Satiety is a fairly small word, just seven letters. But its four stout syllables inform the word’s meaning. To be satiated is to feel full. And if you’re like most people, you determine how much to eat by how full you feel. And over time how much you eat typically determines your body weight.

But there are other factors to consider if you’re trying to lose weight or control your appetite. Like which foods make you feel fullest? Is eating simply a matter of filling up your stomach, like topping off your car’s gas tank?

Or is there a smarter way to eat? Are there specific types of food that leave you feeling full and help keep your weight down? The answer to both questions is yes.

Results from an ongoing 2-year study show that eating greater amounts of protein not only increases satiety, but also increases fat burning (thermogenesis) by lifting metabolic rates.

Feeling full is great, but burning more calories and feeling full is like winning the lotto and getting an inheritance at the same time (well, maybe that’s stretching it, but it’s still good!).

In one single blind, randomized study, subjects fed a high-protein lunch (25% protein) expended a greater amount of energy at rest than those study participants who were fed a normal protein lunch (10% protein). The study, originally highlighted in the January 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found a high-protein diet elevated sleeping metabolic rates and helped the subjects better oxidize body fat.

Researchers at the Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, Netherlands, further concluded that when a high-protein diet was compared with a normal-protein diet, satiety was noticeably elevated throughout a 24-hour period.

Two years ago the Dutch team thought the increases in satiety and thermogenesis may have resulted from plasma ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine concentrations.

However, an April 2008 update in the journal, Nutrition, indicates they’ve changed their view. The Dutch researchers now believe the metabolic and satiety benefits come exclusively from the ingestion of higher-than-normal levels of dietary protein.

There is breaking research that suggests high protein’s dramatic effect on satiety and thermogenesis may be helped by metabolites or amino acids. But thus far there is little solid evidence to back up this idea.

The Dutch researchers also concluded that high-protein foods are more satiating and have a higher thermogenic effect over both the short and long term. Dieters will be buoyed by the fact that switching to a high-protein diet will help right now and down the road.

Our rice protein formula, Constant Health™, was designed to deliver concentrated nutrition of 46 ingredients in a simple drink product.  However, one of the most common reports from folks is that they feel more satiated when drinking Constant Health with a meal or between meals and that they have experienced unexpected weight loss.  Cindy quite regularly adds a couple of scoops of rice protein to her Constant Health shakes and uses this combo as a meal replacement in the mornings and has lost the almost 10 pounds that she put on after her father died.   

With the current special, it’s a good time for your to see how our nutrition-packed powerhouse, Constant Health™, supplies great protein (15 grams per serving, or nearly a third of adult RDA), to help to stave off between-meal hunger pangs.

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