Frustrated because I stay hungry

Up the fiber, fats and protein! Maybe instead of the sandwich for lunch have a big salad with cut up chicken on it. Instead of the crackers and cracker chips as a snack have some celery with peanut butter, greek yogurt, apples with peanut butter, etc. Instead of the smoothie eat the actual fruits.

How much water are you drinking? Far too often we are actually thirsty when we feel hungry. Sometimes the body sends the wrong signals.

Also, ensure you are eating enough calories.

Protein and fiber help you feel full. Good fats help you feel satiated. Fluids keep you hydrated.

Make sure you are netting enough calories for your height, weight, age and activity level. Also, the less-processed your food is, the more you can eat and stay within your calorie range.

I agree with the others, you need to eat "real food" and more of it. Ditch the diet stuff! Also, what goes into your green smoothies? Besides spinach, of course. Any protein?

Also agree with the others that it would be easier to give advice if you could make your diary public.

more veggies and fruit do the trick for me. I eat cooked frozen mixed vegetables with some spices on them and i snack on 1 grapefruit all day too. Protein works wonders as well. I eat egg whites and spinach and breakfast and that fills me until my 1st snack in the morning. Drink loooots of water too

The only "filling"foods you ate were the hard boiled eggs and PB.Stay away from crackers that wont fuel you up! Eat greek yogurt too and some lean meats!

When you blend fruits into smoothies, the fiber is manually broken down, and you get decreased benefits from the fruit fiber.

Fiber slows down digestion of the glucose in fruits.

The glucose from the fruits goes into your blood stream a lot quicker when you take your fruit in the form of a smoothie.

Your pancreas reacts to this flood of glucose by pumping out a lot of insulin.

Insulin allows your body cells to take up the glucose but if there is is excessive glucose the fat cells store the energy.

Your blood sugar goes down and you feel hungry a lot sooner.

Fruits/vegetables are not equal in terms of glycemic index (how much they stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin).

There are low glycemic fruits/vegetables (strawberries, berries, lettuces, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes) and high glycemic fruits/vegetables (pineapple, mangoes, potatoes, peas, corn).

:ohwell: Where are the experts? Is this true?

I used to be like that, but now I eat more protien. Things like fish and boneless, skinless chicken are super low in calories but leave you feeling full longer.

Bread and crackers are wasted calories. Have a quinoa salad with fruits and veggies or a salad topped with baked chicken breast and healthy dressing. From what you listed, you basically don't get much by way of whole, unprocessed foods - increase them. There should ideally be little to no processed stuff in your diary. The more processed stuff you eat, the longer you will remain hungry and the higher your sodium intake.

That being said, what does your water intake look like? How much exercise are you doing, what kind and do you eat the calories back? What is your caloric goal vs your expenditure?

When you blend fruits into smoothies, the fiber is manually broken down, and you get decreased benefits from the fruit fiber.

Is this for real? I know that juicing removes those benefits, but I thought that if you use the whole fruit, not just the juice, you get the benefits. Obviously you are mixing everyting up into a drinkable form, but everything is still in there....isn't it? I've never heard this before. I have a smoothie almost every day with fruit (frozen), plain greek yogurt and flax seed. Its the main way I get my fruit nutrients, especially berries, in.... Am I wasting my time?

I don't know the truth behind the statement, but if you're eating ground flax seed that's providing some fibre.

This information is from the book "Fat Chance-Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease" by Robert H. Lustig MD who is "an internationally renowned pediatric endocrinologist....spent 16 years treating childhood obesity and studying the effects of sugars on the central nervous system, metabolism and disease. He is the director of Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program at UCSC (University of California at San Francisco) Benioff Children's Hospital, and member of Obesity Task Force of the Endocrine Society.

So, yes I would say he is an expert.

This is a direct quote from the book:

"One current fad is to juice the entire fruit into a "smoothie"." "The problem is that the shearing action of the blender blades completely destroys the insoluble fiber of the fruit. The cellulose is torn to smithereens. While the soluble fiber is still there, and can help move food through the intestine faster, it now does not have the "latticework" of the insoluble fiber to help form the intestinal barrier. The sugar in the fruit will be absorbed just as fast as if the juice were strained with no fiber at all. You need both types of fiber to derive the beneficial effects."

He also has a 90 min YouTube video called "Sugar: The Bitter Truth".

Eat more protein for snacks instead of carbs. Keep some unsalted nuts and seeds in a baggy and munch on those. Great for you!

I get hungry if I need more of one of carb/fat/protein trifecta. Keeping them in balance is what works for me. Also, eating bunches of calories.

When you blend fruits into smoothies, the fiber is manually broken down, and you get decreased benefits from the fruit

Bull. Does chewing decrease fiber? Does digestion?

You are getting some really good advice in here. Except, yes, when the body does the chewing and digestion, that is the very point we want--our bodies to do the work and for it to take some time for the sugars to be released slowly rather than instant sugar high (and triggered insulin release) from processed foods or foods that are ground up already. That said, there are a lot of people who really love the smoothies, so if you enjoy them, have at it. It's certainly not unhealthy, but it might be one trigger for your hunger. Experiment and see. My own experience is that they do make me hungry, and I like something substantial to chew, rather than drink.