Food Selection for Satiation and Dietary Adherence: How to Make Dieting Suck Less

When embarking on a fat loss phase, the most important factor is energy balance. Whether it’s the ketogenic diet, carnivore diet, intermittent fasting, veganism, or flexible dieting, the mechanism by which we lose fat is expending more calories than we consume. Therefore, when selecting the foods you eat during a fat loss phase, adherence is key.

A huge factor that can impact dietary adherence is satiety. Let’s face it, it absolutely sucks feeling hungry all of the time.

Here are a few tips to stay satiated:

1.Consume high volume, low energy density foods:

Low energy density foods will allow you to eat foods in larger amounts while still restricting calories. Put simply, 500 calories worth of berries and non-starchy vegetables would be way more filling and take up way more space compared to 500 calories of cookies.

Here are some low energy density foods you might want to consider:

-Berries: Around 30-50 calories per 100 grams

-Non Starchy Vegetables: Around 15-30 calories per 100 grams

-Pumpkin: Around 26 calories per 100 grams

-Potatoes: 60-70 calories per 100 grams

2.Consider the satiety index:

The Satiety Index, created by the University of Sydney measures how well various foods fill us up per calorie. 

Potatoes were found to be the most satiating per calorie. Lean beef and white fish also scored quite well on the satiety index. I recommend looking through the index and seeing the satiation score for various foods you consume frequently.

2.Focus on Protein: 

Protein intake during a fat loss phase is extremely important because it can help with muscle retention or potentially growth. That being said, there are many more benefits to consuming adequate amounts of protein.

Protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food compared to carbs or fats. When we consume food some of that energy is spent during digestion. This tends to be 20-30% for protein compared to 0.3% for fat and 5-10% for carbs.

Protein may also be more satiating. Protein leverage theory suggests that the body has a mechanism to ensure that we consume enough protein. This mechanism causes us to have increased appetite and hunger until our protein requirements are met. A review of 38 studies supports protein leverage theory and found that protein is more satiating than carbs and fats up to a certain point.  

So how much protein should you be consuming daily? To maximize muscle gain or retention research suggests consuming around 0.82 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight provides maximum benefit. Many bodybuilders tend to use 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight as a heuristic which is totally acceptable. 

To put this into perspective, if you are a 150lb individual you will benefit from consuming around 125 grams of protein on a daily basis.

3.Consume Adequate Fiber:

Foods high in fiber tend to be extremely satiating because they have low energy density and digest very slowly. A research review found that Ab libitum (no restriction) dieters consuming an additional 14g of fiber per day was associated with a 10% decrease in calorie consumption and bodyweight loss of 4.18 pounds over the course of 3.8 months.

4.Choose Solid Calories over Liquid Calories:
In a 2011 study, participants ate whole chicken breast or liquified chicken breast. Participants were hungrier after the shake version of the chicken breast. When trying to adhere to lower calories you might want to limit liquid calories.

5. Chew your food well!

A meta-analysis on the effects of chewing on appetite and food intake suggested that prolonged chewing can significantly reduce self-reported hunger. An increased number of chews per bite increased gut hormone release leading to better satiety.

6. Practice Mindful Eating

Eat in a non-distracted state. Avoid watching TV or other activities while eating. Enjoy each bite of the food while paying attention to hunger/fullness signals. Stop eating once you feel satiated (for most people there tends to be a large gap between being satiated and being full).

7. Time your food intake based on your lifestyle

Put simply, if you don’t have much of an appetite earlier in the day, consider eating more of your calories in the latter half of the day. You could do the opposite if you tend to get hungrier earlier in the day. If you have noticeable hunger patterns - plan accordingly. 

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of foods that you should or shouldn’t eat. On average you should consume 80-90% whole foods. There are times when it's appropriate to treat yourself to some more tasty high-calorie foods. But if you are struggling with hunger and satiation you might want to treat yourself by eating foods that fill you up.

References:

Bekelman TA, Santamaría-Ulloa C, Dufour DL, Marín-Arias L, Dengo AL. Using the protein leverage hypothesis to understand socioeconomic variation in obesity. Am J Hum Biol. 2017 May 6;29(3). doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22953. Epub 2017 Jan 25. PMID: 28121382.

Leidy HJ, Clifton PM, Astrup A, Wycherley TP, Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Luscombe-Marsh ND, Woods SC, Mattes RD. The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jun;101(6):1320S-1329S. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.114.084038. Epub 2015 Apr 29. PMID: 25926512.

Martens MJ, Lemmens SG, Born JM, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. A solid high-protein meal evokes stronger hunger suppression than a liquefied high-protein meal. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Mar;19(3):522-7. doi: 10.1038/oby.2010.258. Epub 2010 Oct 21. PMID: 20966901.

Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, Schoenfeld BJ, Henselmans M, Helms E, Aragon AA, Devries MC, Banfield L, Krieger JW, Phillips SM. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018 Mar;52(6):376-384. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608. Epub 2017 Jul 11. Erratum in: Br J Sports Med. 2020 Oct;54(19):e7. PMID: 28698222; PMCID: PMC5867436.

Roberts, J., Zinchenko, A., Suckling, C. et al. The short-term effect of high versus moderate protein intake on recovery after strength training in resistance-trained individuals. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 44 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0201-z

Miquel-Kergoat S, Azais-Braesco V, Burton-Freeman B, Hetherington MM. Effects of chewing on appetite, food intake and gut hormones: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Physiol Behav. 2015 Nov 1;151:88-96. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.07.017. Epub 2015 Jul 15. PMID: 26188140.