Hungry again by half past ten? Why your body counts building blocks, not calories

Half past ten. And you are hungry again. Even though you had breakfast. It is not about willpower. It is about what was on your plate. In this article I explain why your body counts building blocks instead of calories, what a breakfast that lasts until lunch looks like and what is true about the claim that our vegetables are worth less today.

Your body doesn’t count calories

It counts building blocks. Protein, fibre and good fat. They keep you full. They keep your blood sugar steady. And they tell your body: everything is here, you can focus on your day.

If it gets too little of them in the morning, it keeps searching. And it lets you know. Pretty much on time, around half past ten.

What happens with a roll and jam

A roll with jam is eaten quickly and used up just as quickly. Lots of energy at once, but hardly any building blocks. Your blood sugar rises fast and then drops again. And that is exactly when you reach for the biscuit. The same goes for many breakfast cereals and the quick croissant from the bakery.

What a study shows

Researchers at the University of Missouri led by Heather Leidy published a small but interesting study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2013. Young women who usually skipped breakfast had, on different days, either nothing, a cereal breakfast or a high-protein breakfast with eggs and lean beef. Both breakfasts had the same calories. The high-protein one provided 35 grams of protein.

The result: after the high-protein breakfast the women felt fuller. Brain areas linked to cravings showed less activity. And in the evening they reached less often for fatty and sugary snacks.

To put it in context: 20 participants is a small number. The study was partly funded by egg and beef industry groups. But the direction matches what I experience myself and what I see in many people.

A breakfast that lasts

It is no more effort. It is just a different reach into the fridge.

• Yoghurt bowl: plain yoghurt or quark, a handful of berries, a spoonful of nuts or linseed.
• Savoury: two or three eggs as scrambled eggs or an omelette, some vegetables, a slice of real wholegrain bread.
• On the go: cottage cheese with cucumber and tomato in a jar, plus a handful of nuts.

Today breakfast is one of my most important meals of the day. Most days it is scrambled eggs or an omelette with cheese. Calmly. At a laid table. Without my phone. And you will notice how different your morning feels.

And what about vegetables?

“Your broccoli is not your grandparents’ broccoli.” You hear this a lot. Usually it is followed by an offer for supplements. I wanted to know what is really true and took a closer look at two studies.

The study from the USA

In 2004 Donald Davis and his team at the University of Texas compared nutrient data for 43 vegetables from 1950 with data from 1999. Six nutrients showed a reliable median decline: protein by 6 percent, calcium by 16, phosphorus by 9, iron by 15, vitamin B2 by 38 and vitamin C by about 20 percent.

Their explanation: for decades we have bred crops for size and yield. The plants produce more mass. But they don’t take up more nutrients at the same rate. The researchers call this a dilution effect.

The study from Switzerland

The second comes from the research institute Agroscope in Wädenswil. Ernst Höhn and colleagues compared Switzerland’s seven most important vegetables, from tomatoes and carrots to lettuce. They used old and new editions of large food composition tables.

The result is more relaxed. 16 out of 21 values showed no significant change. The main declines were magnesium by about 29 percent, vitamin B2 by about 32 percent and vitamin C by about 22 percent. The authors themselves point out that part of this may come from changes in sampling and lab methods. Their conclusion: vegetables still make an important contribution to our supply of vitamins and minerals.

The German consumer centre came to a similar conclusion in 2026. Our soils have not become poorer in nutrients. Some high-yield varieties contain slightly fewer vitamins and minerals. But people who eat a varied diet do not become undersupplied because of this.

What I take from this

For me it means two things. Vegetables are and remain one of the best sources of nutrients we have. And at the same time it pays to look closely.

• Freshness and short distances: what hasn’t travelled for days has more to offer.
• Variety: I try to have twenty different kinds of fruit and vegetables in my basket every week.
• Varieties: the differences between varieties are often bigger than between then and now.
• Knowing where it gets tight: magnesium is one of those nutrients. It is worth looking at your own plate.

And if you want to know whether and where a supplement could make sense for you, don’t look at the advertising. Look at your everyday life. That is exactly what I’m happy to talk with you about.

Sources

1. Leidy HJ, Ortinau LC, Douglas SM, Hoertel HA: Beneficial effects of a higher-protein breakfast on the appetitive, hormonal, and neural signals controlling energy intake regulation in overweight/obese, “breakfast-skipping,” late-adolescent girls. Am J Clin Nutr 2013;97(4):677–688 (summary on ScienceDaily): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130326151127.htm
2. Davis DR, Epp MD, Riordan HD: Changes in USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to 1999. J Am Coll Nutr 2004;23(6):669–682 (author’s overview in Food Technology): https://www.ift.org/food-technology-magazine/trade-offs-in-agriculture-and-nutrition
3. Höhn E, Künsch U, Infanger E, Koch W: Were vegetables more nutritious in former times? AGRARForschung 2004;11(1):22–27 (German with English summary): https://www.agrarforschungschweiz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2004_01_841.pdf
4. Verbraucherzentrale: Are our soils and plants poor in nutrients? (updated 18 Mar 2026, German): https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/projekt-klartext-nem/sind-unsere-boeden-und-pflanzen-arm-an-naehrstoffen-17734