Whenever I eat a salad I feel like I'm starving immediately.  It doesn't seem to matter what I put on it—even if I've got a half pound of meat on there (and I always do), something about a salad is just extremely unfulfilling.  I've never been able to figure out what it is.  If I have pasta with half a pound of meat I'll feel full.  If I replace that pasta with the same amount of spinach and vegetables I'll feel like I haven't eaten anything.

I'm thinking that it's one of a few things.  Perhaps it's a psychological barrier, and when I'm eating a salad I'm so disappointed in my meal that those feelings override whatever signals come from my stomach to tell me that there's actually a lot of food down there.  Or, maybe it's just the temperature.  I hate cold meals, and maybe my body has just decided to ignore things that are cold.

It could also just be that my salads are too healthy or something, and my body isn't fooled.  I generally use fat-free dressing and lean meat, and while there's plenty of protein in there, maybe the lack of fat and carbohydrates is making me still feel empty.  (If you're going to put those things on a salad, I just don't really see what the point is.  You might as well eat food that isn't absolutely horrible.)

But all I know is that I just finished a massive salad that probably weighed more than 12 ounces including half a pound of meat a few minutes ago, and I feel about as hungry as if I hadn't eaten a thing all day.

Labels: health