SALT LAKE CITY — A few months ago I wrote an article titled “How Do I Know If I’m Hungry?” and it feels appropriate and necessary to follow up with some thoughts about fullness.

Fullness often feels just as tricky as hunger. The biggest reason for that is we don’t stop eating just because we feel full — we also want to feel satisfied. It’s worth noting that fullness and satisfaction are two very different sensations, but both are important for triggering the cue to stop eating.

Fullness is more of a physical sensation of stomach distention while satisfaction is an overall sense of fulfillment from eating. Both create the ability to push away from the table, with the physical and mental energy to go live your life for a few hours without thinking about or feeling preoccupied with food.

People tend to run scared of satisfaction, equating it with overeating; however, avoiding satisfaction can often lead to overeating.

Food is meant to feel rewarding; it’s a natural biological process for the eating experience to create positive feedback to your brain so you will continue to do it each time you get hungry. If you don’t feel satisfied, then your brain becomes preoccupied and obsessed with food. You think about all the things you could eat to feel satisfied instead of thinking about other, more important things. Eventually, you cave and eat all those things, creating an all or nothing mentality that leads to extreme, compulsive behaviors. Humans will seek satisfaction at all costs.

This means feeling full and satisfied with your meals and snacks is your solution, while not feeling full and satisfied can lead to problematic behaviors. Because it’s a common concern, it should be noted that satisfaction leaves you feeling balanced, energized and content. When you attempt to distract yourself with food, it can leave you feeling unbalanced, lethargic and discontent.

One of the best ways to accomplish satisfaction is to include a wide variety of foods and food groups in your meals. Balanced meals that include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fruits and vegetables will feel far more satisfying — for longer periods of time — than combinations that exclude one or more of those.

It’s also easier to honor feelings of fullness if you know you can have more later or at another time. If you feel like a diet, deprivation or restriction is around the corner, then it’s going to be very difficult to stop eating. If you won’t ever get it again — or at least tell yourself that — you’ll want it all right now.

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You can also contribute to satisfaction by eating regularly and adequately and slowing down and taking in your enjoyment of the food. Think about how it looks, tastes, feels and smells. It’s much easier to notice when you’ve had enough to eat when you pay attention this way.

I often hear people say that their problem is that they love food too much. I disagree. When we love something we want to savor it, pay attention to it and enjoy it. We often spend more time thinking and talking about food than we do preparing or eating it. Isn’t that interesting? While I don’t think it’s worthwhile to spend a ton of time thinking about any of those things, I believe paying attention to the process of eating is definitely satisfying. Remember, satisfaction is your solution.

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