Fat hunger and fat bombs

(Todd Allen) #1

The thread titled “Eating Fat to Satiety” got me thinking about the meaning of the phrase. But that thread no longer seems an ideal place to actually discuss the thread’s title so please pardon me for a less than ideal thread title.

I previously thought and have stated that I felt my satiety signaling was a bit deranged and that eating fat to satiety doesn’t work out particularly well and when I’ve abandoned restraint I gain weight.

But upon reflection I’ve never been driven to overeat pure fat. I rarely eat pure fat. The closest might be drinking tea with coconut oil. Mostly though I’m eating fatty things like nuts and cheese that come with significant amounts of protein and some carbs. I’ll also eat “fat bombs” which are closer to pure fat but flavored with things like cocoa, cinnamon, salt and especially stevia. On reflection I don’t think it is the fat making me overeat but rather the flavorings, especially sweeteners, enable me to overeat the fat. With a jar of coconut oil and a spoon I don’t think I’d overeat.

So what does “eating fat to satiety” mean? Should we be able to open a king sized bag of pork rinds after supper and automatically stop at the appropriate time?

#2

For me, eating fat to satiety means the fat that’s associated with my protein or something
I add as part of the meal (e.g., some tallow or butter if meat or fish is especially lean).

That tends to be self-limiting and controls my appetite (and weight). If I were to eat fat as nuts or
‘fat bombs,’ I’d fine my appetite stimulated rather than satiated (been there; done that)–and this is especially true
for me with anything with a sweet taste (as in fat bombs).

One of the reasons I love zero carb is that I can truly eat to satiety and manage my weight without regard to counting calories–I just naturally
eat to my body’s needs.

#3

I think Dr. Phinney coined it best. He said something to the effect of ‘open your fridge, and see if you want to grab the butter and eat it. If you are willing to do that, okay you are hungry. If not, you aren’t hungry, so stop eating.’

I’ve used his recommendation to assess my hunger. So, when I wonder whether or not I’m hungry, I ask myself if I could eat straight butter.

(David) #4

I think it’s a good question. It seems to bring in both biological and psychological elements, and maybe also the interface between the two.

I have at times eaten so much sugar and at others eaten such volumes of everything that I am not sure I trust myself to know when I am satiated yet.

I read a book called (I think) “The Thin Woman’s Brain” and one of the things I took away from it was to eat slowly and deliberately. My standard approach was exactly the opposite.

If I have added anything to the simple guidelines of this way of eating it is to try now to do that instead. In doing so i hope to begin to notice when I am satiated and then, simply stop eating. This will reverse the habits of a lifetime, but one day at a time…

#5

It’s a good point and I think where always choosing the fattiest option possible comes in. By increasing the % of fat within a meal you will automatically want to eat less of it, thereby also maintaining the correct levels of carbs and protein. It also works in tandem. So if you are one of these dreadful sinners :wink: who likes BPCs, just how much breakfast can you eat at the same time? Most people either end up having the BPC instead of breakfast or eat less breakfast because they are satiated (at least in part) by the BPC.

If you are limiting carbs and protein to certain levels, there will come a point where the only option left IS fat if you are still hungry. I think that is why it is the “to satiety” element because it is flexible according to your hunger on that day. Obviously the tricky part comes in predicting how much you need because you combine before you eat but most of us get used to a general idea of how much we need on a day to day basis. This can be where things like fat bombs or BPCs come in because you can simply add fat to the end of your day if you are still hungry and out of available carbs and protein. If you are worried that you overeat because of the things mixed in to make it more palatable, strip it back to basics. Do as @Fiorella suggested and allow yourself to have however much butter/coconut oil or fat of choice you like if you are still hungry. If you re genuinely hungry, a tablespoon or two of coconut oil will solve the problem. If you oddly rather not thanks then the chances are that you had head hunger only!

(Jacquie) #6

My only issue with butter is if it’s salted, I can almost always nibble a bit. :slight_smile: Guess I love the salt. I can’t eat any amount of unsalted butter (sweet) by itself but love to cook with it.

(Barbara Greenwood) #7

I love salt…

I can’t imagine eating pure butter… but I can imagine eating pure coconut oil. And have done… but only a teaspoon.

(Jacquie) #8

I can’t do pure CO either. :slight_smile:

(David Driver) #9

I know that my sense of portion size is absolutely blown out of scale. I can eat an entire large pizza if left to my own devices. I don’t trust myself even when eating LCHF as I am continuously double checking measurements and watching what my wife is dishing up.

(Todd Allen) #10

I was afraid that might be the answer. So I’m staring at the butter feeling pretty hungry thinking it is time to find out if I’m really hungry enough to eat. I’ve never eaten butter straight before and perhaps a hint of my former fat phobic self still lingers. But not wanting to be kicked off keto island I slice off a chunk of the salted Kerrygold and stick it in my mouth.

And I enjoyed it. Not as much as if had lots of cocoa powder and a sweetener mashed in, but it was pretty good straight. Enough that I had some more. But I was able to stop before finishing the package. Do we have a badge for those who admit to liking butter straight?

#11

No shame in that, Todd! :wink:

I can eat butter straight…even the non-salted variety. But, of course…only when I’m hungry. So, it’s a really nice stop gap.

(Becky) #12

This may not be the right space for this, but I’ll trust it will get moved if need be. I batch cook my bacon a pound at a time. I would allow myself to eat as much as I wanted. At the end of the day, the pound would be gone. But recently I found myself eating the whole pound in an hour! I thought it was my food addict behavior. I bought a pound of bacon from a higher end grocery store and could not eat more then three slices. Now I’m only going to buy my bacon there, because clearly the other brand had some thing that triggered me.

(Siobhan) #13

There may have been sugar added to it, I always make sure to check the label on bacon and sausage.

(Becky) #14

Yes, I stopped buying sausage because it was so hard to find it without sugar. I have a feeling the recipe for my former brand of bacon changed without me realizing it. I also wonder about water content, because the higher end bacon completely satiated me for the day!

#15

Pork rinds have more protein than fat so I dunno if that’s a good example? Although I have read that since the protein is mainly from collagen it’s not fully bioavailable.

#16

You are correct that the protein is primarily gelatin/collagen in the pork rinds. However, the problem is not the bioavailability. It’s that the protein profile (amino acids) is incomplete. So, while it is ok to count it towards your total daily protein intake, you cannot make it your only source of protein intake. A few decades ago, there was a crazy liquid protein diet, where only gelatin/collagen protein was eaten (in the form of meal replacement shakes). People became very ill and a few died. So, this is the concern really.

(Kathy Meyer) #17

I actually do eat butter when I’m fasting and want a hit of fat and salt to continue on – I take a slice of butter, add some salt, and let it melt in my mouth. You’d be surprised how good that tastes when you haven’t eaten for a day or two.

(Jessica) #18

Me too. Butter is delicious. :grin:

But I find this really is an important point, because getting to know your own hunger signals and their different variations seems to be an important part of getting to and maintaining a healthy weight.
This might really help to separate head hunger from real hunger.

Unfortunately I did sprinkle cinnamon on top of my butter. That probably allowed me to eat more butter than I needed. Have to stop that, and see if it makes a difference.

Also, could it be possible that the type of fat also determines how much of it you’ll need to get satiated? I think, depending on how much you enjoy that food, your head will always influence that, wouldn’t it?

For example, coconut oil is the thing I can’t overeat. I have no problem eating it pure. But I don’t really enjoy it on it’s own. So this might be the better option for me.

I’m going to test where my sweet fat spot is. Hopefully this won’t go as far as pure lard :rofl:.

(James storie) #19

If you have an aldi near by, they carry sausage that has absolutely no sugar in it! I almost fainted when I found it! Their bacon is pretty good too.

(Jessica) #20

… and their avocados. Seriously the best I’ve found.