Resistance is useless — your willpower is no match for food designed to be addictive.
Modern processed food is engineered to precisely hit our bliss points, maximising profits for Big Food at the expense of our health.
But the good news is, you’re not powerless in this fight. You can take control and fortify your body against the tempting pull of ultra-processed foods.
In our previous article, we delved into the nutrients that we crave the most: fats, sugar, carbohydrates, and salt. As you’ll learn in this article, once you trigger sensory-specific satiety by giving your body the nutrients needed to thrive, you’ll be free from the seduction of your kryptonite foods!
Key Nutrients that Silence Cravings
Protein is the primary satiety factor, but a higher concentration of minerals and vitamins can also trigger sensor-specific satiety and curb cravings for addictive foods.
The table below shows the satiety boosts you’ll get from moving from the bliss point to our Optimal Nutrient Intake (ONI) for each of these critical satiety-boosting nutrients.
| nutrient | ONI satiety | bliss point | ONI | units |
| protein | 43% | 15% | 40% | % |
| potassium | 38% | 1150 | 4000 | mg/2000 cal |
| riboflavin (B2) | 25% | 1.3 | 2.1 | mg/2000 cal |
| vitamin C | 21% | 115 | 240 | mg/2000 cal |
| calcium | 20% | 700 | 1650 | mg/2000 cal |
| sodium | 8% | 3000 | 5000 | mg/2000 cal |
| iron | 5% | 15 | 21 | mg/2000 cal |
Ensuring your food contains more than the minimum amount of these nutrients will proactively crush your cravings and reduce your appetite without swinging to extremes.
- Key Nutrients that Silence Cravings
- How the Food Addiction-Satiety Index Helps You Beat Overeating
- Essential Nutrients That Crush Cravings
- Protein: The Ultimate Satiety Booster
- Low Energy-Density Foods Fill You Up
- Sodium’s Surprising Role in Hunger Control
- Potassium: Your Hidden Hunger Fighter
- Calcium: Strengthening Bones and Reducing Appetite
- Fibre: The Unsung Hero of Satiety
- Iron & Satiety
- The Satiety Boosting Power of Vitamin B2-Rich Foods
- Stay Full and Healthy with Vitamin C
- Conclusion: Reclaim Control Over Your Cravings
- Resources to Crush Your Cravings
- More
How the Food Addiction-Satiety Index Helps You Beat Overeating
Your complex appetite constantly fights to balance the energy vs nutrients in your food.
Your cravings subside once you get enough of the nutrients you need to thrive. Sadly, in our modern food environment of engineered foods, getting the nutrients we need without excess energy is challenging.
Our latest iteration of our Food Addiction-Satiety Index includes 13 statistically significant nutrients in our craving-satiety response combined with the specific weightings that empower us to predict how much you’ll eat based on what you eat.
While all these nutrients have a bliss point concentration that aligns with maximum energy intake, they play different roles. Some of them we crave (like carbs, sugar, fat, and salt), while others have the magical power to make us feel satisfied, content, and at peace.
Maximising the concentration of a single nutrient (like protein) can be helpful, but it can also lead to unsustainable extremes. Instead, it’s better to focus on balancing the concentration of multiple nutrients that boost satiety and make us immune to the siren call of ultra-processed foods. This healthy balance is the key to controlling your cravings and achieving a more sustainable and nutritious diet.
Essential Nutrients That Crush Cravings
To set the scene, the table below shows the nutrients that align with greater satiety, sorted from highest to lowest maximum satiety (i.e. the maximum reduction that can be achieved by moving from the bliss point to extreme intakes of that nutrient).
| nutrient | max satiety | ONI satiety | ONI | bliss point | units |
| protein | 56% | 43% | 40% | 15% | % |
| energy density | 45% | 1,200 | g/2000 cal | ||
| sodium | 40% | 8% | 5000 | 3000 | mg/2000 cal |
| calcium | 39% | 20% | 1650 | 700 | mg/2000 cal |
| potassium | 39% | 38% | 4000 | 1150 | mg/2000 cal |
| fibre | 36% | 22 | g/2000 cal | ||
| iron | 31% | 5% | 21 | 15 | mg/2000 cal |
| sugar | 28% | 20% | % | ||
| riboflavin (B2) | 27% | 25% | 2.1 | 1.3 | mg/2000 cal |
| net carbs | 27% | 46% | % | ||
| vitamin C | 27% | 21% | 240 | 115 | mg/2000 cal |
| fat | 24% | 34% | % | ||
| carbs | 20% | 50% | % |
But you’ll see, the maximum is extreme and unachievable for most people. So, we’ve also shown the satiety that can be achieved by moving from the bliss point to our Optimal Nutrient Intake.
Protein: The Ultimate Satiety Booster
To explain this, let’s look at the craving-satiety response to protein (%).
Protein has an umami taste that we find pleasant. If our diet contains minimal protein, it will taste bland, and we’ll crave high-protein foods and eat more until we reach the 15% protein bliss point (i.e. the protein concentration that aligns with maximum energy intake). Towards the left, we see a slight (6%) craving for protein.
In line with protein leverage (Raubenheimer & Simpson, 2005; Leidy, Clifton, Astrup, et al., 2015), our analysis of six hundred thousand days of food intake data shows that people who consume an extreme 65% protein intake consume a massive 56% fewer calories than those who hit the 15% bliss point.
But if you’ve ever tried to increase your protein %, you’ll know that 65% is pretty extreme, especially for people following a lower-fat diet. As you can see from the chart below, most of us gravitate to the 15% bliss point protein intake.
To find a more rational balance, our Macros Masterclass guides Optimisers towards a more achieved 40% protein (i.e., the Optimal Nutrient Intake), which aligns with a 43% satiety response.
So, the protein concentration in your diet is the most significant satiety factor, but there are others you can use to crush your cravings more effectively and achieve a more balanced diet.
Low Energy-Density Foods Fill You Up
While protein leverage is the dominant satiety factor for people on a lower-carb diet, energy density is the dominant factor for people on a low-fat diet (Rolls, 2009). Food manufacturers like to optimise their foods’ energy density and fibre to get just the right crunch and mouthfeel to maximise intake.
The chart below shows that we eat the most when our diet has an energy density of 1200g/2000 calories (think burgers, pizza and processed food).
Towards the left of the chart, a more energy-dense diet aligns with eating less. Lower-carb foods, which are more energy-dense, tend to have more protein, which also has a satiety impact. But if we move from processed food that hits the energy density bliss point to only fruit and vegetables (with no added fat), we could achieve a 45% energy reduction.
But again, the low energy density extremes towards the right are pretty extreme. Few people live on only fruit, vegetables, and watery soups, which makes it challenging for most people to get the full benefits of a low-energy-density diet. We all gravitate back to the energy-density bliss point.
Sodium’s Surprising Role in Hunger Control
We have a robust conscious taste and craving for sodium, but if we add too much, our food quickly becomes ‘too salty’ (Mattes, 1997). Food manufacturers understand this and ensure their products are optimised to hit the sodium bliss point.
As shown in the chart below, moving from the sodium bliss point (3g/2000 calories) to 10 g/2000 calories aligns with a 40% reduction in energy.
But we don’t recommend you dump a bag of salt into every meal, especially if your blood pressure is high (Rahmani et al., 2021). Instead, we guide Optimisers to target a more modest 4 g/2000 calories. This ensures they get the sodium they need to satisfy their craving while eating less.
Potassium: Your Hidden Hunger Fighter
While most people find it easy to get plenty of sodium, potassium is typically a much more significant challenge. We don’t have a conscious craving for potassium, and it’s not used for fortification due to its bitter taste.
The data shows a bliss point for potassium at 1100 mg/2000 calories, which is pretty easy for most people to achieve, which is likely why we don’t crave potassium. However, increasing your potassium to the optimal nutrient intake of 4000 g/2000 calories results in a 38% reduction in energy intake compared to the bliss point intake of 1150 mg/2000 calories.
As you can see from the chart above, the Optimal Nutrient Intake has been set based on the point of diminishing returns. Getting even more potassium will not help much.
You can prioritise high-potassium foods if you’re not getting enough potassium.
But if you need to pack more potassium into your limited energy budget, you can focus on potassium-rich foods.
Incorporate potassium-rich foods like spinach, salmon, and sweet potatoes into your meals to increase your potassium intake and boost satiety. Aim for the optimal intake of 4,000 mg per 2,000 calories to feel fuller for longer.
Calcium: Strengthening Bones and Reducing Appetite
Along with potassium, calcium is a nutrient of public health concern because most people are getting less than the recommended minimum amount.
Calcium is crucial for our bones and teeth, but most people do not get enough. Increasing your calcium intake from the bliss point (700 mg/2000 calories) to the Optimal Nutrient Intake (1650 mg/2000 calories) results in a 20% reduction in energy intake. This is consistent with research showing that a calcium-rich diet leads to weight loss and better body composition (Campbell, 2005; Teegarden, 2005).
Getting an even higher calcium concentration in your diet could yield a massive 39% reduction in energy intake. Getting more than the optimal nutrient intake from foods is pretty hard.
Supplemental calcium is more likely to be stored in your arteries as plaque rather than in your bones and teeth where you want it, so it’s best to stick with high-calcium foods.
Fibre: The Unsung Hero of Satiety
Fibre isn’t an essential nutrient but a marker of minimally processed carbohydrates vs. refined carbohydrates in processed foods.
Like energy density, food manufacturers optimise their products for a specific mouthfeel, and the analysis indicates that 22 grams of fibre per 2000 calories aligns with the maximum energy intake.
In our Micros Masterclass, we don’t worry about prioritising fibre, as people get plenty of essential nutrients. Maxing out your fibre will make your food taste like sawdust and probably challenge most people’s gut. However, targeting 35 grams of fibre per 2000 calories is a reasonable stretch target to boost satiety from higher-fibre foods (Slavin, 2007; Roberts, 2001).
Iron & Satiety
Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutrient deficiency worldwide, especially in developing countries with limited access to animal-based foods.
Heme iron has a metallic taste, which triggers sensory-specific satiety once you’ve had enough (Gerhard, 2020). People who get 40 mg/2000 of iron eat 39% less energy.
However, maxing out your iron intake can contribute to haemochromatosis and throw out your iron:copper and iron:zinc ratios. Hence, we suggest Optimisers target an Optimal Nutrient Intake of 21 mg/2000 calories from iron-rich foods, which aligns with a 5% satiety impact.
The Satiety Boosting Power of Vitamin B2-Rich Foods
While it has a lower weighting in our Food Addiction-Satiety Index, foods with more vitamin B2 provide a substantial satiety boost.
While your multivitamin probably won’t help you eat less, foods naturally rich in riboflavin tend to be hard to overeat.
Stay Full and Healthy with Vitamin C
Similarly, foods with a higher concentration of vitamin C also align with eating less.
While high doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and vitamin B2 powder have a bitter taste, and vitamin C makes iron more bioavailable, it’s hard to know if we have a subtle, specific appetite for these vitamins or if they are just a signature of more satisfying minimally processed whole foods (Johnson, 2005). Regardless, they both help improve our satiety algorithm’s accuracy based on six hundred thousand days of food intake data.
Conclusion: Reclaim Control Over Your Cravings
In a world full of engineered temptations, breaking free from cravings might feel impossible. But instead of relying on sheer willpower, you can take a more innovative approach by nourishing your body with essential nutrients that trigger natural satiety. Start prioritising nutrient-dense foods today, and you’ll overcome cravings and gain energy, improve your health, and enjoy a sustainable, balanced diet.
Focusing on satiety-boosting nutrients like protein, potassium, calcium, and essential vitamins such as B2 and C can activate your body’s natural signals to feel satisfied and content.
| nutrient | ONI satiety | bliss point | ONI | units |
| protein | 43% | 15% | 40% | % |
| potassium | 38% | 1150 | 4000 | mg/2000 cal |
| riboflavin (B2) | 25% | 1.3 | 2.1 | mg/2000 cal |
| vitamin C | 21% | 115 | 240 | mg/2000 cal |
| calcium | 20% | 700 | 1650 | mg/2000 cal |
| sodium | 8% | 3000 | 5000 | mg/2000 cal |
| iron | 5% | 15 | 21 | mg/2000 cal |
Imagine breaking free from the relentless pull of addictive foods—not by deprivation, but by fulfilling your body’s nutritional needs. As you prioritise these critical nutrients, you’ll find that your cravings diminish, your energy levels stabilise, and your overall health improves. It’s about creating a sustainable balance that empowers you to make mindful food choices without swinging to extremes.
Incorporate nutrient-dense foods into your daily meals to take the first step towards a healthier you. Listen to your body’s cues, and let the power of optimal nutrition guide you towards lasting satiety and well-being.
Remember, overcoming cravings isn’t a battle you must fight alone or with sheer determination. By loading your diet with the nutrients that promote satiety, you’re not just resisting temptation but transcending it. Embrace this approach and unlock a path to a more satisfying and healthful life.
Resources to Crush Your Cravings
Modelling our complex appetite is no small task, so we’ve created several resources to help you speed up the process and escape the clutches of addictive foods.
Our high-satiety foods highlight the foods with more of the nutrients that play the most significant role in the satiety equation.
Meanwhile, our nutrient-dense foods will show you how to leap over the bliss point and achieve optimal nutrient intake for all the essential nutrients.
To explore the details, check out our interactive food search tool, which will show you how your favourite foods rank in terms of satiety and nutrient density.
There are also our suites of NutriBooster recipe books tailored to a range of goals and preferences.
Ready to take control of your cravings and level up your health? Join our Macros Masterclass or Micros Masterclass to learn more about optimising your nutrient intake for sustainable weight loss and better satiety. Connect with a community of like-minded individuals on your journey to better nutrition and health.
