Video Transcript

Hi Ant & Ali here with our Wellbeing Words of Wisdom. 

Today we want to discuss foods that help keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Which is something people ask us about all the time. 

In a nutshell, you want to eat foods high in protein, good fats or fibre, to help keep you feeling full. 

Let’s look at protein first.

The reason protein helps keep you feeling fuller for longer is that protein actually reduces your levels of the hormone ghrelin.

Ghrelin is known as the hunger hormone because it stimulates appetite.

The higher your levels of ghrelin, the hungrier you get, the lower your levels, the more full you feel.

So protein is pretty important to help keep you feeling full.

High protein foods include chicken, turkey, white fish and Greek yoghurt. 

Your plant-based proteins generally contain less protein than the meat or fish options, but they normally have a high fibre content.

Some examples of plant-based proteins are quinoa and legumes, such as lentils, beans or peas.

There are some foods that contain both protein and fats such as eggs, oily fish like salmon or mackerel and steak.

Nuts and seeds are a great option as they contain protein, fats & fibre, so you are getting all 3 in one handy food.

Nut butters are great too, but make sure you are eating natural nut butter, rather than the ones with added sugar or palm oil. 

Now let’s look at foods high in fibre.

Wholegrain items such as breads, cereals and oats are good sources of fibre.

Fruit and vegetables also contain fibre and a high amount of water, which obviously helps with hydration too.

High fibre vegetables include artichokes, parsnips, butternut squash, broccoli and leafy greens to name a few.

High fibre fruits to add into your diet include berries, apples, pears, mango and avocados.

Avocados also contain good fats. 

One fibre rich food you guys might be interested in is dark chocolate.

Just make sure you chose a cocoa content of 70% or above.

The reason fibre helps keep you feeling fuller for longer is that our bodies don’t have the enzymes needed to break fibre down and digest it.

so when you ingest it and it goes through your body, it collects water as it goes and turns into a gloopy substance, slowing down digestion.

Slower digestion means you feel fuller for longer. 

Think about what happens when you add water to chia seeds.

The seeds absorb the water and create a gel like gloopy substance.

This is similar to what happens with fibre inside your body. 

Ok, so we pretty much covered most of the good fats in the proteins and fibre list of foods.

What we haven’t mentioned though are oils, which are also good fats.

Things like olive oil and rapeseed oil, which you cook with, or maybe drizzle over your salads.

It’s not a food so we haven’t mentioned it but it’s so important to stay hydrated.

Sometimes we think we’re hungry, when in actual fact, we’re just thirsty.