One of the biggest complaints people come to me with is how hungry they get when they diet.
Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that a big problem is the recipes that they are making.
Their food often lacks two key critical components – volume and flavor.
And if you want to know how to prevent hunger when dieting, you really need to understand those two components.
If you don’t have enough bulk added to your recipes, your body is going to burn through it quickly and your blood sugar levels will crash and burn.
Additionally, if your food doesn’t actually taste good – then you won’t be satisfied and therefore will want to seek out more food.
The solution is two-fold and in this article, I’m going to break down exactly how to prevent hunger while dieting.
Preventing Hunger Solution #1: Up Your Volume
Dieting is all about energy balance and while you need to be burning more than you consume, you don’t have to feel starved during the process.
The first solution is to add more low-calorie substances to your recipes so that your portion sizes become larger…but only from a volume perspective.
The actual total caloric content of the plate won’t change much but you’ll get to eat a whole lot more.
For example, greek yogurt is a popular diet food because of its low calorie but high protein content.
And while you could just go for a flavored greek yogurt, you would be way more satisfied by making your own concoction like the one in the photo above.
This massive bowl packed with a variety of ingredients only contains 250 calories.
First, I started with ½ cup of plain greek yogurt.
Then I added 1/4 cup of raw oats.
This is our first fiber addition which is going to help keep us full.
Next, I added ¼ cup of blueberries for some sweetness and more fiber.
Berries contain a lot of fiber but not a lot of calories.
The quarter cup of these blueberries we added only contains 20 calories!
Next, we are going to add in 1 tsp of some chia seeds and ½ tbs of pumpkin seeds for some texture.
Chia seeds are interesting because they contain soluble fiber and mucilage.
These two components allow chia seeds to absorb water and expand which means you stay full for longer.
Finally, we are going to hit our bowl of yogurt with 2 tsp of honey for some sweetness.
As you can see, this bowl has a ton of volume and therefore will help keep you full for longer than if you just opted for a pre-flavored greek yogurt.
Those pre-flavored greek yogurts often contain around the same calories but with none of the added fiber that we added to our bowl.
Fibrous ingredients like the ones we added to our yogurt bowl don’t cost you a ton of extra calories and any calories that they do cost you – are worth it from a satiety perspective.
Preventing Hunger Solution #2: Up Your Flavor
I can’t tell you how many times I see people getting frustrated and hungry during their diets because their food lacks flavor.
Most people think that they have to eat plain in order to lose body fat.
And while plain foods tend to have fewer calories, you can still doctor up your recipes with low-calorie flavorful ingredients.
For example, you could just serve your plate with a side of brown rice and while it would be low calorie, it isn’t going to taste like much nor leave you feeling satisfied.
But if we doctored that same brown rice up with a bunch of spices and veggies, not only will it look way more appealing but it will taste way better and leave you feeling satisfied.
First I made the brown and set it aside.
Next, I sauteed a handful of eggplant, carrot, onions, and yellow summer squash together on a high and dry heat until they had a roasted consistency to them.
This will take a little while because most of the water from the veggies needs to evaporate.
Stir occasionally to ensure that they don’t burn.
The onion will impart sweetness to our brown rice and the eggplant will provide a mild bitter complement.
The carrot will add earthy-sweet undertones and a nice color pop.
Right before I took them off of the pan, I added in a teaspoon of whole cumin seeds and allowed them to toast and become fragrant.
Cumin seeds impart a nutty and earthy flavor that will really brighten up this dish and add depth.
I also added 5 fenugreek seeds.
Fenugreek is a super interesting spice that is sweet and pungent.
It imparts a caramel-like warming quality to any dish it is added to.
I also added in a few pine nuts for some added texture and rich buttery flavor.
The reason I added them in at the end was that you only want to lightly toast them to prevent them from burning.
This will liberate the aromatic properties of the cumin and fenugreek and really make that flavor pop!
I highly recommend that you get your spices whole because they are so much more flavorful than the ground stuff that has been sitting on the grocery store shelf.
Finally, add a pinch of salt to finish the veggies off.
Now all I did was fold our veggie mixture into the brown rice.
This brown rice side dish became 100 times more flavorful and appealing by just adding in a few ingredients that don’t cost any extra calories.
While vegetables do contain a small amount of calories, I never include them in my recipe totals because it is practically nominal unless you are dealing with a super large quantity of starchy vegetables.
If you want to know how to prevent hunger when dieting, start to think about how you can enhance the flavor of your diet recipes.
I promise you will feel a lot more satisfied with your dishes.
Satiety is ultimately what is going to prevent you from being hungry when you diet and the two best ways to increase the satiety of a dish is to add volume and flavor!
You can find all of my volume and flavor-packed healthy low-calorie recipes here.
If you are struggling with being hungry while you diet, feel free to reach out in the comments below and I’d be happy to help you out!
Cheers and we’ll see you next time!