What Foods Keep You Fuller, Longer?
There are various ways to stay fuller longer, which is great if you don’t have a lot of time to eat throughout the day, don’t like to work on an empty stomach, or don’t want to overindulge too often. If that sounds like you, then you might want to start drinking more water and avoid white carbs, not to mention making sure that you’re eating certain foods. When it comes to the latter, Steph Magill, MS, RD, CD, FAND, owner of Soccer Mom Nutrition, tells Eat This, Not That!, “Some foods make you feel fuller longer because they have certain characteristics that affect your appetite and digestion.”
For instance, when it comes to protein, Magill explains that it “is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it can reduce your hunger and increase your fullness more than carbs or fat.” She points out that “protein also takes longer to digest and affects the levels of hormones that regulate your appetite.” Magill also mentions the benefits of food being high in fiber, telling us, “Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that is not fully digested by your body. It can add bulk to your food and slow down the emptying of your stomach, which can make you feel full for longer. Fiber also helps regulate your blood sugar levels and prevent spikes and crashes that can trigger hunger.”
Beyond that, “some foods contain a lot of water or air, which can increase their volume without adding many calories,” Magill says while noting that the food items you focus on should be “high in volume” but “low in energy density.” Continuing to address the former aspect, she adds that “these foods can fill up your stomach and stretch its walls, which can send signals to your brain that you are full.” As for the second, she says that “energy density is the number of calories per gram of food.” Magill explains that “foods with low energy density have fewer calories for their weight, which means you can eat a larger portion without consuming too many calories.”
Excerpted from Eat This, Not That!
