Could high-satiety vegetables be your secret weapon for boosting fullness and cutting calories?
Packed with fibre and essential nutrients, low-energy veggies fill you up without the extra calories.
Whether your goal is weight loss or a healthier lifestyle, incorporating high-satiety vegetables into your diet can be a great hack to boost your fullness.
High-Satiety Vegetables
The list below shows the satiety scores for the most popular vegetables:
- spinach – 100%
- asparagus – 100%
- mushrooms – 100%
- cauliflower – 91%
- zucchini – 89%
- cucumber – 87%
- lettuce – 85%
- broccoli – 85%
- kale – 80%
- bell peppers – 66%
- onion – 63%
- potato (boiled) – 49%
- High-Satiety Vegetables
- The Science Behind Feeling Full
- How We Measure and Rank Satiety Scores
- Satiation & Sensory-Specific Satiety
- Energy Density: Vegetables’ Satiety Secret
- Protein-Rich Vegetables
- Carbs in Vegetables
- Low-Fat Veggies Fill You Up
- Potassium: A Satiety Nutrient
- Boosting Satiety with Calcium
- Vitamin B2: The Satiety Secret
- Satiety vs. Nutrient Density
- Are Vegetables Good for You?
- Tips to Eat More High-Satiety Vegetables
- Find Your Unique Satiety Formula
- Learn More About Satiating Foods
The Science Behind Feeling Full
Satiety is the absence of hunger.
High-satiety foods help you feel full quickly and provide the essential nutrients you need to satisfy your cravings over the long term.
High-satiety vegetables fill you up and stretch your stomach while providing essential nutrients often missing from meat, seafood, and dairy.
Our satiety score helps you make informed choices without relying on unsustainable willpower. The satiety score doesn’t make a food ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It just helps you make informed choices that align with your context and goals and avoid relying on unsustainable willpower.
How We Measure and Rank Satiety Scores
Cravings for energy from fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids influence our food intake.
High-satiety foods help us achieve greater satiety per calorie, satisfying our cravings more efficiently. Foods that meet nutrient needs with less energy trigger sensory-specific satiety, reducing your cravings for nutrients.
The point where cravings switch to satiety is the bliss point, or the nutrient concentration that aligns with maximum energy intake.
Ultra-processed foods are engineered to hit our bliss points to maximise palatability and profit. In contrast, nutrient-dense, high-satiety foods are more challenging to overeat.
But remember, it’s not about how full these foods make you feel; our satiety score ranks foods based on satiety PER CALORIE. Imagine you were locked in a room with a single food for a few days. You’d struggle to consume a lot of energy from asparagus or mushrooms, while you’d be able to get all the energy you need and more from low-satiety foods like pizza or burgers.
Satiation & Sensory-Specific Satiety
Understanding the following key concepts will 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.
Energy Density: Vegetables’ Satiety Secret
Non-starchy vegetables excel in satiety due to their extremely low energy density. They fill and stretch your stomach with very few calories, providing significant short-term satiation.
There’s a reason that bodybuilders like Chris Bumstead and Greg Duchette use shredded lettuce to get them shredded. But no one lives on high-satiety, non-starchy vegetables alone — you’d never be able to get enough energy from them, and you’d probably explode if you tried.
But once you’ve got the minimum amount of protein and energy you need, filling the rest of your plate with vegetables is an excellent satiety hack that works like a charm for many of our Optimisers, particularly in our Macros Masterclass and Micros Masterclass.
Protein-Rich Vegetables
Unless your name is Popeye, you’re probably not going to reach for a handful of spinach to boost your protein. Astute readers may also be aware that the protein from vegetables is less bioavailable than from meat, seafood and dairy. However, vegetables are surprisingly rich in protein, with a high protein percentage, which also boosts their satiety per calorie score.
Carbs in Vegetables
Vegetables are generally moderate to high in carbohydrates by percentage.
Non-starchy vegetables have low carbohydrate content per serving, but much of the carbohydrate is fibre, which provides little energy. A 60-gram serving of spinach provides only 14 calories and 1 gram of carbs.
Low-Fat Veggies Fill You Up
Vegetables are low in fat and pack a solid nutrient punch with minimal calories, which also makes them hard to overeat. It is much harder to get a significant amount of energy from non-starchy veggies.
Potassium: A Satiety Nutrient
Potassium is a significant satiety factor in our analysis, and vegetables are packed with it! Potassium has a bitter taste, which signals to your body that you don’t need a lot of it to get the nutrients you need from it.
Potassium is one of the nutrients of public concern because 99% of the population doesn’t meet their minimum requirement for potassium. High-satiety, nutrient-dense vegetables can help you meet your daily potassium requirement.
Boosting Satiety with Calcium
Many vegetables have a high concentration of calcium, which is a significant satiety factor because it is critical for our bones and teeth. Although the calcium in plant-based foods is less bioavailable, it’s still an efficient way to boost your calcium and overall satiety score.
Vitamin B2: The Satiety Secret
Our satiety analysis also shows that foods rich in vitamin B2 (riboflavin) are challenging to overeat. Why not swap your multivitamin for some high-satiety vegetables and get your nutrients in the form and ratios that your body understands?
Satiety vs. Nutrient Density
Nutrient density, or the amount of essential nutrients per calorie, plays a crucial role in achieving satiety. Foods high in protein and essential nutrients satisfy your hunger more effectively.
The chart below shows a wide range of satiety vs nutrient density scores for vegetables.
- Non-starchy vegetables in the top right are excellent choices in terms of satiety and nutrient density.
- Meanwhile, the root vegetables can provide some extra energy if you need it.
To explore the landscape of fruit 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.
Are Vegetables Good for You?
Absolutely! Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, fibre, and antioxidants, contributing to overall health and well-being. Here’s why they’re essential:
- Nutrient-Dense – Rich in vitamins (A, C, K) and minerals (potassium, magnesium), vegetables support immune health, bone strength, and heart health.
- Low in Calories – Vegetables provide bulk and satiety with fewer calories, making them ideal for weight management.
- High in Fiber – Fiber aids digestion, regulates blood sugar, and lowers cholesterol, promoting a healthy gut.
- Rich in Antioxidants – Antioxidants protect cells from damage, reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer.
- Supports Satiety – High-satiety vegetables help control appetite and reduce overeating.
- Versatile and Delicious – With a variety of flavours and textures, vegetables can be enjoyed in many ways: raw, cooked, steamed, or roasted.
Incorporate a diverse range of vegetables into your diet to ensure broad nutrient intake and promote overall health. Whether for weight loss, better digestion, or heart health, vegetables are a vital part of a healthy diet.
Tips to Eat More High-Satiety Vegetables
Looking for ways to eat more high-satiety vegetables? Here are some tips:
- Add a variety of non-starchy vegetables to your meals.
- Snack on raw veggies like carrots, cucumbers, and bell peppers.
- Include a side salad with leafy greens at lunch and dinner.
- Use vegetables as the base for your meals, such as in stir-fries or soups.
Find Your Unique 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 our Optimisers to find the right balance of protein, fat and carbs, along with the shortlist of nutrients that provide greater satiety for most people.
Take Your Nutrition to the Next Level
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 the Power of High-Satiety Vegetables
High-satiety vegetables are a powerful tool for achieving fullness and optimizing your health. These nutrient-dense, low-calorie veggies help you feel full longer without adding extra calories. Whether you’re aiming to lose weight or manage your appetite, high-satiety vegetables are your secret weapon.
From spinach and kale to cucumbers and bell peppers, these vegetables offer variety and satisfaction. By focusing on foods that provide satiety per calorie, you can make smarter food choices that align with your health goals.
Join our community, share your experiences, and discover personalized satiety strategies with our Nutrient Clarity Challenge. Your journey to feeling fuller and healthier starts with these powerful vegetables.
Share Your High-Satiety Diet Tips
We’d love to hear from you! Have you tried incorporating high-satiety vegetables into your diet? What are your favourite ways to stay fuller longer?
Share your experiences and tips in the comments below! Your insights could help others on their journey to better nutrition and health. Let’s start a conversation!