Why eating no carbs with lots of protein makes you less hungry
Presence or absence of carbohydrates and the proportion of fat in a high-protein diet affect appetite suppression but not energy expenditure in normal-weight human subjects fed in energy balance
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When you eat a lot of protein and no carbs, your body starts burning fat for fuel and makes chemicals that tell your brain you're full — even if you're not losing weight.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When you eat a lot of protein and no carbs, your body starts burning fat for fuel and makes chemicals that tell your brain you're full — even if you're not losing weight.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 559 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Veldhorst MA, Westerterp KR, van Vught AJ, Westerterp-Plantenga MS
Related Content
Claims (6)
Just eating more protein doesn’t make you less hungry — but if you take out carbs and add fat instead, you feel much less hungry.
When you eat a high-protein, no-carb, high-fat diet, your body starts burning more fat and produces a lot more ketones — a sign your body is switching to fat for fuel.
When you eat a high-protein diet with no carbs but lots of fat, you feel less hungry and more full than when you eat the same amount of protein but with some carbs.
Whether you eat a high-protein diet with carbs or without carbs, your body burns about the same number of calories — carbs don’t make you burn more energy.
If you eat a high-protein, no-carb diet for two days, your body starts making a lot of ketones — enough to be in ketosis. But if you eat carbs with the same protein, you don’t.