6 meal-preparation tips to reduce calories and still feel satisfied

When you’re working on managing your weight, the process of making meals and monitoring portions isn't always fun. But even healthy meals don’t have to be boring. With a little know-how, you can feel more satisfied and less hungry—and enjoy delicious food in the process. Here are six ways to help you stick with your weight management plan while enjoying what you eat.

Spice it up

Zesty herbs and spices add flavor to your food. They’re virtually calorie-free and may even help you feel more full. One small randomized, controlled study published in the journal Foods in 2018 found that eating as little as 2 1/8 teaspoons of curry powder was associated with reduced hunger and less desire to eat between meals. Curry can come in a range of formulations, but generally the mixture contains spices including turmeric, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and cloves.

Hit the (salad) bar

Your supermarket's or cafeteria’s salad bar can be a great option for adding variety to your meals. You can try new veggies or using ones you don't usually have time to prepare at home, like beets or artichokes. While salad bar shopping can be pricier than buying your own vegetables in bulk, you’ll save time on cleaning and chopping and may have less waste from leftover produce that goes bad in the crisper bin in your refrigerator.

As for the other kind of bar, drinking alcohol, can add extra calories, stimulate appetite, and tempt you to eat more, so drink moderately, if you do at all. That means no more than two drinks per day for men, one per day for women.

Pump it up

Air adds calorie-free volume to food, which can help fill you up. Barbara Rolls, PhD, a nutrition expert and director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State College of Health and Human Development in University Park, Pennsylvania, says that when you eat foods that are puffed up (like popcorn) or whipped (like egg whites), you consume around 30 percent fewer calories and may feel just as satisfied.

Dull your dinner appetite

After a long busy day, dinner is when many of us tend to eat the bulk of our calories. You can take a quick and easy slice out of feelings of hunger by drinking a tall glass of water about 20 minutes before mealtime. Adding a high fiber whole food like an apple or celery in the form of pre-dinner raw fruit or veggie appetizer (also known as crudite) can help take the edge off your appetite. That means you’ll eat fewer high-calorie foods for your main course.

Avoid dried fruit

Water adds weight and volume to food, but zero calories. So as much as possible, eat fresh, whole, fruit that contains all its natual water, rather than dried varieties, says Rolls. For example, for about 100 calories you can have one ripe banana or one cup of red seedless grapes, one-half cup of diced watermelon, or one cup of whole strawberries.

By comparison, one-half cup of raisins contains 429 calories, and one-half cup of banana chips contains 519 calories.

Savor soup

Foods with a high water content, like soup, help stave off hunger and make you feel full, says Rolls. Opt for broth-based soups or veggie purees like butternut squash or tomato and steer away from cream-based soups that can be high in calories and fat. Read labels carefully for store-bought and pre-made soups, which tend to be overloaded with salt. Choose low-salt versions or get creative and make your own.

Building a habit of choosing high-flavor foods that fill you up can put the fun back into meal prep and dinnertime. Check out these additional ideas for easy, low-calorie dinners.