the hunger smashing blueprint

Hey Reader,

If you have ever tried to lose weight by eating less, you know that ultimately there is no way of winning a battle with your hunger.

But is there actually a way to win?

I am going to show you something I found from 1995 that has helped me win this battle against my hunger.

Quick backstory first.

Has this ever been you? Definitely was me.

You eat a meal or snack and an hour later you're thinking:

“Damn, I am already hungry again!”

This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME.

I could’ve eaten 1000 calories in one sitting but my body didn’t care.

I was hungry again.

And this was especially problematic when I was trying to lose body fat.

I didn’t have all the calories in the world to play with.

I couldn’t eat a 1000-calorie meal and have it not leave me full and satisfied.

But it all changed for me when I found a study from 1995 done at the University of Sydney, Australia.

They wanted to measure “satiety.”

And give foods a “satiety score” on how well it satisfies your hunger.

My initial thought when finding this study was, “they better equate for calories!”

And they did!

Studies are a pain to read so I made this “all you need to know” summary of how they structured the whole study.

How They Did It:

Food Samples: They tested 38 different foods like fruits, snacks, proteins, and cereals.
Serving Size: Each person got a serving of food with the same amount of calories (250 calories to be exact).
Participants: Groups of 11-13 people ate the food.
Measuring Fullness: After eating, the participants rated how full they felt every 15 minutes for 2 hours.
Free Eating: After 2 hours, they could eat and drink as much as they wanted from a standard selection of foods.

Calculating the Satiety Index (SI):

They created a score called the Satiety Index to measure how filling each food was compared to white bread.
White bread was given a score of 100.
They calculated how full people felt after eating each food and compared it to how full they felt after eating white bread.

The results were fascinating but also made a ton of sense.

It validated why I call myself a literal human potato lol.

Highest Satiety Score: Boiled potatoes made people feel the fullest, with a score of 323.

Lowest Satiety Score: Croissants made people feel the least full, with a score of 47.

That’s why I stay on the homemade French Fries every day for lunch diet!

Keep my hunger begging for mercy!

Here is the full list of score results for all 38 foods:

So what are the key takeaways from this study that you can apply to your diet today?

A framework for looking at foods that will keep you full:

Protein: Foods with lots of protein, like beef or white fish, make you feel full for a long time. Makes sense because protein is the most satiating macronutrient.
Carbohydrates: Some carbs scored well. Some did not. The more complex/whole food carbs did better than the low fiber/highly processed ones.
Fats: This study did not do a great job highlighting true whole-food fat sources. It was all the baked goods and processed food that had fats thus leading to a conclusion on fats that isn’t all true. Yes, fats are lower volume in general but I know they’d rank higher if more variety of true fat sources like nuts and avocados were used.
Fiber: Foods with a lot of fiber, like fruits and vegetables, help you stay full and have fewer calories. These foods have higher water content as well which helps with tackling hunger.

Limitations of the Satiety Index:

The protein source list of this study was pretty limited. The only true protein source evaluated was Beef, Eggs, and “Ling Fish” (Cod for us Americans.) And we don’t know how lean the beef was.
The Satiety Index only shows how filling a food is, not how nutritious it is. For example, jellybeans rank high on the Satiety Index because they made people feel slightly sick and not want to eat more lol.
Fats were done dirty in this study because true fat sources were not evaluated. Aka a croissant is not a true dominant fat source. Yes, it’s high fat but it’s also high carb as well.

So all in all, this study is just another example of what I believe to be true.

80% of our diets should be whole, minimally processed, micronutrient-dense foods.

20% of our diets can be the lower volume, higher calorie foods we know and love.