Good snack food that's healthy but also filling?

[Akhilleus]

My goal has been to lose weight and stray away from junk food, soda, and anything else of the sweet and high calorie variety. The biggest problem though with that is I'm not sure exactly what to buy to replace those foods.

I've been buying things like yogurt, stringed cheese, and just general things like that which seem better than eating potato chips and drinking mountain dew. I've been buying things like Sunny D and Hawaiian Punch, and have also been drinking water regularly too.

Other than that though I really don't know what to but. I need something that is healthy for you, but at the same time feeling. I feel most fruits, vegetables, and dairy products while still tasty are never enough to fill up a hungry stomach.

Does anyone have any advice I could use for food to put into my diet?

 

[klunderbunker]

I eat dry Fruit Loops.

 

[ABMorales787]

Yogurt parfait, Kellogg chips, hardboiled eggs, preferably without the yolk.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Sunny D and Hawaiin Punch are not going to help you lose weight. They are just as bad as soda with the sugar and calorie content.

For filling snacks try Celery sticks with natty peanut butter. Or you could do what i do and have a piece of cuccumber with a big glass of water. Will bloat you and not make you hungry anymore. Coffee is great to curb appetite as well just make sure you dont sweeten it or anything (or use stevia, sweet n low etc if you must).

 

[Lee]

Jelly

 

[Akhilleus]

Sunny D and Hawaiin Punch are not going to help you lose weight. They are just as bad as soda with the sugar and calorie content.

For filling snacks try Celery sticks with natty peanut butter. Or you could do what i do and have a piece of cuccumber with a big glass of water. Will bloat you and not make you hungry anymore. Coffee is great to curb appetite as well just make sure you dont sweeten it or anything (or use stevia, sweet n low etc if you must).

Yeah I figured Sunny D and the Punch weren't the best, but I figured they were better than drinking pop. Good transition. Problem is finding something good yet healthy to drink is just as hard. I like to drink water, and I'll try to drink that more often than not, but every now and then especially around dinner time I do like to have a little flavor.

Celery is something I like, but I don't think I'd be able to eat Cucumber, and coffee is also a big no-no for me. Not a coffee drinker.

Thanks for the tips though guys. I'm still trying to find some regular things to buy that are better to eat than the junk food crap I've been having. I'm sure I'll find a groove eventually, as it's not like I'm planning on this being temporary. I'm looking more for a permanent life style change as far as healthy eating goes. Once I get into the habit of it all I think it'll be easy to enjoy eating those types of foods.

 

[DarksideEric]

As a fellow weight loser, here's some stuff I do:

Nuts/trail mix
Fruit/veggies with peanut butter (apples and melted peanut butter is amazing)
Baked Lays (the calorie count is around 190-230 I think for an individual size bag)
Smoothies
Lots of water

Also, if you're working out, you should try to eat 5-6 times a day.

 

[The Butcher]

Oatmeal's healthy and sticks to your ribs. I'm a kimchi fan, very good for you, but it's an acquired taste.

 

[nightmare]

Vitamin water & tea are better than drinking sugary juices like that. Sure they taste great but wont help you for this. Even most juices that say 100% are not really good & filled with corn syrup. If you want juice get the most natural with least added ingredients or just grab a juice machine and make your own. If you want a smoothie, just get some fresh fruit & freeze it after you cut it up. You wont need ice when blending just a bit of water or yogurt (plain or whatever you like) to blend it better. I make blueberry\ banana & raspberry\ pineapple\ pear. Just make different ones till you find what you like. If you are not allergic you can use a bit of honey to sweeten it up if you dont like tart drinks. Just go easy with it- honey is a little better than regular sugar but not by much.


Yogurt, triscuits, peanut butter, granola (not crappy kids granola bars), nuts (cashews almonds & walnuts are what I like), carrots, bell peppers, broccoli & fresh fruit. All good snacks that will tide you over.

 

[Akhilleus]

Vitamin water & tea are better than drinking sugary juices like that. Sure they taste great but wont help you for this. Even most juices that say 100% are not really good & filled with corn syrup. If you want juice get the most natural with least added ingredients or just grab a juice machine and make your own. If you want a smoothie, just get some fresh fruit & freeze it after you cut it up. You wont need ice when blending just a bit of water or yogurt (plain or whatever you like) to blend it better. I make blueberry\ banana & raspberry\ pineapple\ pear. Just make different ones till you find what you like. If you are not allergic you can use a bit of honey to sweeten it up if you dont like tart drinks. Just go easy with it- honey is a little better than regular sugar but not by much.


Yogurt, triscuits, peanut butter, granola (not crappy kids granola bars), nuts (cashews almonds & walnuts are what I like), carrots, bell peppers, broccoli & fresh fruit. All good snacks that will tide you over.

Good ideas. I didn't even think about Granola. That's something I like and could actually eat, so I'll add that to the list. I'll probably look into other energy bars of the sort too. Call me lazy but I'm looking for something easier than having to cut up a bunch of fruit and freeze it to make a smoothie. I love bananas but the damn things are so expensive nowadays and don't exactly come in bulk either, not to mention they'll go bad if I don't eat them in a quick enough pace. Other than bananas I'm not a big fan of any other fruits. I could probably eat grapes too and could look into them.

What do you guys think of Raman noodles? I'm sure they aren't the best, but again I figure they're beating then something like chips or other sweets. Probably too much salt, but they're cheap and not hard to prepare.

 

[DarksideEric]

Good ideas. I didn't even think about Granola. That's something I like and could actually eat, so I'll add that to the list. I'll probably look into other energy bars of the sort too. Call me lazy but I'm looking for something easier than having to cut up a bunch of fruit and freeze it to make a smoothie. I love bananas but the damn things are so expensive nowadays and don't exactly come in bulk either, not to mention they'll go bad if I don't eat them in a quick enough pace. Other than bananas I'm not a big fan of any other fruits. I could probably eat grapes too and could look into them.

What do you guys think of Raman noodles? I'm sure they aren't the best, but again I figure they're beating then something like chips or other sweets. Probably too much salt, but they're cheap and not hard to prepare.

If you're going to eat Ramen you might as well just eat things like baked chips.

Ramen is cheap, yeah, but it's not very good for you.

Grapes would be a good way to go. So would canned fruit (if you can find it not in syrup).

At worst, they make flavorful rice cakes, but honestly they are just too easy to completely run through.

 

[nightmare]

Ramen is good and cheap, but the sodium content is terrible. The noodles are what you want, not the flavoring packet. If you get sodium free bouillon instead of using the packets that come with the ramen, you are good to go. Plus it comes in many of the same flavors. If I ever eat ramen, I use that method & throw in some leftover veggies.

 

[DarksideEric]

Ramen is good and cheap, but the sodium content is terrible. The noodles are what you want, not the flavoring packet. If you get sodium free bouillon instead of using the packets that come with the ramen, you are good to go. Plus it comes in many of the same flavors. If I ever eat ramen, I use that method & throw in some leftover veggies.

I'd argue, while more expensive, regular pasta would just be better to get than ramen if all you're going for is the noodles. Because then you get get wheat pasta at that point and have it be healthier.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Get brown wraps or wheat pitta bread and cook them a little bit in an oven until they turn crispy. Dip into whatever healthy dip you prefer.

 

[nightmare]

I'd argue, while more expensive, regular pasta would just be better to get than ramen if all you're going for is the noodles. Because then you get get wheat pasta at that point and have it be healthier.

Seems like he is going for cheap as well as easy to cook. Regular pasta is easy to cook, but instant noodles are very cheap & take less than half the time. You can get all types of cheap instant noodles now. Wheat, fat free, etc. Some of the bigger chains & Asian markets have a good selection. If he does not feel like an extra trip to another store, then the normal ramen with the sodium free bouillon would work for what he is trying to do. Healthier than normal & cheap but also filling.

 

[DarksideEric]

Seems like he is going for cheap as well as easy to cook. Regular pasta is easy to cook, but instant noodles are very cheap & take less than half the time. You can get all types of cheap instant noodles now. Wheat, fat free, etc. Some of the bigger chains & Asian markets have a good selection. If he does not feel like an extra trip to another store, then the normal ramen with the sodium free bouillon would work for what he is trying to do. Healthier than normal & cheap but also filling.

Perhaps. Although if I were in his position I'd spend the little bit extra (you can get packs of many, many kinds of regular pasta for $1) and go with that because, at least for me, it's more filling and may actually be healthier.

 

[Lee]

I'm being serious with Jelly. You can get these snack pot jelly things that are 10 calories. Really good for a quick snack that won't destroy you.

 

[Akhilleus]

I'm being serious with Jelly. You can get these snack pot jelly things that are 10 calories. Really good for a quick snack that won't destroy you.

Like Jello cups, or actual jelly? I could definitely buy some jello cups too. And Oatmeal like someone said is also a great idea. I've already been eating that.

I'm going to have to remember that Sodium Free Bouillon. I've tried Raman without the provided packet and instead used some spices I had laying around, but it tasted so bland I ended up just using the packet anyway. I'm guessing that the bouillon wouldn't do that. I'm sure buying the alternative noodles is a little better in the long haul, I think Raman would just be easier. All I do is put it in a bowl, fill it with water, and stick it in the microwave for three minutes and it works like a charm.

I'm not exactly a chef. The things in my recipe book that I can cook are Peanut Butter and Jelly, Raman noodles, and TV dinners. I'm the exact definition of a bachelor.

 

[Lee]

Jello for you Americans.

 

[nightmare]

Well, Bill Cosby is just a damn fine spokesperson. Enough so that every gelatin dessert around here is referred to as Jello. Marketing wins.

 

[The Butcher]

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Lee is right with the Jello cups. I completely forgot about those. Mom used to put them in my lunches, the sugar free ones and I remember them only having like 10 calories or something. Probably not very filling, but it will definitely help curve that sweet tooth and prevent you from eating something bad.

Try diet soda as well OP. I used to carry around a liter of Diet Mountain Dew and still got the results I wanted from my diets and workouts.

 

[Dirk]

Pride

There's nothing like some humble pie to make one feel less of a man.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I fluctuate probably about 40lbs per year. I usually drop a lot of weight for summer and for pt tests. Last year I dropped 40lbs between the months of March and June while still gaining about a good 10-15 lbs of muscle.

The key is staying away from starchy and sugary carbs. Look for lean protein foods. I do like string cheese and yogurt. I eat non fat Greek yogurt now, because it's high in protein. One thing I can't live without is ranch. I've almost strangled a guy because the chow hall was out of ranch and it was wing day. Unfortunately ranch is high in fat and fat free ranch is awful. So what I do instead, I take the powdered ranch packets and mix them with plain non fat Greek yogurt and sometimes skim milk, depending on what consistency I want. If you have to have something sweet, I recomend Fiber One bars or Oatmeal. These are both high in fiber, which helps your digestion. I eat mostly meat every day. I cook at night and bring the leftovers to work the next morning.

Another thing is portioning. Eat something small every couple of hours. I eat something about every 2-3 hours when I'm work. Doing so will speed up your metabolism. Once your metabolism gets to the point where you are always hungry if you go a couple hours without food and you can eat large amounts of food without gaining weight, then simply replace a meal or two with a protein shake and the weight will fly off. In tech school my friend and I ate constantly. We'd have a 30 min window to get in and out the chow hall before formation. So what we did is, we'd rush in grab our first plate(only let you have one entree per go around) and pretty much devour half of it on the way to the table. They had snack bags for the students that were to-go, so each student had one of those. I traded all my cookies and fruits for everyone's peanuts. We would have our classmates go through the sandwich line and get sandwiches for us, because there is a 2 sandwich limit per go around, and we usually brought 4-8 sandwiches a piece. While they got us sandwiches, we'd go through the main line for another to go plate. We ate all that within an 8 hour class and then go to the chow hall again. Metabolism was so fast, that I had to eat constantly just to maintain the same weight.

Also, lot's of exercise. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns. So hit those weights. Also some interval running or heavy bag will drop your weight fast.

 

[Akhilleus]

Good advice, JJ. So I should eat more often during the day, and not less often? How big of portions though? Are you saying maybe eat a yogurt or two ever two hours? Then maybe two hours later have a few string cheeses?

Usually my routine at the gym is I'll run for a good 5-10 minutes on the treadmill (trying to go for longer times, but right now I can usually do at least 5) then get off and do the machine circuit. Maybe interval with some step ups, do about 50 crunches/situps, and jump back on the treadmill for another five or so minutes and repeat until I've been there for two hours.