Do you need strategies to help your weight loss clients feel full for longer after a meal? You aren’t alone.
Cutting calories alone can leave clients feeling hungry and not satisfied after a meal. Then, feeling deprived, many will quit before they reach their goal weight.
Effective strategies to increase satiety are complicated. However, research shows that people get full by the amount of food they eat, not the number of calories they take in. Your clients don’t necessarily have to eat less food. You can create satiating meal plans with their favorite dishes by substituting fruits and vegetables in place of higher-calorie or lower-fiber ingredients.
For example, try these simple changes:
- Substitute fresh avocado slices for regular mayonnaise on sandwiches. Avocados contain 3 grams of fiber per one-third of a medium avocado and are a terrific fiberlicious, fresh-fruit choice.
- Cut back on the amount of cereal at breakfast and add cut-up bananas, peaches, or strawberries to the bowl. The bowl is still full, but with fewer calories.
- Bulk up salads with fewer calories by replacing higher-calories croutons and dressing with sliced, mashed, or cubed avocado.
Water and fiber from fruits and vegetables will add volume to a meal with fewer calories. Remember, dietary fiber adds bulk to your diet and makes you feel full faster.
Eat More and Weigh Less?
Yep! The key is substitution
It’s important to talk about substitution with your clients. By merely adding fruits and vegetables to a meal may not result in weight loss. The key is substitution — incorporate satiating fruits, such as avocados, and vegetables instead of other higher‑calorie foods.
Focus on dietary fiber and adding foods that will fill them up without eating more calories.
Encourage Your Clients to Substitute Avocados for Lower-fiber Foods
Avocados are a unique fruit. Seventy-nine percent of an avocado’s weight is fiber and water. Fiber-containing foods like avocados, help provide a feeling of fullness but with fewer calories. They can be a satisfying addition to a diet when eaten in place of other calorie-rich foods. The research supported by the Hass Avocado Board supports the growing body of evidence connecting eating avocados with body weight and successful weight loss.
In a clinical trial of 31 relatively healthy overweight and obese adults, scientists found that eating a whole avocado as part of a breakfast meal, compared to a meal with no avocado suppressed hunger and improved meal satisfaction. A visual analog scale measured satiety up to six hours after the meal. More research is needed to generalize the results to all people (2).
In a weight-loss study, researchers found that 24 overweight or obese adults experienced similar weight loss when advised to eat 500 calories less each day and to eat one avocado daily, compared to a control group following the same dietary guidance without avocado. But, only the avocado-eating-weight-loss group reported little change in diet satisfaction over the 12-week study. As always, more is needed to confirm the findings, especially in a larger U.S. representative sample.
