eating and is likely to peak 30 minutes later. At this time, the brain begins to send satiety signals to the intestines and stomach, causing cravings to quickly disappear. Therefore, if you eat too fast, it means you have eaten too much food before the signal is emitted, which will affect the control of food intake.

The time to complete a reasonable meal should be about 20-30 minutes. A normal person is recommended to chew a piece of rice 20 times until everything is smooth before swallowing.

Choose foods that digest slowly

The faster the digestion of food in the digestive tract, the shorter the time it stays in the digestive tract. When the digestive tract is more empty, hunger will return quickly.

Foods rich in sugar and starch have the fastest digestion and absorption, so you need to limit eating foods such as bread, rice, noodles, vermicelli, pho, cakes… If using rice or refined white noodles, combine with coarse grains to slow down the absorption process.

You should choose foods rich in protein such as soybeans, lean meat, fish, shrimp, and milk to increase the feeling of fullness longer. Although protein-rich products are also high in calories, protein will consume 30% – 40% of calories during the digestion and absorption of food.

In fact, foods that have a high feeling of fullness will also bring high nutritional value to the body. Regularly using these foods in small meals will help you eat better while still controlling your weight.