Preloading is a simple tool that is easy to implement. It is beneficial for weight loss and health optimization.

I hate “diets” of any and all sorts. In part because the research is clear - they do not result in long term weight loss. They cause yo-yoing of weight which is a metabolic train wreck. I also hate that diets tend to separate people from the pleasure and joy of food. A real gift from God if you ask me.

If diets worked we wouldn’t be sitting in country with staggering obesity rates. Staggering rates that are now affecting our children. This is a serious problem.

Optimizing weight requires lifestyle change, of the slow and steady type. I recommend adding in tools incrementally in your journey to better weight maintenance.

What is pre-loading?

Put simply it’s packing in low caloric density foods before your main meals. This effectively results in a stretching of the stomach which will help you reach “satiety” earlier with a net effect of ingesting both fewer calories and more nutrition.

Preloading is consuming a few servings of foods on the right of the caloric density chart.

Time

The other benefit here is related to time. It takes upwards of 15-30 minutes for food to get low enough in GI tract to send the signal to your brain that your full (satiety). Pre loading puts time between when you start eating and when you finish

Here’s an example;

We’re out at a restaurant after a long work day. Haven’t eaten in six plus hours. I order a bacon blue cheese burger with fries. I can easily eat this entire meal in under 20 minutes which means I won’t get that full feeling until I have finished the fries off my kids plate and swallowed a decent IPA. Before I have any “satiety” I have easily ingested 2000+ calories in one sitting without effort.
Had I swung by the local grocery store and eaten an orange and a cucumber on the ride to the restaurant I would have gotten this satiety signal much sooner and likely ingested significantly less calories. Not to mention more actual nutrition from the fruit and vegetable.

Not that I am recommending consuming bacon blue cheese burgers for health. Simply a “sometime” indulgence of mine.

This benefit stands true for a perfectly healthy meal like black bean burritos.

Improved nutritional status

Side benefit - unless your pre loading with a stick of butter you’ll also be ingesting a nice dose of antioxidants and phytochemicals that are health boosting and nourishing to your mitochondria (the part of the cell that makes energy). So by preloading with fruit and vegetables you can also increase your energy, reduce your cancer risk and help prevent and treat many chronic diseases.

Pre loading options & ideas

The most common way I utilize pre loading in our life is simply to chop fresh vegetables before I start cooking dinner. Fresh carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, celery etc on a cutting board. I stick them on a cutting board and my family naturally eats them as their hunger starts to kick in while they smell dinner cooking. This also keeps my husband off the tortilla chips which often I catch him going for as soon as he smells dinner.

Green smoothies

A quick green smoothie (spinach + frozen blueberries) works for pre loading and gets you a huge dose of antioxidants. We often do this if we know we are eating outside the home with high odds of ingesting nutritionally poor food.

Salad

Salads when eating before meals and not as a side work well here. We love a quick spinach salad topped with microgreens. Note that in the context of weight loss I recommend making your own dressing without oil (a very high caloric density food). Often we just use some balsalmic vinegar.
The nutrition and health benefits of the dark greens such as kale and spinach are impressive.

Vegetables

Fresh vegetables or lightly steamed vegetables work well. Obviously if you dip these in ranch - another high caloric density food - the benefits diminish.
Higher vegetable intake is associated with reduction in many cancer types.

Fruit

Oranges, apples, frozen berries - whatever fruit you prefer.
Blueberries are one of the highest antioxidant foods and helps lower inflammation. The proanthocyanidins have specific anti-inflammatory properties in blood vessels.

Beans

Beans are higher than fruit and vegetables on the caloric density scale but they are very high fiber. Which occupies space in gut, protects the lining of the GI tract and helps with toxin elimination.
Obviously not sugar packed baked beans. We’ve been known to quickly split a can of black beans in the car during travel before we eat at a restaurant.
Beans are easy. They come pre cooked in a can at economical prices. Simply rinse (or don’t) and go.
Legumes are packed full of essential amino acids and minerals that are hard obtained elsewhere.

Preloading & Weight Loss

Daily Six: Fruit

Mushrooms