Do you want to try a way of eating that leaves you satisfied instead of hungry, includes foods you love to eat, and helps improve your weight and health?
Whether you are new to our site or an experienced low carb eater who is looking to break a stall or try something a little different, we're excited to bring you a new way to think about food: higher-satiety eating.
It's important to note that this approach is very compatible with low carb. A lower carb diet tends to be higher in satiety as well.
However, I believe that this new approach has two major benefits compared to a strict low carb diet: it can allow you to eat more flexibly, and get better results.
What is higher-satiety eating?
Higher-satiety foods help you feel as full as possible for the fewest number of calories. You can think of "satiety" as the opposite of hunger, but it's more than that. It's the opposite of wanting to eat more.
Many factors influence satiety. Over the last year, using the best available research evidence and clinical experience, we've developed a new algorithm that takes into account the protein percentage, energy density, fiber content, and hedonic factors of various foods. All of these factors affect your feelings of satisfaction or hunger.
So now, we're providing a satiety score for different foods and all our recipes to help you know which ones are higher satiety. Our site scores each food on a scale from 0 to 100; higher scores mean more satiety per calorie. This means that higher scores are more effective for helping you lose excess weight or improve your metabolic health, with no hunger.
Foods that score between 40 and 59 are moderate satiety, while foods above 60 are high satiety. We suggest you get started by aiming for meals that deliver a combined score of around 50 or higher to eat for higher satiety.
Our testing indicates that this 50+ approach (on average) may be enough for many people to be successful. There's definitely no need to aim for a "perfect" 100 all the time. This is a very flexible approach.
An expansion of our low carb offerings
As the founder and CEO of Diet Doctor, I've been driven for the last 20 years to empower people to dramatically improve their health. That means always re-evaluating nutrition and health science, and adjusting and updating our advice to be able to help the greatest number of people possible.
I've been on some version of a low carb diet myself for these 20 years. Over the last few years, I've gone towards a higher protein and now a higher-satiety version of low carb, following new science. The result? More flexibility, easier eating, and better results.
I've never so effortlessly stayed at my goal weight before. My metabolic health markers have never been better. I eat better food, and have far more flexibility. Easier and better, at the same time! What's not to love?
Now it's time to make this evidence-based approach easily available to anyone who is interested.
If you've been eating a low carb or keto diet, especially with higher amounts of protein, you have already been adopting a higher-satiety way of eating. If you love how you are currently doing with your low carb approach, there is no need to change a thing.
But we know that some people stall on low carb or keto, sometimes because they are eating more fat than they need. Others find keto too restrictive to sustain over months and years.
Just as we introduced higher protein meal plans and advice a year ago, our new, higher-satiety option is an expansion of our low carb advice to enable more people to find the best, most flexible approach for them. It's an evolution of the same underlying fundamental idea of eating better foods that you can love.
Fundamentally, healthy eating is not about eating less. It's not about restriction, hunger, guilt, and shame.
Healthy eating is about eating better. You eat as much or as little as your body needs. No restrictions, no need to count calories. No guilt, just great food to enjoy, great food that gives you energy and strength, that nourishes your body and soul. That's what higher-satiety eating is about.
It sounds too good to be true, but it works. Studies have demonstrated over and over that foods with these properties - higher protein, lower energy density, more fiber, less hedonic reward - consistently lead to people spontaneously eating far less, while still feeling equally satisfied. It just works.
It's an evolution. Low carb, but better.
Also, while we are still the #1 low-carb site, if you aren't interested in low carb eating, that's no problem! Higher-satiety eating can be applied to all diets and all macronutrient compositions.
So check out our introductory guides and higher-satiety meal plans. And watch our news feed for more links to other higher-satiety resources, coming soon.