Carbonated water flattens your appetite
Start your dinner by downing a bottle of carbonated water. The gas bubbles zooting around your stomach will make you FEEL FULLER so you’ll end up eating less.
You’re weight watching…………but you’re still eating real food, not lettuce leaves. The trouble is there is lots of REAL FOOD on offer, you’re a little worried, in the moment, you might just eat MORE REAL food, than you would like.
The waitron swings by to take the drinks order.
Ordering a coke or orange juice is not an option – too much sugar. You contemplate a diet something or other, but artificial sweetners………………. probably not a health move.
So…….. water it is.
You place the order……
“Still or carbonated water ? “the waitron inquires.
What should you choose ?
The wonders of water
A glass of still water landing in your stomach will fill it up.
In the moment, your stomach will not be 100 % sure of the composition of the load that has arrived, what it will be acutely aware of……….. is A LOAD HAS ARRIVED.
The awareness will come as a result of the fact that as the water fills up the stomach, it causes the stomach to STRECTH, to accommodate the load.
Titivated nerves can’t resist
The nerves in the stomach feel the STRETCH, thanks to the special sensors, known as the stretch receptors, which are embedded in the wall of the stomach. All titivated by the expansion, the nerves excitedly relay a message to the brain – to let it know that the stomach is now full.
A brain that gets the “I AM FULL” message, immediately puts the brakes on hunger signalling, instead switching to satiety signalling.
And on paper at least, a satiety signal STOPS your hand loading another forkful into your mouth. For broccoli the effect will be immediate, for a hot chocolate fudge sundae – you might still try squeeze in a spoonful or two.
But if you’re FULL to the point of being uncomfortable, you will STOP.
The power is in the fizzle
A glass of still water BEFORE dining – WILL do the trick. BEFORE, not after.
Quite literally, tricking your brain into thinking you are a lot fuller than you really are. The full you should feel less inclined to eat everything that your eyes see.
Fizzing up the water multiplies the effect.
Fizzling is multiplying
This is the finding of a group of Japanese researchers who measured gastric motility and appetite suppression in 19 university students, all girls between the ages of 18 and 24 years.
On three separate days, the girls arrived at 9 am in the morning, HUNGRY. (They were required to have fasted for 10 hours prior to arriving, which was challenging since they were all breakfast eaters, not breakfast skippers).
Instead of a hearty breakfast, the girls were given
- Nothing, zip, nada
- A glass (250 ml) of still water
- A glass (250 ml) of fizzy water
The team then monitored gastric motility using an EGG machine, which is similar to and ECG machine , ECGs measure electrical activity in the heart, an EGG is an electrogastrogram and it measures electrical activity in the gut. The team also kept tabs on how hungry the girls felt through the use of a visual hunger rating scale .
When fizzled, girls were a lot less hungry, than when they were watered. The appetite suppressive effects were highest at the 20 minute mark, but began to wane after that. Of course, when they were going nil per mouth, they were absolutely ravenous.
Gas takes up more space
In glasses, fizzy drinks manage to occupy more space – as anyone who has poured a fizzy drink too quickly discovers – the hard way.
In stomachs, fizzy drinks probably all occupy more space.
The carbon dioxide gas bubbles zooting around, are more adept at stretching the STRETCH receptors. So stomachs full of gassy water FEEL FULLER than stomachs full of still water.
Fizz it up
So next time you need a dose of self control………………order yourself a bottle of carbonated water.
You’ll look cool and sophisticated on the outside, while you sip it.
But don’t sip it too slowly, you need to get enough of it into your stomach to set off the stretch receptors.
Get it right and you’ll be able to have your cake and eat it, without overeating.
Further reading
To fit in your clothes, forgo FITTING IN at the dinner table
Dinner racing is common practice, and there is always a pace setter in the race. It is good to know who this is, then do your best to avoid fitting in
Gargle with sugar to see the light contests
The idea that rinsing your mouth out, can improve self-control is not a new one, but soap is no longer necessary, you can just use a little sugar…
The secret to eating less is to serve up a little more
When it comes to food, your brain more often than not, forgets to act like a grown up so use a little psychology on it, give it what it wants – give it more.
