salad too big??

claralara

This may be (most likely is) a silly question...

I just had lunch which i brought in from home this morning. I had a small tin of tuna on 2 ryvita crackers and an average size lunchbox of salad - lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, asparagus - no dressing or anything. I got full about halfway through but kept eating (I never know when to stop!!) and now I'm stuffed. As in I feel as stuffed as if I'd just had a huge dinner.

And I was just wondering what my body is going to do with all that food now. I know if I had overindulged in say a chinese take away that it's all turn to unused excess fat but I'm curious as to what happens to excess lettuce...

Also how do people stop eating when they're full even if there's still food in front of them..it's an unbelievable weakness of mine. I'm not overweight (would like to be more toned of course) but i'm worried it'll come back to bite me some day!!

menoscemo

Don't worry, it would be virtually impossible to get fat on a salad of lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, asparagus with no dressing. There is no harm in using a dressing of vinegar and some olive oil either.

taram

Things like lettuce and cumcumber are full of water and fibre that fill you up, but provide very little calories, so the excess lettuce is likely to just be excreted as fibre. Like 1425 grams of celery = 200 Calories but who wouldn't get stuffed before a kg of celery

Serafijn

claralara wrote: »

how do people stop eating when they're full even if there's still food in front of them..it's an unbelievable weakness of mine.

I'm the same and I blame my parents! The philosophy of 'waste not want not' was drummed into me when I was a kid so I find it really hard to leave food behind.

If I'm cooking for myself I manage my portion sizes before they go on the plate. USe weighing scales so you know exactly how much you're getting! Likewise if it's a buffet-style deal, just take a small scoop instead of piling the plate high.

If you're out for a meal just be sinsible with what you order, and try to leave some of the carbs. They're normally a) piled high, b) the most boring part of the meal and c) high calorie, so it makes sense to not eat them all. They're normally cheap too, so you can justify the wastage a little easier!!

Hope that helps a little

tscul32

I keep going back to my plate in a restaurant even if I'm stuffed and have decided I've had enough. It's not even a conscious action, I just suddenly realise I've eaten another 2 mouthfuls.
One trick I heard about was getting the salt cellar and pouring it over your leftovers when you've had enough. That way you WON'T take more than one more mouthful.

Sapsorrow

The same thing happens regardles of where the calories are coming from really, the carbohydrate in the food food is broken down into glucose in your intestine which is a simple type of sugar that your body can use, this then passes into your bloodstream and is processed by the liver.

Some glucose goes straight to your muscles etc for use as an instant source of energy by parts of the cells called mitochondria which are capable of actually releasing 'calories' from this glucose, any excess is converted into glycogen which is a form of energy stored in your liver and muscle cells for use when you're fasting but still using up energy.
(This would happen for example in people who skip breakfast)

Other excess glucose is converted into lactic acid which is what makes people feel and stiff and achey the day or two after working out too hard without warming up etc..

Other excess glucose goes on to be converted into a chemical called acetyl co-A which is a vital component of fatty acid synthesis (which is basically how your fat cells absorb more fat and get bigger hence making us put on weight)

If you were to eat a vegetable thats high in fat such as avacado then excess is converted into a form that the body can store in fat cells and maybe around the organs such as the liver until it needs to use it as a source of energy. This conversion happens in the liver, intestine and the fat cells themselves.

Most of the veg is made up of water which is absorbed into the blood stream and cellulose (insoluble fibre) which our bodies cannot digest and this forms the bulk of faecal matter.

Not sure if this is absolutely 100percent accurate so would appreciate corrections if anyone spots any as my biochem is a little bit rusty but this should be fine!