I'm just curious.

When I see someone posting that they are getting hungry the advice I see most often is to add fiber to their meals or snacks. However, I've recently added a little extra olive oil to my lunch salad and am suddenly back to having trouble finishing it because I feel full. Volume-wise, the rest of the salad is not any bigger at all. I did adjust for the extra olive oil by cutting the serving sizes of the *carbier* fruits I have for snacks but I don't see an increase in fiber at all.

Do you think it's the lower carb percentage or the higher fat percentage that's suddenly making me feel full faster? Am I as much of an oddball as I've always thought or has anyone else noticed this *phenomenon*?

I think this varies by individual, but I feel satiated from fats -- 1 TBS of peanut butter does it for me, but of course pb has some fiber, too.

I think both help make me feel full, but the difference is that fiber can also make me feel bloated/gassy (sorry, TMI), while fats don't. Probably the best idea is to do as you did -- keep the ruffage as-is, but add some more healthy fats to the meal.

Medical science agrees: fat is a much needed ingredient in our diets, as the "low-fat" craze that swept the nation a few decades ago hasn't done much for our expanding waistlines.

Check out this article

Good Fats, Bad Fats, Worst Fats

Proteins and fats make you feel full faster and longer than carbs. Carbs are depleted after 2 hours making your blood sugar crash and feel hungry again - craving more carbs.

As Josephine mentioned, it likely varies by individual (and by one's history with food). Do what works for you, but if you opt for fat, make it the healthy kind found in fish, nuts and seeds.

I have to admit, though, I'm a little concerned by how carbohydrates are being villified among the general public right now; the current attitude really echoes the anti-fat hysteria of decades past. Our bodies (and especially our brains!) need an ample amount of carbs to function. It's really inappropriate to issue a blanket condemnation of carbs and hold them responsible for the obesity epidemic here. In general, Americans eat a very rich, high-fat diet yet continue to balloon. In many other cultures where healthy carbs make up a large percentage of the diet, the people are generally lean and fit until they adopt the high-fat American way of eating. We're fat because we eat lots of high-calorie, low-nutrient junk foods. It's not the rice and beans.

Drina, I kind of agree with you to an extent. I did hard-core Atkins (by the book, with all it's silly rules) for almost 2 months at the beginning of the year. By the end of it, I wanted to /wrists from the stress, and grogginess and constant cold (January in Chicago is NOT the time to be depriving a body of energy).

On the flip side, I've been cutting out "bad carbs" (up to and including things like bread and rice) in favor of more natural alternatives. Instead of a cracker (whole wheat or not), I put my PB and Swiss on a slice of nectarine or apple. I'm losing weight again (we'll ignore this morning's fluctuation) where counting calories did nothing.

I agree with other posts here, high fiber content with the good whole grain carbs can satiate us longer and better then over processed junk carbs but fat also helps up feel satiated too. I recently started adding olive oil mayo to my diet because, damn, its good! And I feel so much more satisfied after a meal now then when I was just ommitting that amount of fat. I still get the same amounts of other foods just that added 50 calories of fat is what is making a huge difference in me wanting more when I've finished my alloted serving.

I'm not sure what Drina said that Altari is disagreeing with. People are different, and do best with all sorts of different things. Drina only spoke against blanket condemnation. I agree. Many very healthy populations (Mediterranean, Chinese) have had plenty of carbs in their diet. People need to know that low or lower carb may help them or may even be key for them. And they also need to know that low carb isn't necessary for everyone.

One thing the last decade has surely taught us is that every new year (or every few months!) what we think we know about nutrition is rapidly evolving. I'm sure that I'm sure 10 years from now, Atkin's and South Beach will be vastly improved upon. We'll have all kind of additional knowledge that will make our current ideas seem full of holes. I can only hope the government's recommendations regarding nutrition will also be vastly improved, but that is more doubtful . Too many industries to keep happy.

Both make a difference to me, but fiber and protein are more satiating, for me, than fats. If I have NO fat, I get hungry, but I don't need much.

Definitely a YMMV sort of issue, I think!

It was mainly these statements
I was trying to point out your point - everyone is different. Many people are fat because of the "rice and beans" (and whole grain carbs). We eat too many carbs as a culture, bad AND good, and that does have an impact on our waistlines. That isn't to say that carbs are BAD; I'm simply stating my disagreement with the idea that carbs are necessarily "good". There is, after all, a reason that people used to say pancakes make someone fat.

I still don't agree, and I guess that's OK . I think that carbs *are* necessarily good. Not all carbs, but definitely carbs. And I don't think rice and beans or whole grains are responsible for obesity. Overeating anything will make you obese. The exact same statement could be made about fat or meat. We are perhaps arguing semantics.

I think we needed a wake-up call about carbs, especially *some* carbs, but I think it went too far, and will swing back to a more moderate position. But even if we had utterly complete knowledge about nutrition - people would still be different.

Altari, I must respectfully disagree. There are very few peoples/cultures who have evolved eating so much fat and protein that their bodies can function efficiently with little carbohydrates. Carbs are the main fuel for your brain and are essential for a healthy body.

It's not the amount of carbs that are bad - it's the type of carbs. Big difference between getting 100 grams of steel cut oats vs. 100 grams of french bread.

Your body can actually produce the glucose it needs by breaking down fat in your body if no carbs are available. That's the premise to an Atkins style diet. I don't see why you need to force your body to do extra work instead of giving it what it needs, personally - but some people are much more carb sensitive than I am.

I try to eat a good amount of protein (30%) and moderate fat (30%), and by doing so - that automatically moderates my carb intake (40%) in order for me to stay in a certain calorie range.

Totally agreed!