What are the number one foods to eat to not feel hungry?

NovusDies

Here is the thing... we can give you ideas but there is no substitute for practiced awareness.

Managing your hunger and yourself requires that you write your own user's manual. This means you have to pay attention to what is happening each hour after you eat for 4 hours or until you run into the next meal. At each hour you are taking a moment to ask:

• How is my energy?
• How is my hunger?

Rate how you feel then look for the common factors. They will be physical exertion, sleep, macros, calorie, volume of food, and specific food.

In a few weeks you should know how you work in normal situations. You will know even weird things like you find protein filling with the exception of shrimp. You might learn that a baked potato is very filling at first but leaves you hungrier than normal after the second hour. Keep in mind that there will always be abnormal situations but we can't live in fear of the days things don't work as well because of something like we didn't sleep well or we helped a friend move a lot of heavy furniture. I have a better handle on some of my abnormal days but not all.

Start with practiced awareness then supplement what you learn with habit change like understanding that if you end your meal with a certain flavor that almost compels you to return for more you might need to change the order in which you eat or simply have a mint, mouthwash, brush your teeth. I struggle if the last flavor I have is peanut butter for instance.

crb426

You mentioned combatting fatigue. At times yes, my brain does feel a bit fatigued. And when I have chocolate or something starchy like crackers, I usually feel energized again. What can give me the same boost that doesn't contain calories?

For me, exercise makes me feel more energetic. A good workout in the morning gives me a "buzz" for most of the day. Bonus, by the end of the day I am exhausted and fall asleep a lot more easily.

Just pay attention to make sure your fatigue is not because you ate too few calories that day.

JulieH70517

I have a condition where if I drink alcohol my body processes it quickly. If I drink 1/2 a beer or mixed drink, feels like I had 3 full drinks. Had to stop drinking alcohol 20+ years ago. Now I was thinking, maybe that is what's happening with food. I can eat a balanced meal, about 350-400 calories and in less than an hour feels like I did not eat anything. Makes me go hummmm.

kshama2001

You mentioned combatting fatigue. At times yes, my brain does feel a bit fatigued. And when I have chocolate or something starchy like crackers, I usually feel energized again. What can give me the same boost that doesn't contain calories?

crb426 wrote: »

For me, exercise makes me feel more energetic. A good workout in the morning gives me a "buzz" for most of the day. Bonus, by the end of the day I am exhausted and fall asleep a lot more easily.

Just pay attention to make sure your fatigue is not because you ate too few calories that day.

Another vote for exercise earlier in the day. I lost my job last year, but previously worked hard to create the habit of exercising at lunch time. This and a balanced lunch would prevent afternoon crashes and munchies, and make me more productive at work and through the evening.

Good point about under-eating causing fatigue.

Also, if lack of sleep is the issue, get more sleep. This may sound super obvious, but I personally have to work very hard at my sleep hygiene in order to ensure a good night's sleep, all the way down to what I read to get back to sleep if I've awakened in the middle of the night - it must be interesting, but not super engaging, which would keep me up. Rereads are best for me (if I remember what happened.) I can get to Wikipedia from my Kindle, and have often fallen back asleep to that. My ear plugs must be just right, etc., etc. I'm the Goldilocks of Sleep Hygiene, lol.

kshama2001

FiberousJ wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I agree that you need to be well nourished in all the nutrients in order to feel satisfied.

So...do that. That is my suggestion. If I eat a well balanced three meals with the right combination of Protein, Fats, and Carbs and I am getting enough iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, then I'm good. If I'm lacking something my brain will tell me to keep eating.

A varied plan is the best. Nuts, legumes, a wide variety of whole fruit and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein including fish and dairy.

I make it a goal to get 800g of fruit or vegetables every day. Start there. Lots of different ones. Apples are good, but what about berries, melons, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, celery, carrots, bananas, broccoli and cauliflower, etc.? I have an apple maybe once a week and the rest of the time I'm busy trying to get a variety of other plants.

Interesting. I agree. Now, if I'm feeling a little hungry later at night, what do you think is the number one snack I can eat that still gives me all the nutrients, but prevents me from a binge? I heard dark chocolate was great. However, there's a problem with dark chocolate. I can't really stop eating it, so that defeats the purpose.

I absolutely cannot moderate chocolate BARS, but can moderate chocolate CHIPS or the 50-70 calorie Ghirardelli squares.

A mini meal without fruits or veggies (because of the water content and my tiny bladder) works well for me as a bed time snack. For example, a small tortilla wrap (the 70 calorie ones) plus chicken or tuna) followed by my Ghirardelli square. Protein right before bed appears to be helpful for me. I get sufficient fiber earlier in the day and find this really helpful.

What's your fiber goal and how well do you hit it? I thought mine was 25 but recently realized it was only 21. I upped it to 25 and plan to up it again soon.

kshama2001

JulieH70517 wrote: »

I have a condition where if I drink alcohol my body processes it quickly. If I drink 1/2 a beer or mixed drink, feels like I had 3 full drinks. Had to stop drinking alcohol 20+ years ago. Now I was thinking, maybe that is what's happening with food. I can eat a balanced meal, about 350-400 calories and in less than an hour feels like I did not eat anything. Makes me go hummmm.

My breakfast is 300 calories but it includes 11 grams of fiber, which is a lot for that few calories.

What's your fiber goal and how well do you hit it most days?

I'm hungrier at dinner time, and plan for over 500 calories for that, but I can get away with one in the 400s if it looks like 100 g cooked chicken breast, 100 g cooked broccoli, 120 g potato, and a little fat. I need the protein from the chicken, bulk and fiber from the broc, and satiety from the potatoes and possibly fat. (I love fat but don't find it especially satiating.)

Do experiment with what macro mix works best to fill you up. Some people are satisfied while eating vegan and some while eating keto, which have vastly different macro mixes and amount of bulk.

JulieH70517

Thanks for the info kshama2001. I don't have a fiber goal or keep track of anything other than calories. I'll have to start a hunger chart and see if it's the same depending on what I eat.

meeppeepneep

I don't have a problem with hunger now, but I do still have a problem that my brain wants fat and carbs, mostly in the form of pastries and chocolate, and crisps. That in combination with me doing "intermittent fasting" and I ended up eating way to much (because I hadn't eaten all day I could eat an entire pizza! and cookies, and soda, and...). Training myself to actually eat normal meals took a long time and I still eat more in the afternoon because that is when I have most free time and have time to want food.

My solution was to buy stupid expensive and delicious ice-cream. And I could have a bowl of it for dessert if I kept to a healthy diet for the rest of the day. That and setting up a strict food budget and not going to the store everyday so that I didn't have the chance to "accidentally" get a family pack of crisps because it was on offer.

lorib642

I find the full feeling from fat is worth the tradeoff for calories, I can drink coffee with cream and be content all morning. i like veggies with cream cheese.

I watched a show on "naturally slim" people. The people they followed ate more home cooked meals that were not high calorie. They were active (one was real fidgety). They would splurge once in a while but the calories over the week were maintenance, When they ate they sat down and made it a meal.

spiriteagle99

I will usually eat a snack at night since I eat dinner at 6 pm and go to bed around 1 a.m. A banana or half an apple and a slice of cheese work well for me. Sometimes I'll do a grapefruit or orange or a slice of wheat bread and butter. If I don't eat at night when I'm hungry, I won't sleep. Two or three hours later I'll get up and be absolutely starving, so I've learned to listen to the hunger cues that hit at 10 or 11:00.

Family teaches us initially how to eat. I was raised to eat very large portions, thanks to overweight parents and older brothers, and usually to eat seconds. We also always had dessert after dinner and usually with lunch, plus mid-afternoon snacks. I learned to cut down my portions and to skip eating seconds, but i still have a sweet tooth. I usually have dessert. That's fine when I include it in my plans for the day. The hard part was learning to resist the voice that wants a donut in the middle of the afternoon or a blueberry muffin or some other utterly unnecessary treat. I've learned to just put it off. I don't tell myself I can never have the donut, I do say I'll have it another day when I've got some extra calories from a hard workout, or I'll have it instead of my breakfast cereal or peanut butter sandwich for lunch. I'm a master procrastinator and that works to keep my extra treats to one every few weeks instead of the one almost every day I was doing when I was gaining weight.

Godlord1488

processed food:fiber one nips and shiritaki.noodles

unprocessed: PAM coconut oil sauteed Kale with mushrooms and cut watermelon

joyanna2016

You mentioned in a response to someone that you are working out "3 to 4 hours a day" Even though you are filling up with a lot of fiber and your stomach is "full" , maybe you are actually not eating enough, hence the cravings? How many calories do you eat a day and how many do you figure you burn working out? What is your rate of weight loss? Maybe you addressed this already and I just missed it.