Eat Umami Foods to Feel Full Longer: A List

The American palate is familiar with four tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Most of the world is familiar with a fifth taste; this fifth taste is known as umami.

Recent research has shown that this fifth taste, described as super-savory, can trick your stomach into making you think you have eaten more calories - and can help you feel full longer.

What is Umami?

In 1908, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University, named this fifth taste umami. The savory taste of umami is imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid - and ribonucleotides, including guanylate and inosinate - which naturally occurs in food. Many Americans are familiar with umami in the form of a type of seasoning known as MSG (mono sodium glutamate).

If you would like to add umami to your diet - see the following list:

Umami-rich Foods:

Seafood: tuna, cod, prawns, kombu, seaweed, bonito, bonito flakes, mackerel, small dried sardines, sea bream, squid, oysters, and shellfish

Vegetables: soy beans, sweet potatoes, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, enokitake mushrooms, truffles, carrots and potatoes

Meat: beef, chicken and pork

Also: Parmesan cheese, green tea, fish sauce and soy sauce (read the label to be sure it is fermented soy sauce, those packets of dark liquid you get when you buy Chinese food may not be soy sauce at all - my packet lists: water, salt, corn syrup, vegetable stabilizers, caramel coloring, and sodium benzoate as a preservative).

To Make it Work For You;

Based on the study, in order to feel full longer, it is recommended that you eat at least two servings per day of foods with umami flavoring.

More Healthy Eating Ideas:

For more information about umami flavoring from the perspective of a professional food taster see the link below - and links to other healthy eating suggestions.