Am I Getting Enough To Eat?

The past few days I have been feeling crazy hungry. Whenever I would go out to eat with my co-workers/friends they would exclaim that they were so full and couldn't possibly eat another bite! Zoom in on me who is asking the waiter if they serve dessert. I was thinking about this and had this thought that most grandma's have about their grand kids...am I eating enough?

Breakfast is usually buttered bread or croissants from the bakery I live nearby accompanied by yogurt.
My school provides a lunch which is pretty nutritious. It contains mostly boiled vegetables, a soup, fruit, rice, noodles, and one meat. It is a lot of food and I do feel full most times.
For supper I make either soup, boiled vegetables, pasta, or rice dishes. They are mostly grain and veggies and seem quite healthy.
Then it is around 8-9 o'clock and I eat an entire sleeve of cookies or a giant bowl of icecream. What up?

I have three theories on this.
First theory is that I am not eating as much protein as I was used to in the USA. Protein can make you feel full and takes a while to digest at times. Today I looked up foods high in protein which include most of the vegetables I am eating! So it is probably not that?

List of High Protein Veggies and Fruits

broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, garlic, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, parsley, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Fruits that contain protein are apples, apricots, blueberries, cherries and grapefruit (GardenGuides.com).

"But Chelsea why not eat more meat?" I will tell you why. The meat here is highly suspicious. The grocery store I go to has the meat lying out on ice WITH NO PLASTIC COVERING. It is bloodier than USA meat and it doesn't have to be inspected. Not to mention none of the meat here is de-boned. It has all those nasty little bones in them for you to pick out and I friggin' hate it. My school lunches serve pork with bones, chicken with bones, beef with bones, and fish with bones. How often in the US can you order a meal and not worry about bones? Answer: 95% of the time. 

In fact most people in China are vegetarians because the meat is not healthy or they also hate eating around the bone. One thing I wish I knew before coming here is the availability of bones in food. 

Second theory is that my diet just isn't filling. I have pasta and white rice but doing research I found that brown rice and whole wheat pasta can make a person feel more full than their white counterparts. I plan on buying and eating more of that.

Third theory is that my calorie intake is too low. Since I am eating mostly vegetables and grains it could be that I am not getting to the 2000 calorie mark. Most veggies have a low calorie count so it could be that I need more grains. It would also explain why I crave high calorie foods before I go to sleep.

My game plan for the moment is to switch to whole grain and eat more protein. I am low on fruit so I think I will buy a bunch of berries to eat for the week. There are apps to track a person's calorie intake and I am thinking of downloading it to see if I am really below the mark. Hopefully my food adventures will get better from here.

Works Cited

“Fruits & Vegetables High in Protein.” GardenGuides, www.gardenguides.com/88079-fruits-vegetables-high-protein.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.