Hunger is one of your body’s strongest urges. It helps in making sure that you consume enough calories for your needs. However, as you probably already know it can massively work against us when we are trying to lose weight.
In most cases it’s never quite as simple as just eat less. For many people the hungrier you become the longer it takes for that hunger to subside once you begin to eat. So in essence the hungrier you are the more likely it is that you will overeat.
The only way to end those hunger pains is to eat. Eating provides satiety. Simply put satiety is the feeling of fullness after eating that suppresses the urge to eat again for a period of time.
But did you know that some foods are potentially better than others to help satisfy hunger?
If you are able to choose foods which fill you up it may actually help you battle the cues telling you that you are hungry. This is where the satiety index may help.
What is the Satiety Index?
The Satiety Index ranks different foods on their ability to satisfy hunger. It’s based on a study performed at the University of Sydney, Australia conducted by Suzanna Holt. Holt and her fellow researchers compared the filling effects of 38 different foods by feeding human test subjects fixed calorie portions of the foods. They then recorded the subject’s perceived hunger following each feeding.
The marker of white bread was set at 100%. So foods scoring higher than 100% are more filling than white bread, and those less than 100% are less filling than white bread.
What the study indicated is that satiety is strongly related to the weight of the food consumed. In other words, the foods that weight the most satisfy us more.
What you should be aware of though is that the index doesn’t take into account the nutritional value or calorie content of each food, it only takes into consideration how long the food will keep you full for. For instance higher amounts of certain nutrients such as protein and fibre are also shown to improve satiety.
Summary
We know to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. It doesn’t really matter a great deal with regards to the macronutrient content, but from the satiety point of view, a good diet should include slow digestible carbs and plenty of protein. Good choices would be lean meat and fish, and foods rich in fibre like beans and lentils. Vegetables are also great as they contain lots of micronutrients, few calories whilst also helping you to feel fuller.
So as you can see, the satiety index is just another tool that you can use to make weight management easier. Just don’t take it as showing the ‘healthiest’ choices to make with regards to your diet. To put it into context, don’t use it on its own. Many things influence satiety including differences in individual endocrine levels.
DISCLAIMER: The info-graphic doesn’t show the full list. It’s just a few select foods to make the graphic look pretty. If you want to see the full list just let me know.