FREE Subscription
The World’s Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter   
 
 
POSTED BY
August 17 2007
53,957 Views

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

Which Type of Food is the Most Filling?

Who will get hungry first when three self-confessed snackaholics are given a meal of mostly protein, carbs, or mostly fat? This British experiment attempts to find out, and solve the burning question of whether proteins, carbohydrates, or fats are the most filling.

After fasting for 12 hours, each man is given a meal consisting of a different food type (with the same portion), including:
  • High-protein meal (a pasta dinner with more chicken than pasta)
  • High-carb meal (pasta and tomatoes)
  • High-fat meal (pasta with a rich, creamy sauce)
How long will it be before each of their usual snack cravings kick in?

You’ll have to watch the video to find out!




Dr. Mercola Dr. Mercola's Comments:
This simple experiment shows exactly why it’s so important to eat protein with every meal: protein is the most satiating food type, beating out carbohydrates and even fat.

Simply speaking, eating protein helps keep you feeling full longer.

But that’s where the simplicity ends.

The amount, and type, of protein that you need varies dramatically according to your gender, height, weight, exercise levels, and, most importantly, by your nutritional type. The investigators of this mini experiment obviously had no idea of nutritional typing. If they had they might be absolutely shocked at what they would find.  A strong carb type would feel absolutely stuffed for many hours on a meatless salad with a no fat dressing, while the same meal would have a strong protein type craving for food in twenty minutes or so. 

That would be the better experiment.

Though you certainly need protein, you have individualized requirements for it, and you can decipher your requirements when you determine whether you’re a protein, carb, or mixed nutritional type.

Protein types, as the name implies, do better on low-carbohydrate, high-protein and high-fat diets. A typical ratio might be 40 percent protein and 30 percent each of fats and carbohydrates, but the amounts could easily shift to 50 percent fats and as little as 10 percent carbohydrates depending on individual genetic requirements.

Carb types, meanwhile, normally feel best when the majority of their food is vegetable carbohydrate. Yet they, too, still need some protein and fat in their diets. (Mixed types fall somewhere in between.)

The type of protein that your body thrives on will also vary according to your nutritional type. Protein types, for instance, thrive on high-purine meats like dark-meat chicken, or high-quality steak, while carb types prefer light meats or even beans as their source of protein.

That said, according to my experience, most people generally don't eat enough protein.

Some generally good sources of protein (though you need to find out your nutritional type to really tailor your foods for optimal health) include:
  • Eggs (ideally, raw and organic)
  • Grass-fed beef and bison
  • Free-range, organic chicken and ostrich
  • Raw dairy products (raw milk, raw-milk cheese, and so on.)
  • Wild-caught, mercury-free fish (only eat this if you can confirm via lab-testing that it’s not polluted)
When choosing protein sources, it’s extremely important to find high-quality varieties.

These would be grass-fed (not grain-fed) organic meats, raw (not pasteurized) dairy products, and wild-caught (not farm-raised) fish that you KNOW is not contaminated with mercury and other pollutants.

While protein is extremely healthy, you will not be doing yourself a favor by eating grain-fed beef (which is the most widely available in supermarkets), pesticide-laced chicken, or mercury-rich fish, so please pay careful attention to the sources of your protein, and how they’re raised.

Finally, what about protein powders? I’m not a fan of most all protein powders on the market, as many contain inferior sources of protein along with artificial sweeteners and flavors. I do recommend protein powder meals that include Proserum® Whey Protein, along with no artificial sweeteners and flavors that tend to do well for all nutritional types, but particularly well for carb and mixed types.


Related Articles:

Did you find this article interesting?  Interesting Not Useful
Community Comments ( 15 )
Comment on this Article
  
  
KalikoKat
[ Joined on 06/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I thought it was very odd that every meal had a white flour pasta base to it.

Basically, every meal was essentially a carbohydrate with a bit of meat or fat added to it.

They should have given just carbs, just meat, and just fat for more scientific results. (And the carbs should have been broken down into complex and simple, meaning they needed one more volunteer.)

Not much of a study.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
GeorgiaBoy123
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 17, 2007 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
In this video, fat is the least satiating. This study they did was biased. Fat is the MOST satiating thing you can eat and fat is what makes Atkins low-carb diet so effective for weight loss. Protein is probably next when it come to satiation. It's best when protein and fat are combined. Carbohydrates are the least satiating. This is why the modern world with it's high-carb, high-starch meals can't stop eating and are never satisfied.   http://www.biblelife.org/lowcarb.htm
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
MichellePhoenix
[ Joined on 07/07 ]  [ Posted on September 6, 2007]
2 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

A blanket statement about a carb diet is very false and misleading. It really does depend on a person's metabolic type.

In my meals, I stick with meat and vegetables and feel satisfied for hours. My twenty-something son eats a plate full of pasta and feels satisfied for hours.

His diet puts me to sleep. My diet makes him feel uncomfortable (he describes it as "heavy"), and over the long run makes him Gain Weight while the high-carb diet keeps him slim and keeps his weight consistent.

This is perfectly in line with our metabolic types.

  
  
mmc88121
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 16, 2007 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Moderator User
I think this would vary depending upon your nutritional type.

Mary
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Russ Bianchi
[ Joined on 09/06 ]  [ Posted on August 18, 2007]
3 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Correct Mary, as well as your satiation needs to begin with, based on normal exercise or exertion, osmotic hydration, etc.
  
  
charleydan
[ Joined on 08/07 ] [ Posted on August 19, 2007 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Novice User
Well, Well, for me I will still drink milk as long as it has some fat in it. The fat makes me have a very full feeling and therefore cravings do not follow in trying to eat the kitchen empty. Skim milk leaves me with cravings yet.

It is the only way I can keep my control on food, which keeps my weight normal.
 [ Reply ]
  
  
seg
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 23, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
FOR ME NO IF'S AND OR BUTS, PROTEIN IS KING !!!!!!!!!!!!
 [ Reply ]
  
  
pandaz
[ Joined on 08/06 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
1 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I've seen that ostrich meat is mentioned, however, also have read that this particular meat is not biblically recommended. go figure that one....but what about emu meat? I've looked into this and found it's a wonderful source of lean protein and there are a few farms in the US doing their best to raise healthy well-fed birds for not only their meat but their oils, feathers and eggs! Just thought you might find this rather obscure info interesting and perhaps look at it as a viable alternative to ostrich even though it might be a close relative. Enjoy.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
foodsuchoose
[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on September 15, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

As the human body - no matter what 'type' he/she is, 'operates' on yestedays meal times and plan.  Our sub-concious mind is running our feeding principles, so the totally crappy foods being fed to our four pupits will not have very accurate

results - its just confusing the body!  SO, to end this meal fiasco, the proper foods the four ought to be eating have'nt been diagnosed and therefore the results will be totally missleading.  Our body will react to a different food placed before it and if that food isn't what we normally eat at that time of day, a 'reaction' takes place and it operates in a 'confused' state.

As these four pupits have no idea of a 'corect food plan' their body will be unable to comprehend what is going on?  Does anyone eat white pasta?  No goodness at all! Like the content of white bread, nothing ever changes even in England!

Hark the call to nature and eat more foods that need less cooking and are more/mostly natural foods and you won't EVER have food cravings, so, eat 5-6 smal meals per day and enjoy nothing better than water 15 minutes before every meal and eat lots of biscutes & cheese after your last meal of thenday - it assists digestion!

 [ Reply ]
  
  
C Ed Wright
[ Joined on 06/07 ] [ Posted on September 7, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Savvy User

Well, I lost my appetite when I heard three British moron-dudes mumbling incoherently and the narrator babbled something about "seemilar iges and wites."  Click.  ...I feel much better now...

For what it's worth, a couple handfuls of mixed nuts will take the edge off for quite a while.

Not the mixed nuts on the video, but the kind that come in a package from the supermarket:  Cashews, almonds, etc.

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Jea
[ Joined on 07/07 ]  [ Posted on June 17, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Ditto on the nuts!

  
  
Fred Potter
[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

Fibre is important for making your food rush through without you absorbing all the nutrients

 [ Reply ]
  
  
Fred Potter
[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Novice User

Down here in New Zealand we have a wonderful clean ocean and loads of fish spp Americans have never heard of. Also nearly all cattle graze outdoors

 [ Reply ]
  
  
Cthulhu
[ Joined on 05/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Apprentice User

FIBER is just as important.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
samurai
[ Joined on 04/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
       
   
 
Savvy User

This is why I could never be a vegetarian.

 [ Reply ]

 
Truste
 
Mercola