Eating for Volume to Lose Weight

I recently saw a neat graphic on Precision Nutrition.

From the article Here’s why you’re always hungry.

The article goes into why we reach satiety quicker when the volume of food in the stomach is greater. This is obvious, but I like the simplicity of how this is framed. A simple image that demonstrates how at the same level of calories we can be more or less hungry. This ties in with food reward, as the modern foods that are engineered for us to eat past satiety, take up little volume in the stomach. One example would be corn. 400 calories of corn chips takes up much less space in the stomach than 400 calories of corn or my favorite hominy.

Hominy by Geoff Lane

When looking at a menu or inside your kitchen for your next meal, consider picking lower-calorie higher volume foods. In addition to the food choice we make this information can also help us with the timing of how we eat our meals if our goal is to lose weight. The obvious is to eat the salad first and the ice cream last, but as you scan your environment you can use this idea to make better decisions.

Because the higher volume foods tend to be more nutritious, Precision Nutrition calls the volume approach positive dietary displacement.

…when someone eats enough nutritious food each day, leaving little or no room for the non-nutritious foods.

In other words, the nutrient needs are met at a lower level of calories. The article also says:

Humans usually eat about 3-4 pounds of food per day. If we add in enough healthy foods, we won’t have much room left for unhealthy foods. We can use this to our advantage.

By picking higher volume food we can create caloric deficits with less or no hunger. No need to count calories or weigh your food. Pass the boiled potatoes!