The Secret to Feeling Full on Fewer Calories with Barbara Rolls

Ever felt like you're fighting a losing battle with hunger while trying to lose weight? You're cutting portions, counting calories, and white-knuckling your way through constant cravings. What if there was a smarter approach that didn't require superhuman willpower?

The secret isn't eating less food, it's eating differently. Today's episode introduces you to one of the most powerful yet underutilized strategies in weight management: energy density. This science-backed approach shows you how to feel completely satisfied while naturally reducing calories, using the principles of volume, water content, and food texture to work with your body's natural hunger signals instead of against them.

Join Holly and Jim as they sit down with Dr. Barbara Rolls, professor and the Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutritional Sciences at Penn State. Dr. Rolls literally wrote the book on this topic, Volumetrics, and has spent decades researching how we can eat more food while weighing less. Her students have gone on to become leading researchers in the field, making her insights both groundbreaking and practical for everyday life.

Discussed on the episode:

• The surprising truth about why people eat a consistent weight of food every day
• How to use water content strategically (hint: you need to "eat your water," not drink it)
• The "Big Three" factors that control how much you eat and how to use them in your favor
• Why soup beats a casserole plus water every single time
• The simple grocery store trick to identify low-energy-dense foods without a calculator
• How ultra-processed foods fit into the energy density framework
• The fascinating research on variety and "food switching" that explains why you always have room for dessert
• Practical strategies for making vegetables more appealing than chicken nuggets
• How GLP-1 medications are changing the nutrition game and why it matters more than ever
• What parents need to know about portion control and self-regulation in young children
• The one mindset shift that makes healthy eating enjoyable instead of restrictive

Resources Mentioned:

• Volumetrics book series by Dr. Barbara Rolls
• “The Big Three” properties of food that drive intake