What is it that defines one food as more “fattening’ than another food?
Is it whether it is low-fat? Low-carb? High Protein? Low energy-density? Its fibre content? It’s Glycemic Index?
The answer is simply – which foods are the most filling for the least number of calories.
All of the major diet trends, I’ve mentioned above, have been successful because they have found one food property which contributes to a food being more filling for fewer calories, thus enabling easier weight loss and greater success.
All of the food properties listed above contribute to a food being more filling for fewer calories, so for example, in general, lowering the fat content of foods will make them more filling for fewer calories, increasing the protein content will do the same, as will lowering the energy density, glycaemic index and increasing fibre content.
However, it is a mistake to apply only one of these factors and take that as the only criteria by which we measure the ‘fatteningness’ of all foods.
For example, ranking all food according to its fat content and believing that this will be an accurate way of ranking all foods according to their ‘fatteningness’, would be misleading.
For example, a low fat ice-cream is actually more ‘fattening’ than a steak, which could be a lot higher in fat.
The reason for this is that a steak has many other food properties which make it more filling for fewer calories, despite its higher fat content.
The other filling food properties it owns, such as its high protein content and chewiness, outweigh the negative effects of its fat content, in terms of being filling.
Although , it would still be fair to say that cutting off any fatty parts of the steak would reduce it’s ‘fatteningness’ further still.
Another example, would be using the Glycaemic Index by which to judge any foods ‘fatteningness’.
Although, often a lower GI value would indicate that a food would be less fattening, this is not always the case.
For example, a chocolate bar has a lower GI value than parsnips.
Chocolate bars are in fact more fattening than parsnips, because the negative food property of a chocolate bar, i.e. its being very high in fat, outweighs the positive effects of it’s having a lower GI value, in terms of its being more filling.
What I have just pointed out is that each food has to be evaluated, individually, according to its filling or fattening food properties, and when all these factors are taken into account, it can be judged as more or less fattening than other foods.
The main factors , which contribute to a foods value in terms of its being more or less fattening are;
1) Fat content – lower the better.
2) Protein content – higher the better
3) Water content – higher the better
4) Soluble-fibre content – higher the better.
But how do we evaluate each food, weighing up the different factors, to determine which foods are in fact more filling and less fattening?
This can only be done by individually testing different foods to determine their ‘filling-ness’.
Luckily for us, this has actually been done, in a research study.
The study measures how filling individual foods are, for a set number of calories, thereby enabling the ranking of specific foods, from the least to the most filling, for a set number of calories.
The results of this study provide the most accurate ranking of an individual foods ‘fattening-ness’ compared to other foods, ever made.
It has been named the Satiety Index and this is the ranking index by which I now make my food choices, as I know that the foods which rank higher will be the foods which will fill me up for the fewest calories, thereby enabling me to take in fewer calories more easily, resulting in greater weight-loss success.
You can read more about ‘The Satiety Index’ and find The Satiety Index chart, which shows a lot of the most commonly eaten foods, as ranked according to their ability to satisfy hunger and stave off further food cravings, by following the above link.
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