Can you elaborate more on the kinds of foods we should be eating to promote healthy immune and central nervous system support?

So what are some of the best foods to eat to make you feel full? My problem is that I am constantly hungry and it's really difficult to stop from overeating.

Is it all about protein or are there other fillers?

You can never go wrong with veggies!

A lot of people believe that a protein-rich meal will hold off hunger much longer than one higher in carbs, and that has been my experience. Can you eat too much protein? Is there a minimum amount of carbs you need to get?

My personal issue is that I eat a LOT of carbs. I mean, A LOT. I live on pasta and pizza. Now, according to the logging I do, I don't eat too many, just too many in relation to protein. So... I know one thing I need to do is have more protein, but I find that to be a challenge sometimes as outside of protein shakes (expensive) and peanut butter (high in fat), I don't have a lot I'll eat (I don't eat meat).

Hey Mike,

Feeling Hungry as I understand it comes from one of two sources.
Your body is signaling a lack of some nutrient(s) in your diet
Your body is not assimilating the nutrients properly, which could be caused by a number of factors. There is a lot of info and current research into the ecology of the GI tract. If you don't have the appropriate bacteria to break down some foods, you can't get the nutrients from it. Having a varied diet seems to help. Concentrating on one food group and or excluding one or more can swing the balance out of wack... NPR recently reported a study done in Norway that showed an institutional diet provided in a nursing home actually reduced the quality of life there vs. a control group who had a more varied diet.

I think that these are great ideas except for the guy who eats lots of pizza and pasta! Bread is bread no matter what form it comes in. Meat, especially fish baked or broiled gives me satisfied feeling without being full. I think we can have too much protein, carbs, or fats, so it is necessary for us to look at what the ratio is for us as individuals. This ratio will change as we age and as our activity levels change.
As another example, a hand full of nuts gives me a lot of energy for running in the woods, but to much adds fat to the frame because to much goes in at once. Nature put nuts in shells to protect them and the time we use to crack a shell gives our brain time to register more or enough. So eat slow and chew. The fats from nuts, avocado's for example contribute to the feeling of, "I have had enough to eat".

That is very true. If you do not eat fish, then at minimum, take a organic fish oil supplement for the omega 3's. Also consider other kinds of natural oils that come from plant sources ie flax seed, ect.

Extra Virgin Olive oil is also a "good" fat to use when preparing meals. Mike, it's a good replacement for the butter that you love so much because it helps satiate our
hunger withOUT adding more "bad" fat to our bodies. I use it as dressing on salad.
I use it to make eggs and sautee veggies in a skillet etc. There are certain types of
Olive oil that are best used heated and others that use some food value when heated. Dr. Jeff do you know which are which?

I can look it up concerning the olive oil. As far as the nuts are concerned, you are very right Ken. I think that is why nature put nuts in shell. So that we can expend energy earning our food and giving our brains a chance to let us know when we have consumed enough. Just like juicing too many carrots, eating a handful of nuts over and over, is excessive and to much for our bodies to process efficiently.
One another note, an excess of carbs raises blood sugar and that leads to increased insulin release and eventually to excessive coffee consumption due to the sudden decrease of glucose in the blood which causes the need for more coffee to 'perk' us up and this leads to more glucose and insulin release and you eat more carbs that your body stores as extra weight.

I can point you to a doctors article that talks about the effect of sugar and the increases of it in our diets in just the past few years. Leave a comment or email me at drjeff@drjeffmoore.com