A Chemical Hunger (2021)

I had been obese for a long time, for more than a decade. During that time I did many failed attempts to lose weight, but eventually I did it in the right way and after about a year I had a weight more than 1.5 times lower than before.

That was more than a decade ago, and since then I kept whichever weight I desired. Nonetheless, to avoid gaining weight again, it was essential that I switched to eating only food that I cook myself from raw ingredients.

With the food that I cook myself, I plan the amount that I would eat and after eating that quantity I am satiated and I am not hungry during all day (I eat only twice daily, a breakfast after waking up and then the second meal in the evening).

On the other hand, if I eat food from a restaurant or ready-to-eat food from a supermarket, I am not satiated even after eating much greater quantities, and I become hungry again after a few hours.

The food that I cook myself has a greater percentage of protein and fat than typical for commercial food, only moderate salt, and most of it has no added sugar, but beyond that I have no clue where is the difference.

More protein and fat and less salt and sugar is likely to matter, but it cannot be a complete explanation, because there is a great difference even between the bread that I bake and commercial bread. My bread contains nothing else except flour, water, salt and yeast, but it is very tasty and after eating it I am satiated, while after eating a greater amount of commercial bread I would still want to eat more.