- A new report in Scientific American says the satiating diet may be an easier way to lose weight than the keto diet.
- It consists of foods that provide high-nutrient-content while also being super filling and satisfying.
- According to one study, the satiating diet helped participants lose weight while feeling fuller.
If you’ve tried the keto diet, you’re familiar with how restrictive it can be (it’s why, despite its weight loss benefits, keto can be hard to stick to).
Now, there’s a new buzzy diet trend, called the satiating diet, that’s touted to have similar benefits to keto, but without excluding entire food groups like carbs.
According to a report in Scientific American, the “satiating diet” has been shown to help people manage their weight and health, by using of “healthy foods that are especially satiating; that is, foods that create feelings of fullness and satisfaction.” Sounds good, right?
The author of the report, Shirin Panahi, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher of physical education and kinesiology at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, says that includes foods that are high in protein (like lean meat and fish) and high in fiber (like whole grains, fruits and vegetables), as well as healthy fats (like those found in avocados, for example), probiotic-rich dairy products, and capsaicin, the substance that makes peppers spicy (and is known to satisfy hunger).
The whole idea of the satiating diet is that no food group is totally off-limits, but you should be focusing on foods that provide high-nutrient content while being super filling at the same time so you don’t feel deprived.
“What’s so special about these foods [is] that each of them possesses specific characteristics that benefit our health either by decreasing hunger, reducing body fat, lowering blood sugar, improving blood pressure or increasing metabolism,” Panahi says.
And eating this way all the time could be a simple way to maintain a healthy weight. According to a 2017 study in the British Journal of Nutrition in which participants followed either the satiating diet (eating 20 to 25 percent protein, 45-50 percent carbs and 30-35 percent fats) or a normal diet (eating 10 to 15 percent protein, 55-60 percent carbs and 30 percent fats), those on the satiating plan lost more weight and body fat, felt fuller and were better able to stick to the diet, which is really half the battle.
Of course, one successful study (which was also small, with only 69 male participants) doesn’t mean the satiating diet will work for everyone. But it sounds like a smart way to eat for overall health—whether you’re trying to lose weight or not.