Most filling foods: what to eat when you're hungry

When you’re hungry, eat differently, not less: potatoes, fish, porridge, eggs, cottage cheese, vegetables and fruit fill you up most for the same calories. The number next to each food is its estimated satiety: the higher it is, the more filling the food for the same calories.

Why some foods fill you up more

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In 1995, Susanna Holt and colleagues gave volunteers 38 everyday foods, each in a 240 kcal portion, and asked them every 15 minutes for two hours how full they felt Holt 1995. Boiled potatoes filled people about seven times more than a croissant with the same calories: white bread was set at 100, potatoes scored 323 and the croissant 47.

Calk estimates scores on the same scale for foods Holt did not measure: how Calk estimates satiety.

What makes food filling

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• Water and volume. Potatoes, soup, vegetables and fruit hold a lot of water and fill the stomach with few calories.
• Protein. Fish, eggs, cottage cheese, meat and pulses keep you full longer than the same calories of starch or fat.
• Fibre. Pulses, whole grains, vegetables and fruit take longer to chew and to digest.

Build a plate

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Put three things on the plate: a base that fills you up, something for volume and a protein food. Here are six plates built that way, with the weight of the cooked food, the calories and the protein.

Same dish, different ways

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You don’t have to change your menu to eat more filling food. Keep the dish and change how it’s cooked, dressed or served. Each line shows how much food you get for 400 kcal.

For the same 400 kcal, baked potatoes give you three times as much food as chips.

Everyday dishes at 400 kcal

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Each dish is shown as a 400 kcal plate: how many grams that is and how filling it is. Soups and dishes with potatoes, fish and vegetables give the most food for their calories.

Foods for meals and snacks

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Meal bases

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Potatoes, grains, pulses, fish, meat, eggs and fresh dairy. The grams show how much of each makes 400 kcal.

For volume

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Vegetables, leafy greens, mushrooms, fruit and berries. Add them to any meal.

Snacks

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One portion of each, as Calk logs it.

Make it tasty

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Herbs, spices, garlic, lemon, vinegar and mustard give potatoes, fish, beans and vegetables flavour for almost no calories. A spoon of olive oil on the salad or a little butter in the buckwheat is enough: measure it with a spoon instead of pouring.

In Holt’s study, foods rated as tastier tended to have a lower satiety index Holt 1995. This association does not show that making a meal tastier makes it less filling.

Easier in Calk

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Picking from lists works, but it’s easier with your own food. Log what you already eat, and Calk shows where the same plate can fill you more: a different side, another dressing, another way to make the same dish.

Calk is available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Frequently asked

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