Volume Eating and Weight Loss: The Perfect Combo
Let’s go into more detail about why the volume eating approach is a game changer when it comes to weight loss.
You eat more food for less calories
Water contains no calories and fibre contains very few calories. So, foods with plenty of water and fibre will have high volume but lower calorie (energy) density.
Volume eating focuses on including a high proportion of these foods. Meaning we can eat a larger amount of food for less calories.
Our stomach tells our brain we are full based on the amount of food we eat, not the calories
There are a number of hormones that help to regulate how hungry we feel, one of which is directly related to the volume of food in our stomach.
How ghrelin reduces hunger
Ghrelin is a hormone made in the stomach in response to how empty or full the stomach is.
When the stomach is empty, Ghrelin is produced and lets the hypothalamus in the brain know to increase the activity of hunger causing nerve cells. These nerve cells tell us that we are hungry.
As soon as the stomach is filled, this hormone decreases and the nerve activity in the brain also decreases. As a result, hunger is reduced or disappears.
Our stomach has the same volume of space regardless of the food that we eat. Ghrelin production is influenced by the amount of food that we eat, not the calories that the food contains.
Being satisfied means you are less likely to consume highly processed and calorie (energy) dense snacks
Eliminating food groups, restriction and small portions used in other diets leads to high levels of hunger. Hunger usually means eating more high calorie, high processed, nutrient poor foods.
These foods not only increase overall calorie intake but usually these foods are not filling so you will feel hungry soon afterwards.
You can maintain this way of eating long term
If an eating pattern (AKA diet – but I know this can be seen as a dirty term) is difficult to stick to in the long term and/or weight is lost quickly due to extreme, fad and overly restrictive diets the kilos are usually regained with a few more on top. Long term sustainable weight loss should be gradual at no more than 1kg per week.
Here’s just some of the reasons that volume eating is able to be maintained forever:
- You tailor the approach to suit your own lifestyle and dietary preferences. The food choices and meal and snack patterns are made to best suit your own personal circumstances.
- Cutting out foods or entire food groups is not required.
- There is no need to count calories or macros which gets very tiring, annoying and can be deflating
- This approach is rich in nutrients optimising your overall health. This in turn will make other healthy habits in other areas like sleep and exercise easier to achieve. These areas are also important to achieve weight loss.
How will you know if volume eating will work for you?
If you are committed to eating better long term and want a way of eating that reduces calories but also fits in with your lifestyle then volume eating is for you.
