1/ Something has been gnawing at me for a while now...

While both iterations of my #EVOOvsButter experiment have been interrupted, each starting with the EVOO arm (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), I was struck at how noticeably it reduced my appetite.

2/ I don't know how much of this could be attributable to the MUFA/PUFA content, how much it is EVOO in particular, or something entirely different in this context. But without question, it was harder to consume at even my maintenance level of calories (2400)...

3/ Even in the full swing of things on the first version I found myself nursing each shake very slowly -- with last one in the evening taking over an hour. This was super unusual as the very same chocolate shakes with heavy whipping cream I could down in 10-15 if not careful.

4/ As it happens, I had just recently read and chatted with @fire_bottle where we were hypothesizing on whether the EVOO arm would leave me hungrier. Nope. I have a feeling I could have consumed much less than 2,400 in these phases.

5/ Certainly in this last run I didn't really get a lot of time before just becoming unwell (see blog post), so my lack of appetite there could have simply been that. But it wouldn't explain the first days of the first attempt where I was generally fine...

6/ But here's why it's bothering me so much...

I can't help but wonder if having increased EVOO added to one's diet suppressing hunger might turn out to be very common.

Even if it were a very small, hardly-noticeable effect, that could still be meaningful in a study.

7/ Which brings me back to why I care about keeping everything isocaloric in my experiments. If I were consuming these shakes ad libitum, I'd bet I would've drank a lot less of the EVOO versions and a lot more of the butter. And obv'ly, this could impact many things in the data