Foods That Keep you Fuller for Longer
On a health or weight loss journey, reducing portion sizes and quitting that mindless picking is a given. Sometimes however, it can leave a bit of a hole in our tummy making the wait until our next meal or snack a little uncomfortable. So one of the greatest tools we can use to help get us through is to make sure our meals and snacks are full of foods that will keep us feeling fuller for longer BUT without the extra calories. This will not only help us to feel satisfied from the smaller portion of food we’ve just eaten but also satisfied for longer, meaning we need to eat less often.
Here are my top 10 foods that’ll keep you feeling fuller, for longer:
Dill pickles & fermented veges – not only are they totally delicious and so great for gut health but pickled and fermented veges have a large water bulk so you can eat quite a lot of them and really fill up with very few calories.
Brassica veges – that means broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage & brussel sprouts. Not only will these guys help to prevent some cancers but they are jam packed full of fibre, 1 cup giving you 6-7g, a quarter of your daily fibre needs. Fibre with fluid swells in the gut making us feel full from a meal.
Soups – particularly vegetable soups. The liquid content makes for a very filling meal and by using a variety of different veges, it’s a delicious way to get in a few daily serves.
Eggs – Almost daily my patients tell me how much more satisfied they are through the morning when they’ve had eggs for breakfast. The awesome combination of fats from the yolk and complete protein from the whites make these little gems the perfect food to feel fuller for longer. Note: If you have high cholesterol you can still have up to 6 eggs per week
Lentils & legumes – So dense with nutrients and inexpensive, lentils and legumes contain the trio of fibre, complex carbohydrates and protein making them alone the perfect food for appetite management. Don’t despair if they upset your tummy, you can build up your tolerance to them by starting with small amounts and slowly increase it.
Green apples – another food that is full of water, apples also contain a specific type of fibre that helps keep us full as well as pectin, which has been shown to help reduce blood sugar spikes and this means no energy crashes afterwards. They’re also sweet, crunchy and satisfying, the perfect afternoon snack.
Water – very often we think we’re hungry when we are in fact just thirsty. Keep up your water intake, as well as herbal teas, sparkling water and even mugs of tea with a dash of milk to make sure you’re well-hydrated, not confusing hunger signals with thirst and to fill the volume of your tummy.
Salad – a big serve of salad added to a meal or before a meal is a great ‘filler’ that will not only help to bulk out the size of a meal but help to make you fuller, faster. It’s what you can go back to for seconds if you’re still hungry after your meal.
Low fat Greek yoghurt – Greek yoghurt in particular is strained for longer so it’s higher in whey protein and more thick and creamy making it feel like a real treat as well as being highly satisfying. Flavour plain Greek yoghurt with cinnamon, vanilla essence, berries, a teaspoon of cacao powder or a few drops of stevia concentrate.
Skinless chicken breast – with virtually no fat, skinless chicken breast is a protein powerhouse providing us with a full range of complete proteins. These help to slow down the release of carbohydrates into our blood stream so couple your chicken with some brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato or on a wholegrain sandwich for a super satisfying meal.