Why Can't I Eat A Lot?

[The Masked Tulip]

I went to one of those buffet restaurants today - Cosmo. The food was very tasty but I found that I could not eat that much before I felt almost ready to burst. I have felt this way before on 2 or 3 previous visits.

I avoid anything bulky such as breads, chips or rice and mainly concentrate on proteins - chicken, prawns, beef, a few mushrooms and little else. I don't even go for any of the curry sauce meals which look rich and heavy.

On each visit to the buffet I don't even cram my plate full as I see many other people doing - I barely cover half the plate on each visit. So, today, I had 3 plate helpings which, to my estimate, worked out around a plate to perhaps a plate and a half. I take my time to chew the food.

I am trying to figure out why I can't eat vast amounts at these kind of restaurants? I am wondering whether it is simply too much protein in a short space of time for my body to take in? Or, more likely, the fact that I generally do not eat big meals and prefer to eat small but frequent meals throughout the day? Then again, I usually have no problem eating something like the occasional battered cod and chips.

So I am somewhat confused as to what is going on. I am avoiding the stodge. I am eating small pieces of chicken, beef, whatever and I chew it well.

Edit:

It is almost 7 hours later and I still feel tremendously full. I doubt that I will eat until tomorrow lunchtime at the earliest.

I am wondering whether people who eat huge amounts of food daily simply have expanded their stomaches and I, preferring to eat smaller meals, simply do not a big enough stomach for this kind of thing.

[thecrashingisles]

Try taking off the corset before you leave the house.

[Solitaire]

[SarahBell]

You chew and take your time eating allowing your body to process the fact you are eating and becoming full.

[Si1]

Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, I believe

[The Masked Tulip]

You chew and take your time eating allowing your body to process the fact you are eating and becoming full.

Interesting. The chewing being a mechanism to the brain of fullness? Yes, I have heard it said that obese people need to chew more in order to get this brain signal.

[The Masked Tulip]

Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, I believe

I thought it was the other way around?

I recall seeing the BBC programmes on Eddie Izzard doing his 7 marathons in a week. On one overnight stop a mate told him that he needed to eat loads of carbs for energy so he ate a plate of boiled potatoes - and had trouble getting them down. At which point one of his trainers turns up and told him off saying that his body would find it hard to digest the carbs and that he shoud have gone for protein instead such as chicken.

[chronyx]

You have a woman's stomach, my lord! I'll wager that stomach has never had to deal with enough meat to cause 'the sweats'.

[The Masked Tulip]

You have a woman's stomach, my lord! I'll wager that stomach has never had to deal with enough meat to cause 'the sweats'.

I almost had them today.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

I thought it was the other way around?

I recall seeing the BBC programmes on Eddie Izzard doing his 7 marathons in a week. On one overnight stop a mate told him that he needed to eat loads of carbs for energy so he ate a plate of boiled potatoes - and had trouble getting them down. At which point one of his trainers turns up and told him off saying that his body would find it hard to digest the carbs and that he shoud have gone for protein instead such as chicken.

Carbs get digested first, then proteins, then fats.

Traditionally, endurance athletes would engage in carb, not protein, loading to restore glycogen levels...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen#Glycogen_depletion_and_endurance_exercise

Edit: Maybe cost-conscious buffets are cunningly lacing their salad bars with amphetamines?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phentermine

[The Masked Tulip]

But I didn't eat any carbs.

[pl1]

I also find this at buffet all-you-can-eat restaurants. Most frustrating. I tend to starve myself a bit beforehand and pace myself but there's not a lot more I can do.

[Mrs Bear]

Possibly it's just that you are not a pig.

If you were able to stuff large quantities in the past, maybe you were piggy then, but you have de-pigged and your stomach has shrunk.

[shindigger]

Came on here to post about food too.

How odd.

I just cant seem to eat anything at the moment that hits the spot. Im a reasonable cookl, but i guess ive gotten lazy.

I think i need a mentally hot curry to kick start the buds.

Been going on for a week or two now.

[The Masked Tulip]

I also find this at buffet all-you-can-eat restaurants. Most frustrating. I tend to starve myself a bit beforehand and pace myself but there's not a lot more I can do.

Yep, I fast beforehand also - but it does not work. Tried my best to pace myself also and that does not work.

Just thinking about it now I occasionally have a curry and rice, which is a bigger mass than what I ate today, and I have no problem with that. Or, as I mentioned earlier, the occasional fish & chips.

It is frustrating as, in many respects, my friends whom I was with think that these places are a bargain but, to someone like myself, they are actually expensive compared to what I actually eat. The day prices are half the price of the evening meals which, for me, who be an expensive meal for what I eat.

[The Masked Tulip]

Came on here to post about food too.

How odd.

I just cant seem to eat anything at the moment that hits the spot. Im a reasonable cookl, but i guess ive gotten lazy.

I think i need a mentally hot curry to kick start the buds.

Been going on for a week or two now.

Weather related? There is a huge storm due in the next 24 hours - it will be interesting to see if your appetite returns once the storm breaks.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

But I didn't eat any carbs.

Depending on the individual's physiology, fats/ proteins will possibly leave an individual feeling sated longer than carbs because, amongst other reasons, they take longer to digest and feed into the bloodstream.

On top of that, appetite regulation is quite a complicated business and your body may be taking quality and intensity of flavour, or other chemical triggers, into account when signaling that it feels sated, before digestion is even complete.

As discussed on the various carb threads, if I want to load up at the start of a strenuous day and maybe will have to skip lunch, a breakfast of animal bits works for me.

Though, no doubt, someone will be along in due course to say that afatc a loaf of white bread washed down with a pint of high fructose corn syrup is the breakfast of champions. Each to their own, vive le difference, etc etc

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Oh, and someone has actually published a paper on this, feeding subjects high and low protein versions of similar sandwiches and asking them when they feel full...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8700963?dopt=Abstract&holding=npg

Edit: similar sandwich, similar volumes consumed, higher protein version reduces feelings of hunger faster. If it were just down to bulk there wouldn't be a difference.

[council dweller]

It`s the theme of this site innit.

Young people can eat incredible amounts of food but can`t afford to.

Old people (boomers) can probably eat twice a day and yet go on cruises which would make the romans wince.

[DTMark]

I am wondering whether people who eat huge amounts of food daily simply have expanded their stomaches and I, preferring to eat smaller meals, simply do not a big enough stomach for this kind of thing.

I think this might be the right answer. I can't eat really big meals. And if the food is stodgy, like a pizza, I'll struggle to eat very much of it. It might well be nice, but whether I am enjoying it or not, I seem to stop fairly abruptly at a certain point when my body tells me to.

From what I recall we're supposed to eat little and often and the teeth and intestinal tracts of humans are more suited to a vegetarian or mostly vegetarian diet (carnivores have sharp teeth unlike us, and herbivores have long intestinal tracts as we do).

So I don't suppose there's anything wrong in this.

[shindigger]

Weather related? There is a huge storm due in the next 24 hours - it will be interesting to see if your appetite returns once the storm breaks.

Could be. Think i need a general kick up the **** to be honest.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Could be. Think i need a general kick up the **** to be honest.

Have you tried the more obvious remedies - beef madras/ Full English/ any old cr@p with some smoked paprika tipped on it?

[SarahBell]

I also find this at buffet all-you-can-eat restaurants. Most frustrating. I tend to starve myself a bit beforehand and pace myself but there's not a lot more I can do.

That's a mistake. Eat normally before rather than starve.

Don't drink lots either if you want to fill up on food.

[Turned Out Nice Again]

Eat Children's half portions (who could eat a whole child anyway? boom boom)

think of the savings!

On the rare occasion I am obliged to eat at Mickie D's now, I invariably go for the Happy Meal (+ free toy)

[DTMark]

What is it that they put in McDonald's food..

I have about three a year and it's always the veggie deli melt wrap meal with a Coke.

Despite being bland and mostly dry and unappetising, it seems to make me feel much more full than it looks like it will, and saps me of energy for about three hours. I feel like I need to go and lie down afterwards.