Have you ever grabbed a “healthy” snack, but were left feeling hungry, tired, or wanting more shortly after? You are not alone! What really satisfies hunger? There are a few mechanisms that trigger our body to feel full.
Protein does a good job of signaling to your brain that you are satisfied. Once your body detects that you’ve eaten protein, your brain starts to turn down the volume on your hunger hormone.
Volume and fiber are an important part of feeling full. The volume of the food you eat stretches nerves in your stomach, again, signalling to your brain you can turn down that hunger hormone. Fiber is slow to digest (that’s good!) and keeps you feeling full, longer. Volume and fiber can be found in plants.
So, a really effective snack combination to help you feel satisfied is to pair protein with produce (a fruit or veggie). Check out some possible combinations below, or mix and match to make your favorite satisfying snack duo:
| Protein | Produce (Fruit or Veggie) |
| Nut butter (like peanut butter) | Celery (1-2 stalks) or an Apple (fist size) |
| Hummus | Baby Carrots, Cucumber Slices, Celery, etc. |
| Hard boiled egg (1-2) | Cherry Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas |
| Mixed Nuts/Almonds/Walnuts/Pecans, etc. | 1-2 Cutie/Halo Oranges, 1 Naval Orange |
| Low Sugar Greek Yogurt | Fresh or Frozen Berries |
| Edamame | Peach, Nectarine, Plum (fist size or smaller) |
| Cheese (Pimento Cheese, Beer Cheese, Cheese stick, Babybel, etc) | Carrots, Celery, Mini Cucumber, Sliced Cucumber, Jicama Sticks |
| Chicken/Tuna/Egg Salad | Mini Bell Peppers |
