Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories (Volumetrics series)

Do you overeat because you don't feel satisfied or full? Volumetrics is based on "the science of satiety"--what researchers have learned about the food choices that make people feel full. The authors teach you how to eat low-calorie-dense, high-volume foods so that you feel like you've eaten plenty, even though you've eaten fewer calories. You'll lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived. Here's an example of how volume affects eating. Raisins are dried grapes. But 100 calories of raisins fill only one-quarter cup, while 100 calories of fresh, whole grapes fill one and two-thirds cups. You'll feel satisfied after one and two-thirds cups of grapes, but if you're eating raisins, you're likely to keep filling your mouth. The point is not to stop eating raisins (or chocolate, cheese, or other high-calorie, low-volume foods), but to realize that you're likely to take in many more calories before your body tells you you're full. If you're trying to manage your weight, eating more low-density foods (lower-calorie foods that have a lot of volume) will make you feel full while you drop pounds. Barbara Rolls, a respected and well-published food-nutrition researcher at Pennsylvania State University, and food writer Robert Barnett explain energy density and how to use this concept to lose weight. They include the scientific evidence about how low-density (low-calorie, high-volume) foods make you feel satisfied, the best (and worst) foods for a satisfying, lower-calorie diet, a menu plan, an exercise plan, and environmental influences on eating. You also learn which foods are easiest to overeat. This is not a fad diet--it is logical and scientifically based, yet easy to understand and put into action. --Joan Price “Refreshing. . . .Honest--and honestly motivating.” — Washington Post VOLUMETRICS... is such a refreshing entry into the crowded weight-loss market. It’s honest-- and honestly motivating...This book treats its readers respectfully, never promising more than it can deliver-- but delivering plenty nonetheless. — Lawrence Lindner, The Washington Post Most Effective Diet of 2011 — The Daily Beast Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., is professor of nutritional sciences and the Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, where she heads the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior. A veteran nutrition researcher and past president of both the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior and the Obesity Society, Dr. Rolls has been honored throughout her career with numerous awards, including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. In 2010 she received the Obesity Society's highest honor, the George A. Bray Founders Award, and was elected to the American Society for Nutrition's Fellows Class of 2011. She is the author of more than 250 research articles and six books, including The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan and The Volumetrics Eating Plan . She lives in State College, Pennsylvania. Mindy Hermann, R.D., is a writer who specializes in collaborative projects on cooking, food, and nutrition with researchers, health professionals, and chefs. The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet is her tenth book. She lives in Mount Kisco, New York. Barbara Rolls, Ph.D, holds the endowed Guthrie Chair of Nutrition at Penn State, has been president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity and the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, and has served on the advisory council of the National Institutes of Health's Institute of Diabetes and Digestion and Kidney Diseases. She is the author of three professional books on food and nutrition and more than 170 academic articles. Coauthor Robert A. Barnett is an award-winning journalist who specializes in food and nutrition. He is the author of Tonics (HarperPerennial, 1997), coauthor of The Guilt-Free Comfort Food Cookbook (Thomas Nelson, 1996), and editor of The American Health Food Book (Dutton, 1991). From The Washington Post Volumetrics ... is such a refreshing entry into the crowded weight-loss market. It's honest-- and honestly motivating... This book treats its readers respectfully, never promising more than it can deliver-- but delivering plenty nonetheless. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Part 1 What Is Volumetrics? Introduction Welcome to Volumetrics, the first book to use breakthrough new research on the science of satiety to help you control your eating habits. What is satiety? It's the feeling of fullness at the end of a meal, the feeling that you are no longer hungry. The more satiety you feel after a meal, the less you'll eat at the next one. Satiety is the missing ingredient in weight management. Cut calories by simply eating less, and you'll feel hungry and deprived. You may be able to stick to such a diet for the short term, but to become successful at lifelong weight management, you'll need an eating pattern that lets you feel full with fewer calories. The primary way to do this is to get smart about your food choices. For any given level of calories, some foods will have a small effect on satiety, others a large one. The right food choices will help you control hunger and eat fewer calories, so you can lose weight, keep it off, and stay healthy.There's no secret to weight management: Consume fewer calories and burn more in physical activity. You can't lose weight without controlling calories. But you can control calories without feeling hungry. Feeling full and satisfied while eating foods you like is a critical component of our approach to weight management. The basic strategy of Volumetrics is to eat a satisfying volume of food while controlling calories and meeting nutrient requirements. The Foods You Choose Which foods should you choose? Surprisingly, foods with a high water content have a big impact on satiety. But you can't simply drink lots of water, which quenches thirst without sating hunger. You'll need to eat more foods that are naturally rich in water, such as fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, and cooked grains, as well as lean meats, poultry, fish, and beans. It also means eating more water-rich dishes: soups, stews, casseroles, pasta with vegetables, and fruit-based desserts. On the other hand, you'll have to be very careful about foods that are very low in water: high-fat foods like potato chips, but also low-fat and fat-free foods that contain very little moisture, like pretzels, crackers, and fat-free cookies. Why is water so helpful in controlling calories? It dilutes the calories in a given amount of food. When you add water-rich blueberries to your breakfast cereal, or water-rich eggplant to your lasagna, you add food volume but few calories. You can eat more for the same calories. This property of foods'the calories in a given portion'is the core concept of this book. We call it by its scientific term, energy density. Water is only one of many food elements that affect satiety and energy density. In addition to water, fiber can be added to foods to lower the calories in a portion. It provides bulk without a lot of calories. So by strategically increasing the water and fiber content of meals'with the addition of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains you can dramatically cut the calories per portion'you lower the energy density. On the other hand, the component of foods that increases the energy density the most is fat. Fat has more than twice as many calories per portion as either carbohydrate or protein. So if you cut fat, you can lower the energy density of a meal. You can combine these strategies: Increase the water and fiber content of foods while lowering the fat content to get satisfying portions with few calories. This book is based on recent research showing how foods affect hunger and satiety, which in turn has led to new ways to manage weight. Each of the major elements that makes up food'fat, carbohydrates, protein, water'has an effect on satiety. So do other dietary components: sugar, fiber, alcohol, and sugar and fat substitutes. In the next part of the book, we explore these influences in detail so you can learn the basic principles of choosing a lower-calorie, more satisfying diet. Satisfying Portions If you've suffered through dietary deprivation to lose weight, you may find it hard to believe that you can eat more food, feel full, and still reduce your total caloric intake. To make our program work, some people, if they choose lots of foods that have only few calories in a portion, may actually have to retrain themselves to eat larger portions than they do now.We won't ask you to greatly restrict your food choices. You won't have to cut out all the fat from your diet, live on rabbit food, subsist on foods on a "free" list, or avoid any food. Volumetrics allows a wide choice of foods. You'll be able to eat bread, pasta, rice, beef, chicken, fish and seafood, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits. To do so while cutting calories, we'll show you how to make changes such as adding vegetables to a risotto, or choosing fruit over fat-free cookies for dessert. You'll also gain greater understanding of the kinds of foods that are deceptively easy to overeat, whether it's cheese, chocolate, raisins, or pretzels. We won't ask you to ban them. That's not our style, because it's not a style that works. Instead, we will give you specific strategies so you can enjoy them without taking in too many calories. Volumetrics is not really a diet at all, but a new way to choose satisfying, lower-calorie foods.While we emphasize lowering the energy density of your dietary pattern because that's the best way to eat a satisfying amount of food, we don't want you to get the impression that energy-dense foods are "bad" or "forbidden." Who wants to go through life without chocolate? Favorite foods, even if they are high in energy density, have a place in your dietary pattern. But you will have to plan for them. Read more