A satisfying lunch can help prevent the afternoon cravings that often lead to poor food choices or an over-sized dinner. But to lose weight, you need to choose lunch foods that are not too high in calories. Decades of nutrition research point to several types of foods that can help you feel full on fewer calories. You can use this data to pack a healthy lunch, and gain better control of your appetite.
Soup
Science News reports that eating a broth-based soup at the start of a meal helps dieters consume fewer calories not only for that meal but also for the rest of the day. Obesity Journal reports that dieters who ate a cup of soup before both lunch and dinner lost more weight and claimed less hunger than those assigned to three other types of diets. This is because the brain interprets the entire volume of the soup, including the water, as food. Unfortunately, simply drinking water with a meal does not have the same effect.
Low-Energy-Density Foods
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends low-energy-density foods to those who want to lose weight. These include foods that are low in calories relative to their volume, usually because of a high water or fiber content. Examples include soup, beans, cooked grains, tofu, vegetables and fruit. Fill a thermos with soup, vegetable stir fry or a grain and bean salad; get beyond carrot and celery sticks by filling a baggie with sliced kohlrabi, radish, turnip or red bell pepper; or pack a piece of fresh fruit or a cup of berries.
Low-Glycemic Foods
Low-glycemic foods digest slowly and keep you full longer. To reduce the glycemic rating of a meal, include fat, fiber and protein as well as carbohydrates. To make this work for your lunch box, try hummus with vegetables or whole grain bread; combine nuts or nut butter with fruit; add beans to soups and salads; include a high-protein Greek yogurt; allow yourself a few teaspoons of oil on your salad; add high-fat avocado to sandwiches, salads, Mexican food or sushi rolls. To make sure you're not increasing your caloric intake, do not just add these foods to your diet, use them to replace some of the carbohydrates in a typical meal.
Foods to Minimize
Obesity Journal reports that a group of dieters fed dry, grain-based snacks such as crackers or baked chips, lost less weight and claimed more hunger than dieters in three other groups. Researchers theorized that these foods were not satisfying enough for the dieters to comply with their reduced-calorie plans. You may want to try ditching those 100-calorie snack packs or fat-free chips in favor of fruits, vegetables and other whole foods.
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