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Plainly put: I like eating. However, my eating habits lead to me being overweight and adds possibility of health complications later on.

I was wondering if there are any healthy foods (low cal, low fat, low carb, low sugar, etc) that I would get full on and not make a significant dent in my recommended daily limit. What sort of raw veggies would be good? Anything that isn't a veggie/fruit?

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2 Answers 2

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The biggest non-food food is lettuce. In particular Iceburg lettuce will take up space in your stomach, but not have any appreciable impact on your diet.

However, and I speak from experience, protein keeps you satiated longer than other sources of food. Some people who emphasize protein in their diets, actually have a hard time eating all their recommended Calories.

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What kind of protein would you recommend? From what I understand things like steaks have very high fat content as well. –  maxmackie Jan 25 '12 at 18:48
Which is again, pretty satiating. However, white chicken meat, and fish are high in protein and lower in fat/calories. –  Berin Loritsch Jan 25 '12 at 19:47
Yes protein is quite satiating, isn't it. I notice this after drinking whey protein. I wonder if a low carbohydrate protein shake might be diet aid. –  silasdavis Jan 26 '12 at 14:46

Food that is high in fiber might help. (Since almost by definition, fiber is not well-digestible and just takes up room in your stomach.) Oatmeal comes to mind: 360kcal/100g (approx. 2/3rd that of chocolate), 12.5% protein, which is pretty ok for non-meat (about the level of soy beans), approx. 10% fiber, almost no simple sugar carbs.

Unsweetened porridge with just a few raisins or so in it has a favourable glycaemic index, which means it gives you a long steady even blood sugar level (no sugar rush or hypoglycemia), so you'll not get hungry again quickly, and it'll soak up more liquid in your stomach, filling you more. Depending on your taste and how many raisins you put in, you might also not want to eat too much of it in the first place. ;)

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Thanks, that sounds good! –  maxmackie Jan 25 '12 at 20:20
Be warned, you can have too much fiber, which will leach vitamins/minerals from your intestines before they can be absorbed. Total fiber should be somewhere between 20-35g for the day. Too much and you do more harm than good. Too little and you have constipation issues. –  Berin Loritsch Jan 26 '12 at 14:50
@berin: good point, thanks. I guess I'm conditioned towards the western industrial attitude, which is "no matter what you do, you're too heavy on fat, sugar and salt and too light on veg and fiber". –  Ulrich Schwarz Jan 26 '12 at 19:22

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