The dimensions of satiety. And why we often just do not get full.

S att is great. Being full is the opposite of being hungry. Being full is - if things go well - an essential part of our lives. The majority of people on our continent are in a wonderful situation, rarely needing to feel hungry (usually no more than 30 minutes). So everything should be in butter? Unfortunately, no.

Satiety occupies us with astounding intensity, because it has an ever increasing, unpleasant aftertaste: satiety is the little sister of indiscipline, obesity and unattractiveness. Satiety lands quickly on the hips and causes guilt. Satisfaction is good in principle, but evil in the implementation. The general suspicion: We are all too often too rich and have lost the natural relation to our natural body signals.

Under the magnifying glass, we therefore distinguish finely differentiated saturation levels: the light saturation, the normal saturation and the supersaturation. Probably there are also several intermediate stages that are not up to date. We are asked to closely monitor the saturation process during our meal and, at the slightest sign that our digestive system is sufficiently filled, lay down the knife and fork.

In general, the methodological-physical aspect is satiety, which is a specific organ to fill properly according to functional rules, in our diet increasingly in the foreground. We are told by well-established nutrition programs, women's magazines, weight observers, dieticians and somehow also by the German Nutrition Society: "Choose foods that make you feel full longer and better. Therefore always and always reach for the wholegrain variant. Avoid sausage and cheese on your bread - instead, top it with plenty of salad and raw vegetables. That also makes you full and saves calories. "In addition, you should chew every bite 30 times and drink water after every fifth snack. So you get fuller faster.

But can we - as the Hamburger Morgenpost, for example, last Saturday so fresh and pious recommended by a nutrition expert - from a salad without sheep's cheese from the cold bar of the canteen with something low in fat Balsamic dressing really enough? Even though we chewed each fork 30 times and consumed plenty of water? Functionally maybe yes - after all, it's something in the stomach. And it probably contains little salt, fat and bad additives. But emotionally?

We do not have to think too long: each of us knows the answer very well. The decoupling of the senses from our food and the focus on physical filling may leave us full but absolutely dissatisfied. Our head knows: We have just done something according to the recommendations - that's right. But our reward center in the brain simply can not be pummeled in this matter.

To be really full, we need a very important component to fill our digestive tract by volume: the satisfaction of our senses. The smell of a food, the taste, the colors, the look, the texture, the temperature - all of these things make us feel satisfied after a meal. Has anyone ever smelled a cold salad, which mostly consists of chewed iceberg clone and drizzled with little low-fat balsamic dressing? Just. Nobody in the world can convince us that this is the fulfillment of all our essential sensory needs. Especially if we chew it 30 more times.

Let's listen to our natural body sounds and accept that raw foods, low fat dressings, turkey and whole wheat pasta are not the measure of all things.On the contrary.

Let's cook beautiful things that taste, delight, surprise and satisfy us! Then we'll be full (faster).

Thanks.