Which foods are the most filling? – Nutrition
Why does your diet plan fail? Well for the most part people choose ridiculous and unsustainable diets that are so far removed from what they would normally eat they have no real chance of long term/sustainable weight loss.
But let’s assume you’re on a fairly reasonable diet (i.e. your eating “normal” solid foods and your trying to get a modest but consistent calorie deficit each day) then one of the hardest things to manage is hunger!
Therefore it always handy to know which foods are the most filling (aka the most satiating). Typically foods containing protein, fibre and water are very filling, whereas foods containing fat are the least filling. This makes sense since a 100 calories of fat would be something like a 15g of nuts, where as a 100 calories of protein would be closer to 100g of chicken breast. No surprises which fills you up more!
Without further ado, here is a list of common foods that you can try adding into your meals to help stop the hunger (ranked in order of satiety rating):
Potatoes, boiled
Ling fish (very lean fish)
Porridge/Oatmeal
Oranges
Apples
Brown pasta
Beef
Baked beans
Grapes
Whole meal bread
Grain bread
Popcorn*
Eggs
Cheese
White rice
Lentils
Brown Rice
(Holt SHA, Brand Miller JC, Petocz P & Farmakalidis E (1995) A satiety index of common foods. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 49, 675-690)
They didn’t include chicken in this study, but it would score similarly to ling fish on this table.
* Popcorn may seem like an odd one, but if you consider how much popcorn you would have to eat to consume a large of calories then it makes more sense. Hence why you might see the guys in the gym often snacking on this stuff:
Generally speaking people often feeling the best feelings of fullness from:
- foods that are high in protein (meat & fish) – especially lean fish (white fish) and meat (e.g. chicken or lean beef)
- fruit & vegetables (largely to do with the fact that they have so few calories in, therefore you can eat them in larger portions)
- carbohydrate rich foods (notice rice and pasta score high)
Therefore make sure you are loading up on your protein portions and adding plenty of veg into your meals, with carb portions coming from potato, rice and pasta and you should feel nice a full. For example a traditional Spag bol made with chopped tomatoes, lean mince, plenty of veggies like onions, peppers and courgette will have you feeling stuffed!
