Ideas to help you feel full

Nobody likes to feel hungry. It can make it harder to concentrate at school or college, make you feel less energetic and make you choose less healthy foods.

For some people, their body might be less sensitive to feelings of fullness and so they feel hungry more quickly after a meal, or it may take longer for their body to realise they have eaten, and so eat more than needed.

Whatever the cause there are some things you can do to help you feel more full and therefore be less likely to need snacks and larger portions.

Switch off your screens

Avoid electronic devices such as TVs, phones, laptops and games consoles while eating. This helps you to focus on your food and help your body recognise when you are full.

Choose foods that make you feel full

High fibre foods are digested more slowly and give your steady release of energy after a meal. This will keep your body going for longer so you do not get hungry as soon. High fibre foods include:

• wholemeal bread
• wholegrain cereals
• brown rice
• wholemeal pasta
• fruits
• vegetables

Make sure to include a source of protein at mealtimes. Protein makes you feel fuller for longer. Protein is found in:

• pulses
• eggs
• meat
• fish
• nuts
• dairy such as milk, yoghurt, and cheese
• tofu
• Quorn meat substitutes

Drink water

It is easy to mistake thirst for hunger. Have a drink of water and wait 15 minutes to see if this stops your hunger. Have a drink of water before meals and snacks as well, and have water during the meal. This will fill up your stomach so you eat less.

Slow down your eating

It can take time for your body to recognise it is full. Slowing down your eating will help you know when you have eaten enough. The following is some ideas to help with this:

• Sit at a table and eat with other people. Try eating with at least one other person or as a whole family. Chatting about your day will slow down your eating.
• Use a knife and fork or other utensils and put them down between mouthfuls.
• Chew more. Count how many times you normally chew a mouthful of food and then gradually increase how many chews you take before you swallow.
• Take smaller bites. Putting less on your fork and taking smaller bites helps the food last longer which helps your body to recognise when it has had enough.
• Eat foods that need chewing. Crunchy or fibrous foods such as fruits, vegetables and nuts will slow down your meal.
• Use a timer. Set a timer for 20 minutes and try to make your meal last until the timer goes off.

Avoid ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods are foods that are made on an industrial scale in factories and often come in bright appealing packaging to sell them to us. These foods have been designed by food scientists to make them “hyper-palatable”. This means they are very easy to eat, taste delicious and make you want to eat more of them. They contain refined ingredients which means your body digests them and stores the energy in them very easily but at the same time make you more hungry. You can eat bigger portions of these foods and you need to eat sooner after finishing them.

You can spot an ultra-processed food by reading the food label. If it contains lots of ingredients that you do not understand, or that you would not find in your kitchen at home, then the food is likely to be ultra-processed.

For example frozen roast potatoes or potato waffles may contain potato starch, wheat starch, sugars such as dextrose, plus other flavourings. A jar of pasta sauce may contain modified maize starch, milk protein, or palm fat. They often have added sugar and contain more fat and salt than food cooked at home from ingredients, as well as less fibre.

Around half of the food bought in the UK is ultra-processed. To change this, where possible, make foods from scratch at home. It does not need to be anything fancy. A tin of tomatoes, some onions, dried herbs and other vegetables can make a very nice pasta sauce. Roast potatoes can be made using potatoes and a small amount of oil such as vegetable or olive oil. You can even keep the skin on for extra fibre to help keep you fuller for longer.

Can you think of any simple swaps you can make to the foods you buy and cook to make them less processed?