There are plenty of healthy food choices out there that will fill you up without huge amounts of calorie intake. These tend to be high water-content fruits and vegetables, like apples, oranges, berries, celery, zucchini, cucumbers, the list is immense. Other foods that are great for satiety are healthy grains (such as oats, quinoa, farro or whole wheat products) and good starches (such as potatoes or air-popped popcorn).
If you’re unsure of whether or not a product is healthy, it’s best to stick to whole foods or foods with minimal ingredients to avoid any added fillers, preservatives, oils or other ingredients that can cause inflammation or make a food high in calories. Some foods may be more caloric than you think! One example is potato chips, which contain only potatoes, oil and salt, but are incredibly high in calories for a small serving size. Compare chips to air-popped popcorn, which has a similar ingredients list (popcorn kernels, oil, salt) but a much larger serving size. Keeping these things in mind when looking for filling foods is a good way to make sure you aren’t consuming lots of calories that won’t fill you up.