Seafood is a nutritional powerhouse that can play a pivotal role in achieving high satiety and optimal nutrient density.
By making informed choices about the seafood you consume, you can enjoy meals that fill you up and keep you satisfied.
Dive into the world of high-satiety fish and satiating seafood and discover how these nutrient-rich options can transform your diet and empower you to reach your health goals.
Seafood Satiety Scores
Making informed choices based on your goals is critical to maximizing satiation and nutrient density. When it comes to satiety, it’s hard to go wrong with high-satiety fish and satiating seafood.
- crab – 75%
- shrimp/prawns – 68%
- tuna – 66%
- squid – 64%
- anchovies – 63%
- cod – 60%
- mussels – 60%
- oysters – 53%
- mackerel – 52%
- caviar – 50%
- sardines – 48%
- salmon – 51%
- Seafood Satiety Scores
- What is Satiety?
- The Science Behind Staying Full with Seafood
- Seafood Packs a Protein Punch
- Healthy Fats: Your Energy Lever
- Seafood Satisfies Your Sodium Cravings
- Calcium: Boost Your Bone Strength
- Iron-Rich: The Hidden Benefit of Seafood
- Potassium Packed Seafood
- Satiety vs Nutrient Density
- The Health Benefits of Seafood
- How Can I Add High-Satiety Seafood to My Day?
- Your Personalised Satiety Formula
- Optimise Your Diet for Higher Satiety
- Level Up Your Nutrition Game
- Explore More Satiating Foods
What is Satiety?
Satiety is the absence of hunger.
High-satiety foods, such as high-protein seafood, help you feel full quickly and maintain that fullness over the long term.
Including high-satiety fish can significantly enhance your satiety and nutrient intake.
Decoding Satiety Scores: Why Seafood is a Winner
Cravings for energy from fats, carbohydrates, and other nutrients like minerals, vitamins, and amino acids influence our food intake.
Foods that meet nutrient needs with fewer calories trigger sensory-specific satiety with less energy, reducing your chances of overeating.
Higher-protein, nutritious seafood provides greater satiety per calorie by satisfying your nutrient cravings more efficiently.
The Science Behind Staying Full with Seafood
Understanding a few key concepts can help you avoid confusion and make better food choices tailored to your goals.
- Satiation is the short-term feeling of fullness that makes us want to stop eating.
- Satiety is simply the absence of hunger regardless of how much energy you consume to achieve it.
- Meanwhile, satiety per calorie also considers the amount of energy we need to satisfy our hunger each day.
- We experience sensory-specific satiety when we get more than the bliss point minimum amount of certain nutrients.
Seafood is packed with protein and nutrients, triggering sensory-specific satiety with less energy. Incorporating these into your diet can lead to better satiety and weight management.
Seafood Packs a Protein Punch
As the chart below shows, seafood packs a lot of protein per calorie, meaning we can quickly get all the protein we need with much less energy. Even the fattiest seafood options, like mackerel and salmon, still contain more than 50% protein!
Healthy Fats: Your Energy Lever
Very low-fat foods are hard to overconsume; hence, lower-fat seafood options like tuna and shrimp are hard to overeat and ideal for aggressive weight loss.
Seafood Satisfies Your Sodium Cravings
We crave sodium in food when we need more. But once we get the salt we need, our cravings for sodium tend to shut off.
Being from the sea, seafood contains plenty of sodium to trigger sensory-specific satiety and crush out salt cravings with less enegy. You’re less likely to be seduced by a salty bag of chips after your seafood dinner.
Calcium: Boost Your Bone Strength
Seafood can also be a great source of bioavailable calcium, another significant satiety factor, further boosting the satiety score of mackerel and sardines.
Iron-Rich: The Hidden Benefit of Seafood
While steak often gets the limelight for being a great source of iron, some seafood also packs a satiety punch with extra iron.
Iron has a metallic taste, so when we get more than the minimum, our appetite for high-iron foods like tuna and sardines switches off.
Potassium Packed Seafood
Seafood is a solid potassium source, another significant satiety factor. Potassium tastes bitter, so once we get more than we need, our subtle cravings for high-potassium foods quiet down.
Satiety vs Nutrient Density
As you can see, nutrient density plays a crucial role in satiety.
Foods high in protein and essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and potassium, such as seafood, are more likely to satisfy hunger effectively and efficiently without excess energy. High-protein seafood provides the nutrients we need without excessive calories, helping us maintain a balanced diet and manage our weight.
The chart below shows that seafood has excellent satiety and nutrient density scores. If your main priorities are rapid weight loss and maximising nutrient density, prioritise seafood in the top right corner of the chart.
To explore the landscape of seafood and other high-satiety nutritious foods, check out our interactive food search tool to learn more. For greater satiety, choose foods towards the right. To nourish your body, choose foods towards the top of the chart.
If you’d prefer, you can download printable high-satiety food lists in our Optimising Nutrition Community here.
The Health Benefits of Seafood
- Seafood is an excellent source of high-quality protein, essential vitamins, and minerals crucial for optimal health.
- Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, seafood supports heart health and brain function and reduces inflammation. Additionally, the high protein content in seafood helps with muscle maintenance and repair while promoting satiety and aiding in weight management.
- Incorporating a variety of seafood into your diet ensures you receive a broad spectrum of nutrients, making it a valuable addition to any healthy eating plan.
How Can I Add High-Satiety Seafood to My Day?
Incorporating high-satiety seafood into your diet is easy:
- Start by including seafood like tuna, salmon, shrimp, and sardines in your weekly meal plan. You can enjoy these as grilled fillets, in salads, or as a hearty seafood stew.
- Canned seafood on a salad makes for a simple and nutritious lunch.
- Try adding seafood to your favourite dishes to boost their nutritional value and satiety.
Your Personalised Satiety Formula
While our satiety formula is calibrated using 619,301 days of data from people eating a range of diets all over the world, unfortunately, there is no perfect one-size-fits-all satiety algorithm.
The nutrients you need to prioritise to crush your cravings are unique to you. To understand your priority nutrients and the foods and meals that will complete your unique nutritional fingerprint, check out our free Nutrient Clarity Challenge.
Optimise Your Diet for Higher Satiety
If you need help optimising your diet for greater satiety, you can join our Macros Masterclass. Over four weeks, we guide Optimisers like you to find the right balance of protein, fat and carbs and the shortlist of nutrients that provide greater satiety.
Level Up Your Nutrition Game
Once you’re ready to take your nutrition to the next level and move from the bliss points towards the optimal nutrient intakes for all the essential nutrients, you’ll love our Micros Masterclass.
Embrace High-Satiety Seafood
Incorporating high-satiety fish and seafood into your diet can significantly enhance your journey towards better nutrition and weight management.
These nutrient-dense options keep you fuller for longer and provide essential vitamins and minerals that support overall health.
By choosing protein-rich and filling seafood, you can meet your nutritional needs more efficiently and enjoy sustainable satiety.
What’s Your Experience?
We’d love to hear from you! Have you tried incorporating high-satiety fish and protein-rich seafood into your diet? What are your favourite ways to stay fuller longer with high-satiety meals?
Share your experiences and tips in the comments below! Your insights could help others on their journey to better nutrition, satiety, and weight management. Let’s start a conversation!