Lowest Calorie, Highest Satiety Foods
Hunger is the real enemy of a diet, so we ranked foods by what fills you per calorie spent. The formula is on the table: protein and fiber are the two nutrients science keeps crediting with fullness, so each food gets a score of (protein×4 + fiber×4) ÷ calories. Leafy greens dominate — Mustard greens, frozen, unprepared scores 1.16 — and right behind the greens come the lean white fish and shrimp, proving a high-satiety plate does not have to be a bowl of leaves.
How this ranking works
The score is deliberately simple and printed beside every row: grams of protein and fiber (the two satiety-heavy nutrients), converted to their calorie weight of 4 each, divided by the food's calories per 100g. Zero-calorie foods drop out; the shared scope rules (real Arabic names, no spices, no concentrates) apply. A score near 1.0 means the food is essentially "free" — its filling nutrients nearly pay its own calorie bill.
The table: top 20
| # | Food | Satiety score (/100 kcal) | Calories (kcal/100g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mustard greens, frozen, unprepared | 1.16 | 20 |
| 2 | Mustard greens, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt | 1.07 | 19 |
| 3 | Mustard greens, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1.07 | 19 |
| 4 | Beet greens, raw | 1.07 | 22 |
| 5 | Pumpkin leaves, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1.03 | 21 |
| 6 | Asparagus, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt | 1.02 | 18 |
| 7 | Asparagus, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1.02 | 18 |
| 8 | Watercress, raw | 1.02 | 11 |
| 9 | Waxgourd, (chinese preserving melon), raw | 1.02 | 13 |
| 10 | Cauliflower, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt | 1.01 | 17 |
| 11 | Endive, raw | 1.01 | 17 |
| 12 | Chicory greens, raw | 0.99 | 23 |
| 13 | Fish, pollock, Alaska, raw (not previously frozen) | 0.98 | 70 |
| 14 | Capers, canned | 0.97 | 23 |
| 15 | Fish, cod, Pacific, raw (not previously frozen) | 0.97 | 72 |
| 16 | Fish, cod, Pacific, cooked (not previously frozen) | 0.97 | 84 |
| 17 | Fish, pollock, Alaska, cooked (not previously frozen) | 0.97 | 80 |
| 18 | Crustaceans, shrimp, cooked (not previously frozen) | 0.97 | 99 |
| 19 | Shrimp | 0.97 | 99 |
| 20 | Seaweed, spirulina, raw | 0.97 | 26 |
Source: the Alkemos food database — the same rows each food’s page shows (per-100g values; every name links to that food’s full page).
Reading the table
The leafy-green engine
Mustard greens, beet greens and pumpkin leaves all clear 1.07+ while sitting at 22 calories per 100g or less. In plain terms: 300g of these greens — a genuinely large bowl — costs fewer than 66 calories while loading the stomach with volume, fiber and water.
The protein flank
White fish and shrimp break into the green wall because pure protein is almost pure satiety per calorie. Pollock at 72 kcal per 100g scores 0.97 — pair a 150g fillet with the greens above and you have the architectural drawing of a cutting meal.
How to use the score honestly
The score is a comparison tool inside this table, not a clinical number. Two foods with similar scores can feel different in real life — cooking, volume and habit matter. Use the ranking to shortlist candidates, then let your own kitchen decide the finalists.
Common questions
How exactly is the satiety score calculated?
Protein grams times four, plus fiber grams times four, divided by calories per 100g — all three straight from the food's database row. We picked protein and fiber because they are the two nutrients most consistently associated with fullness in nutrition research; the formula is printed on the page so you can check any row yourself.
Why do greens beat everything?
Because their calories are almost entirely made of the two nutrients in the formula. A green at 20 kcal per 100g has nowhere to hide fat or starch — what remains is protein, fiber and water, which is precisely what the score rewards. It is less that greens are magical and more that the maths favours their composition.
Can I live on the top of this table?
You could fill up on it, but filling up is not feeding: fats and energy-dense foods carry essential roles and the score says nothing about vitamins, minerals or essential fatty acids. Build meals around the top rows on hungry days; keep the rest of the diet balanced. The calorie calculator on the site keeps the overall budget honest.
Turn these tables into a plan: the Calorie Calculator splits your daily budget into grams — free, no account needed.
New to this topic? Start from the curated Foods for Cutting collection — the hand-picked staples — then come back for the full ranking.