I recently changed my diet to be sort of a combination of the Paleo/SCD diets. I did this for various health reasons and I am not saying they work for everyone. Almost immediately, I noticed that I was eating much less, but feeling perfectly full. I went online and looked around, and I was surprised to see that this is common for these diets. A lot of the processed foods out there actually increase our appetites. Even when you don't think you're eating processed foods, look at the ingredients in your bbq sauce, or your salad dressing. I was really shocked, because I had felt that I ate healthy foods. Even though I'm eating a lot more meat now, especially organic chicken, not to mention a lot more produce, my grocery bill has gone way down since I'm eating so much less. So maybe some sort of change like this could help. Again, I'm not saying this works for everyone, just that it worked for me and that apparently it reduces many people's appetites while still keeping them well-nourished, so it's something to keep in mind.
This actually does work for most everyone*. When your blood sugar spikes, your body tries to lower it by releasing hormones to encourage the body to store as much as possible to get the blood sugar down.
Eating either fats or carbohydrates that break down slowly (so blood sugar doesn't spike) means you are fuller longer because the body isn't actively trying to store what you ate and then telling you that you are hungry again.
Refined carbohydrates like white bread and any sort of liquid sugar (even "no sugar added" fruit juice, which contains a lot of natural sugar that has been disassociated from the nutrients that slowed its absorption) are at the very top of the glycemic index and will spike your blood sugar way up. So will starches like regular potatoes (as opposed to sweet potatoes which break down way slower).
Grains aren't as bad as the processed stuff, but they're still up there pretty high.
So, if weight loss is an issue, avoiding grains and refined carbohydrates and sugars will actually result in a significant appetite, and eating meat and bacon and cheese and sweet potatoes with your veggies will actually make you eat a lot less.
I eat eggs every day...I'm amazed how few it takes to fill me up.
* Different people have different sensitivities to insulin and react much quicker or slower to the same blood sugar spikes. A lot of "naturally lean" people simply get full fast because their body is quick to signal being full instead of storing.
I agree with this for the most part, and absolutely welcome high-fat healthy recipes if you have them. That said, I'd rather this be a fun recipe sharing thread and not open any debates about which diet is best ;) Mostly because I find that diet is so highly individual that those debates are completely pointless.
For the record, we eat a good amount of high-fat foods and I agree that they're satiating. The grains we eat are largely 100% whole grains, and are used as side dishes or to "stretch" a meal. I went primal for awhile and found that cutting grains out did not significantly decrease my appetite, though it did just about double my grocery bill. Then again, I've never struggled with weight and I do well on a low-meat, high-produce diet. Different strokes for different folks.
On that note though, one of the paleo-friendly, budget-friendly things I want to try soon is making a whole chicken and then making homemade broth for soup. I'm assuming this is probably cheaper and healthier than buying chicken by parts and store bought broth. I just haven't sprung for it lately because I hate to turn on the oven when it's blazin' outside.
This was sent to me by a friend re: how to make a whole chicken and broth (copied verbatim). Maybe some of you already do this but it can't hurt to share:
What you need:
Chicken
Salt and pepper
Meat thermometer
square pyrex baking dish (9x9" I think is what i use)
Oven
Paper towels
Veggies for roasting if you want: potatoes, yams, beets
Tupperware-type storage containers for freezing or storing in the fridge
Optional for stock/soup:
dill, parsley
onions, carrots, celery
1. Buy a nice chicken. Organic, cage free, whatever you can get, the best you can get.
2. Preheat oven to 400F
3. Check inside of chicken for baggie full of guts. Discard (unless you have a mother who knows what to do with such things in the kitchen with you).
4. Rinse the chicken with cool tap water inside and out. Dry with paper towels. This will take a zillion paper towels.
5. Wash your hands. Really well. And the surfaces. Salmonella is nasty.
6. Place chicken breast side up in square pyrex baking dish. The drumsticks will point up if you do this. Tuck the wings under if you can.
7. Rub salt and sage, salt and pepper, salt and oregano, whatever, you can even just use salt, it will be fine. Rub on the skin. My mom used to use Italian salad dressing.
8. Bake at 400 for an hour and 20 minutes.
9. Throw in some potatoes or sweet potatoes or beets to roast for the last 20-30 minutes (cube the beets, I only like the golden ones, drizzled with a little olive oil)
10. Chicken is done when meat thermometer reads 170-180 or juices run clear. Yes, you need to get a meat thermometer. Just get one.
Okay, so now you have a roast chicken. Isn't it pretty? If you are a fan of white meat only, like me, remove the white meat and package it in your containers. Add in some veggies. Make your portion sizes generous but reasonable (deck of cards or 3-4 oz if you have a scale).
Remove all the meat from the chicken. Use your hands. You can chop this meat up and make chicken salad (PORTION CONTROL!) by adding some chopped celery and a little mayo. Eat alone or with some good healthy whole grain bread.
Now you have bones left over from the chicken, right? Take a big pot and put the bones in along with the juices from the pan you used to bake it. Throw in the onion (peeled, cut in 1/4's or 1/8's), carrots (about a cup?) and celery (the center part with the leaves). Add water to near the top of the pot, bring to a very slow boil and then let it simmer for at least an hour, maybe two.
Place pot in fridge and let it cool. I will also put the lid on and let it cool at room temp if I don't have room (it's been boiling for 2+ hours, it's fine).
When cool, pour off the stock (look! You have homemade chicken stock! You rock!) into more of the containers. You can freeze this and use it for cooking soups/rice, or you can add in some of the carrots/onions/celery and some chicken meat and have homemade soup (great for sick people!). If you do it right it turns to jelly consistency when refrigerated, which I always think is cool.
There ya have it. Keep the recipes comin' folks :)