High calorie low volume foods are foods that hold a lot of calories in a small amount, so they take up less room and fill you up less. They are mostly foods high in fat or low in water, such as oils, nuts, nut butters, seeds, dried fruit, cheese and chocolate. They are useful when you fill up fast, or find a big plate hard to manage, because a small serving still carries plenty. For the wider list of dense foods, see calorie-dense foods.

The idea is simple. Some foods take up a lot of space in your stomach for very little, and others do the opposite. If getting through a large amount of food is difficult, the answer is not to eat more of it, it is to choose foods where a small amount goes a long way.

What makes a food high calorie but low volume?

It comes down to energy density, meaning how many calories a food holds for its size. Two foods of the same weight can be worlds apart: a bowl of salad and a small handful of nuts weigh similar amounts, but the nuts carry many times the calories.

The difference is water, fibre and fat. Foods high in water and fibre, like vegetables, fruit and soup, are bulky and filling for very few calories. Foods high in fat and low in water, like oils, nuts and cheese, are the reverse, because fat carries more than twice the calories of the same weight of carbohydrate or protein. So the least filling, most calorie-dense foods are the dry, fatty ones.

The least filling, most calorie-dense foods

These are the foods that give you the most for the smallest amount, roughly from the most concentrated down.

Oils and fats are the most concentrated of all, so a small drizzle of olive or rapeseed oil, or a little butter stirred through food, adds a lot in almost no space.

Nuts, seeds and their butters are next. A small handful of nuts, or a spoon of peanut butter or tahini, is compact and rich, and easy to add to other food.

Dried fruit shrinks fruit down by removing the water, so a small handful of dates, raisins or apricots is far more concentrated than the fresh version.

Cheese and full-fat dairy are dense and easy to add, with a small piece of cheese, a spoon of cream, or full-fat yoghurt all carrying a lot in a little.

Chocolate, coconut and nut-based snacks round it out, along with compact bars, all of which pack plenty into a small size.

When a big plate is a struggle

If you fill up quickly, or a large meal feels like too much, the aim is not to push more food down. It is to make what you can manage count for more.

A few gentle things help. Choose small portions of the dense foods above rather than a big plate of lighter food. Spread eating across the day in smaller amounts, since several small moments are often easier than one large meal. Drink some of it, because a milkshake or a smoothie tends to go down more easily than a plate of food, and takes up less room while it does. And start with the richer part of a meal, while you have the most appetite. For more on this, see what to eat when your appetite is low and high calorie drinks and smoothies.