The 4 best ways to trick your stomach into feeling fuller for longer

Satiety. It’s a thing that we as humans chase every day. If we are not satisfied, we overeat. If we overeat, we gain weight. If we gain too much weight we look and feel terrible. There are ways (healthy ones!) to trick your stomach into feeling fuller for longer. Here are the top 4 I have researched for you today.

So how big is your stomach?

Well, not even the scientists can really agree. I found a great chart at this website and you can see that it ranges in size from 0.8 litres to a whopping 4 litres. That’s a maximum of 7 UK pints or over 1 US gallon.

Here are some ways you can ‘trick’ your stomach into feeling fuller for longer:

1. Eat fat:

As a kid in the 1990s, I had to suffer a lot of crappy “low fat” products. These are full of sugar, leave you unfulfilled and now I avoid them in general.

“I used to eat salad every day for lunch, with fat free dressing. I’d be starving in no time. When I wised up and started using an olive oil based salad dressing, instead of fat-free, I was less hungry. The healthy fat in olive oil slows down the digestive process, and increases satiety. The fat-free dressings are nothing but fake ingredients with lots of sugar. I’ll take olive oil any day.” Comment from Azure Sky (source)

2. Eat a variety of foods:

The book French Women Don’t Get Fat is a pretty interesting read and one thing I remember from the book was that you need to amuse your palette and give it a variety of foods and flavours with every meal to keep it satiated.

“From chocolate to champagne, eat slowly, with all your senses, and make every dining experience pleasurable so you will be satisfied with smaller portions of delicious food. No food is off limits, only large portions. No counting calories, no skipping meals — just control what you eat.” (source)

3. Eat protein:

I always try to eat protein with every meal, if I don’t, I often go hungry. Protein is great for curbing your appetite. “The average diet is about 15 per cent protein, which is adequate for growth, tissue repair and maintenance, but if you increase that to around 20 to 30 per cent of your calorie intake, you’re going to increase satiation significantly.” (source)

4. Drink water or other liquids:

Often we think we are hungry when really we are thirsty. I like to make sure that I am totally hydrated before I eat, also leaving 20 minutes after a meal before I eat again to make sure I am genuinely hungry.