“There is no food in your food.” — Joan Cusack in Say Anything…

Turns out… I think she was accidentally right.

For most of my life, I thought I was just eating too many calories. Then I thought to eat on a caloric deficit was about high volume, low calorie. Then it became obvious this would be easier with “healthy options.” The hardest part of this has always been trying to not be hungry, which wasn’t always possible.

But over the last few weeks on BodySlims, I accidentally rediscovered something that now feels completely obvious:

there’s a difference between food and energy.

And most modern diets are overloaded with energy while being strangely low in actual food.

I thought I needed:

  • volume
  • snacks
  • “treats”
  • filler foods
  • things to keep me occupied

What I was actually missing was:

  • protein
  • satiety
  • structure

That realization completely changed how I look at eating.

The funny thing is… the breakthrough food wasn’t a steak. It wasn’t supplements or some influencer “superfood.” It was white fish; Pollock or Tuna.

Foods I had mentally categorized as:

boring diet food.

But once I actually started eating them properly, something clicked. Calories were so low… that I could eat an entire bag of pollock as a meal.

Instead of a tiny “recommended serving”, I can eat the whole thing.

And for the first time in a long time:

I was actually full.

Not fake-full from volume or dopamine-full from junk food; actually satisfied.

That distinction matters because I realized I wasn’t hungry for calories. I was hungry for food:

  • Actual food
  • Protein
  • Satiety
  • Nutrition

My body already has excess stored energy, that’s literally what body fat is. I haven’t been storing it for aesthetic purposes, to intensionally look out of shape.

For years I had been eating highly processed, moderate-to-low protein, low satiety foods and wondering why I was always hungry.

Now the logic seems absurd in hindsight. No wonder I am so overweight; I have been overconsuming energy, when that isn’t what I was low on.

The average overweight diet is usually:

  • high calorie
  • low satiety
  • moderate-to-low protein relative to calories
  • heavily processed
  • easy to overeat

Which explains why things like crisps never made me full. They’re energy dense, without actually satisfying what the body is looking for.

What surprised me most wasn’t even the protein itself. It was the satiety.

I originally thought I needed:

volume.

But volume was just a tool I was using to chase fullness. What I was actually looking for was:

satiety.

And satiety came from:

  • high protein (The Food That I need)
  • fibre (The Food that my Gut needs)
  • chewing & slower eating
  • savoury flavours
  • structure
  • meals that felt substantial

That’s why the SMASH bowls started working: Pollock, Tuna, Anchovies, Mushrooms, Fermented apples, Jalapeños, Pickled slaw and Low Kcal Sauce / Spice mixes.

The bowls stopped feeling like “diet food.” They started feeling like actual meals.