I started my new lifestyle almost a month ago and have been - slowly - losing weight.
I'm currently calorie counting and NOT carb counting. Although I avoid obvious carbs: potatoes, pasta, bread). I do eat carbs in the form of weeatbix, sweet potatoes, a few table spoons of rice - let's say 4 or 5. Most of my lunches and dinners are low carb though.
I am fully aware my body reacts quickly and well to low carb diets, I just find them very difficult to follow, and here is why: snacks. I can have low calorie meals, but snacks... What to eat?
I often snack on an apple, a banana, a pack of those Kelloggs snacks, three "healthy" biscuits, etc. Basically these are carb packed... So for daily snacks I eat about two apples a day and one of those packs of cookies (30grams of cookies: 137 calories and 6grams of carbs).
So, let's say I want to avoid dairy and carbs, what can I put in my bag to snack on about 2 or 3 times a day, between meals?
I've used those cheese triangles before, but that's all I can think of Please help!
The only answer I've found to this is vegetables. Cucumbers, Celery and snap peas are my current snacking favorites. Pair this up with hummus, dip or guacamole for deliciousness.
Just be careful of your portion sizes. If this is for snacking, there's no reason you'll need more than 1/2 a C of either of these veggies, or more than 2 tsp of the dips.
Do you have access to a fridge? I think a boiled egg would be good if thats the case.
I don't do low carb so I'm not sure if this is too carby for you? But I love almonds if your workplace isn't nut free, just preportion them out by counting out 12 or however many you decide is the right amount for you. Other than veggies thats one of my favorites.
Atkins snack foods are delicious. The WonderSlim and Proti-Diet foods from DietDirect.com are great: DD also sells moderately low-carb soy crisps and puffs which are pretty good and satisfy that need for a crunchy crisp. They have cookies and cereals, too, which are good for low-carb snacks. Medifast has low(ish)-carb snacks; puffs, snack bars, puddings and shakes which can be mixed up with water and a battery powered hand whisk (I got one on eBay for $3.00). MediFast brownies ROCK MY WORLD, and all they need is a microwave and some water to prepare. WonderSlim has a chocolate cake mix which is similar, as well as a creamy chocolate pudding which is amazing (again, you'll need a small battery powered whisk).
Peanut butter or yogurt cheese on celery.
Carrots dipped in Walden Farms dressings.
I have seen low-carb almond-flour crackers in the health food store but I haven't had them yet.
first a disclaimer, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you are losing a pound or so in a week (or less if you are comfortable with the plan you're on), why change what's working? On the other hand, if it's time to crank it up here's my ideas:
Leftovers (chicken legs, hunk of roast etc)
veggies and dip (I call them rabbit bags) that I premake on the weekends
boiled or deviled eggs (but the 2 deviled halves together for portability)
cheese sticks
yogurt if you eat yogurt (some do some don't), I like greek style with a lil sweetener and vanilla
pork skins (the old classic choice eh?, try adding butter, splenda and cinnamon to plain ones)
Pop top cans of meat - of your choice - veggies to dip it with?
LC fruit if allowed with whipped cream
atkins shakes and EAS (LC kind only) are pretty good and don't stall me, but too many atkins bars will
hot flavored tea with splenda (Christmas brings out some really desserty ones that are uncarby)
coffee smoothie (splenda, inst coffee, extra scoop protein, vanilla splash, atkins shake, cream splash, ice cube or two - blenderized)
don't limit your concept of a snack - it doesn't have to look normal to the rest of the world, it just needs to meet your needs - aka the glorious chicken leg
sugar snap peas and hummus are a really good snack. also for low-carbing, turkey or roast beef sandwhich meat with cream cheese spread on it, rolled up. delicious.
There are some really good low and lowish carb snack recipes and lists on the low-carb and paleo-diet websites.
Remember that you don't have to be limited to a specific time of day or meal. Any food can be a breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack food.
I don't mind cooking, but I don't want to do it every day, so I like make-ahead recipes.
One of my favorite lower-carb snacky meals is stuffed peppers.
Not a snack? They are the way I make them.
I buy a bag of mini bell peppers (I used to be able to only find them at Sam's and Walmart, but now I seem them in most grocery stores). They come in an assortment of yellow, orange, and red, and vary in size from a thumb to a golf-ball.
I cut the tops off and scoop out the seeds (there aren't many in the little peppers).
Then I make the filling. Ground beef (or any other ground meat or mixture of meats) and diced onion, a dash of worcestershire sauce or viatnamese fish sauce (which works great as a worcestershire sauce substitute). Sometimes diced celery or chopped water chestnut. Whichever seasonings I like. Sometimes I use italian seasoning, sometimes taco or fajita seasonings, or oriental seasonings (I like 5 spice powder and a bit of grated ginger, garlic, and soy sauce).
I stuff the small peppers. I used to use a toothpick to attach the little caps, but I found this step unnecessary. You can discard the caps or save them for a veggie stock, or you can stick the cap back on and the stickiness of the meat mixture will hold the cap on most of them.
You can wrap each pepper with a bit of very thin bacon (if I do this, I cut the bacon in halves or thirds lengthwise).
I place the mini stuffed peppers on a cookie sheet with some space around each one (so they don't freeze in a lump)_ and then put the cookie sheet in the freezer.
After they've frozen, I put them in a ziploc bag or tupperware container.
You can also bake them before you freeze them, you're choice.
To cook them from frozen, I just put several in a small pan and bake (a loaf pan works nicely) and if I want to, I will pour a can of diced tomatoes or lower-sugar spaghetti sauce over them.
You can also put them in a toster oven or a microwave (if you have a microwave that heats evenly, cooking on medium power helps).
I also make buffalo "wings" from chicken thighs. I cut parallel to the bone (so one piece has the bone in it, and the other is boneless). You can keep the skin on, or you can remove it. You can also use boneless thighs or breasts and cut into strips (I like thighs because they stay moister).
I shake on a rub or marinate the chicken pieces (italian dressing makes a nice marinade, ranch dressing powder is good, hot sauce works well, a vinegar-based barbecue sauce, soy sauce and garlic sweetened with a bit of artificial sweetener if you like a sweeter teriyaki style sauce).
Then I bake or broil until the chicken is done. These also can be made in big batches and then frozen after cooking, so you only have to thaw or microwave and eat. Most are even good cold (although if I'm going to eat them cold, I usually do not want to leave the skin on).
Tiny smoky links are nice once in a while (but they are a processed meat, so I don't eat them very often).
Cheese cubes are really nice. I like to use stronger cheeses, like asiago and blue cheese, aged swiss or cheddar.
I always keep a bunch of raw veggies handy. I clean and cut just enough for three or four days (some veggies will hold up even longer).
Reduced fat cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, grilled and wrapped with a strip of bacon with some of the fat trimmed off. HEAVEN, and you usually can only eat a few.
ACK, put my fat back on my bacon. I don't think that fits me very well. Keeping my fat in my cheese and on my bacon. But otherwise, that sounds fabulous - might try it sometime.
first a disclaimer, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you are losing a pound or so in a week (or less if you are comfortable with the plan you're on), why change what's working? On the other hand, if it's time to crank it up here's my ideas:
Leftovers (chicken legs, hunk of roast etc)
veggies and dip (I call them rabbit bags) that I premake on the weekends
boiled or deviled eggs (but the 2 deviled halves together for portability)
cheese sticks
yogurt if you eat yogurt (some do some don't), I like greek style with a lil sweetener and vanilla
pork skins (the old classic choice eh?, try adding butter, splenda and cinnamon to plain ones)
Pop top cans of meat - of your choice - veggies to dip it with?
LC fruit if allowed with whipped cream
atkins shakes and EAS (LC kind only) are pretty good and don't stall me, but too many atkins bars will
hot flavored tea with splenda (Christmas brings out some really desserty ones that are uncarby)
coffee smoothie (splenda, inst coffee, extra scoop protein, vanilla splash, atkins shake, cream splash, ice cube or two - blenderized)
don't limit your concept of a snack - it doesn't have to look normal to the rest of the world, it just needs to meet your needs - aka the glorious chicken leg
Great ideas, thanx for sharing. I love me some pork skins with lemon, salt n hot sauce...it's yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Nuts. I eat nuts every day. There are a number of 100 calorie packs of nuts that are sold or you can measure out your own.
Cheese sticks - I like the pepper jack for flavor
Atkins bars and oatmeal cinnamon baked square - This really depends on if you can tolerate sugar alcohols and whether you are sensitive to them. I tolerate them and they don't make me want to eat carbs so having one is a nice snack.
Hummus - For portion control and to make certain it stays fresh I buy small individual servings. I usually eat with a whole wheat high fiber tortilla but you can also use red bell pepper strips or carrot sticks or whole grain pita bread.
I am on a low carb diet and these are the snacks I have
-can of tuna (65g)
-boiled egg
-pre cooked protein pancake-these are great as they are sweet and satisfy my sweet tooth. Made with egg whites beaten untill stiff, add one yolk, sweetner and a bit of cinnamin and vanilla essences, mix and spoon onto pan, cook low on both sides, let them cool and they are ready to go. can be frozen also
-low carb cheesecake. mix equal parts of low fat ricotta and low fat cream cheese, add a sachet of sugar free jelly ( I like orange and add orange grind too) add a couple of egg whites, bake low for about 20mins, let cool and slice when you want.
-protein bread buns, beat egg whites until stiff, add a pinch of salt and spoon onto oven tray, bake at a low heat untill completely cooked. let col. can be frozen, great for making sandwhiches or for burger buns!
-home made protein balls. tablespoon of peanut butter (natural one with 100% peanuts best) a scoop of your fav protein powder, add a sachet of sweetner if your protein powder isn't as sweet, make it choc flavoured if you wish with a bit of coco, add either some olive oil, or if you are worried abut to much fat a bit of hot water (very small amount) mix untill you can roll into balls. make in tol bals and gladwrap and refrigerate for when needed. chaper and better for you than protein bars. hope that helps!
1) I got myself LOADS of those mini zip locks, along with a precision scale, so I take about 13 grams of nuts to work (I vary the nuts, sometimes almonds, peanuts, walnuts, whatevernuts), so it's actually under 100 calories a pack
2) I started buying roast chicken breast, it's already cooked and packed, so I just slice it up and put it in a mini tupperware and take it to work. The amound I eat varies, but it's still low calorie and carb.
3) Still on the fruit, it's delicious and tastes like the thin girls candy, LOL.
4) I've discovered Cracottes (google!) while not low carb, I use two cracottes and a cheese triangle, thats about 100 calories... AND GAWD IT'S GOOD!!! This is more of a snack for when I'm feeling like I want a piece of cake, you know those moments, when you crave something yummy.
5) Zero calorie jelly: my BFF :P
6) boiled eggs: yes, at work :P let them stare, soon I will be super gorgeous and then they will stare some more :P
7) cheese sticks
8) Ham. Yes, ham. about two sliced with a cracotte or a crackers does them job for around 100 calories
lizzie: I've made similar protein balls! I use 1/2 natural nothing added peanut butter and 1/2 vanilla protein powder. I roll mine in cocoa after to keep them from sticking to each other. Delish.
Yesterday I had leftover beef roast shredded, topped with a little salsa and cheddar. Used it for pork skin dip. YUM!
today: got off plan, but my on plan snack was cocoa dusted almonds.
Low carb snacks for work?
Please help!
