The Satiety Index was developed by an Australian researcher who was looking into the relationship between what we eat and how hungry we are afterwards. The testing involved feeding volunteers 240 calorie portions of 38 different foods after which volunteers ranked their appetite (or lack thereof) and had their food choices monitored for a period after eating them. White bread was used as a baseline, with a satiety ranking of 100.

"Roughly speaking," said Dr. Susanna Holt from the University of Sydney, the woman who ran the study, "the more fiber, protein and water a food contains, the longer it will satisfy." Bulky foods, which produced larger portion sizes for the amount of calories consumed, also made eaters feel fuller simply because they had more stuff in their stomachs. The full index scores the following as less satisfying than white bread (ranked 100): croissants (47), peanuts (84), ice cream (94). The following were more satisfying: french fries (116), white rice (138), cheese (146), eggs (150), popcorn (154), beef (176), oranges (202), oatmeal (209) and potatoes (323).

In addition to fiber and protein rich bulky foods, we can also see that white bread is not that filling in the overall scheme of things.

Food Business Review Online had an interesting piece on 10 trends to watch for in 2007. I was glad to read that healthful food for kids and local sourcing of ingredients made the list. On a separate note, I was especially happy to learn that nutraceutical beer is in the offing.

Here's the full list:

• Calorie burning beverages: Look for more products like Celsius and Enviga that purport to help shed pounds without exercise.
• Satiety-enhancing foods and drinks: Products that increase the feeling of fullness are just starting to hit the market. Among them is LightFull Satiety Smoothie, which is high in fiber and protein, but has only 70 calories per serving.

For years, doctors, nutritionists and even parents have told people that the key to getting more satisfaction from your food is to eat more slowly. Not only does this allow you to actually enjoy the flavors in your meal, but it was always said to give the brain time to recognize the fact that it was no longer hungry, which would in turn cause you to stop eating. Up until recently, there was no clinical evidence to support that decision.

Dr. Kathleen Melanson, of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, changed all that by conducting a study on college age women to see how much different styles of eating affected their calorie intake. All the women were given a bowl of pasta with tomato and vegetable sauce after eating a 400-calorie breakfast and fasting for four hours. One group of women was given a large spoon and told to eat as quickly as possible, not pausing between bites. The other group was given a small spoon and told to pause in between each bite, setting down the spoon and chewing 15-20 times. The fast eaters ate 646 calories in 9 minutes, while the slower eaters ate only 579 calories in 29 minutes. The slower eaters also reported feeling fuller, longer.

Melanson estimates that eating slowly could reduce the number of calories a person eats by about 210 per day.

The interesting thing about LightFull Smoothies is that they're designed to be filling, while other smoothie drinks are usually designed to deliver a few servings of fruit, or a richer alternative to juice - not to fill you up. As a result, you can drink an ordinary smoothie, still be hungry, and oftentimes, worse off than before because of all the sugar. This is not likely to happen with LightFull. All of the smoothies are made with natural ingredients. They are sweetened with fruit purees and a tiny amount of sugar, as well as other natural sweeteners like erythritol, which is naturally found in grapes, pears, melons. Each smoothie has 6 grams of protein and 5 or 6 grams of fiber, which is at least 20% of your recommended daily intake. They also only have 90-100 calories each, and almost no fat (0-1g, depending on flavor), so you can indulge in each delicious flavor without any guilt - just the fact that you're doing something good for your body that happens to taste better than you expected.

Cafe Latte - Two thumbs up!

• Nicole: This was my favorite flavor. It had a very smooth, creamy coffee taste that was slightly sweet and had none of the bitterness that coffee-flavored drinks often have. I had to drink it slowly, though, because it was much more filling than any blended coffee drink I can remember.
• Sarah: Of the four flavors, I liked this one the most as well, but that might also be a personal bias toward all things coffee.

The Wall Street Journal recently featured a story about how companies like Unilever, Danone and Kraft Foods are trying to create unique food ingredients that will help dieters stave off hunger. Unilever, maker of SlimFast, is working with something called the "ileal brake mechanism," a response from the small intestine telling the brain that the eater's body is sated. By creating fat molecules that can pass through the body and still trigger the response, products like SlimFast shakes would leave people feeling full for longer. Similarly, Danone is working on starches that break down slower in the digestive system, thereby keeping blood sugar levels up for longer periods of time. Still, experts in the article point out that hunger comes from many sources and and that satiety (fullness) is not something that can be achieved reliably with one single ingredient.