Looking for suggestions for BIG portions with LITTLE calories! Obviously, salad comes immediately to mind, and I do eat lots, but sometime want something else. Especially in the evening when the munchies hit!
Salad and veggies are the most filling with the least calories. Now you can have veggies with a low-fat dip (1% fat sour cream has only 20 calories for 2 tbl; just add some seasonings) like -- cucumber slices, baby carrots, pepper slices, mushrooms slices, baby tomotoes or tomato wedges, celery sticks, whole green and yellow beans, pea pods, broccoli & cauliflower, and so forth.
Often, I have celery boats with lite cheese (ie laughing cow) for my evening snack varying it with the other suggestions here.
Next, is fruit ~ apples and watermelon are filling; ever try apple slices in lowfat strawberry yogurt ... yummy and filling.
Hard-boiled eggs ~ I find 1 or 2 of these with a broth drink fills me up for some reason. I also like chicken noodle cupasoup (more soup than noodles, and very filling).
Soup ~ I totally agree with MEOWEE; nothing like a hot bowl of homemade soup to fill you up -- make a big pot and freeze it in serving sizes.
Cereal ~ have a whole grain cereal ~ 3/4 to 1-1/4 cup for 100 calories depending on the kind. I mix Honey Nuts & O's with bran flakes for lots of fiber.
Beverages ~ like hot tea, iced tea, mocha-coffee, a homemade slushy, a homemade fruit shake is very filling. Freeze some fruit (bananas and strawberries) and whiz in some skim milk. You may want to add a little sweetener, to taste.
Last edited by Justwant2Bhealthy; 04-11-2009 at 04:41 PM.
Thanks. I do make huge pots of soup using whatever low-calorie veggies I have around, along with lots of onion. I guess fruit would probably be my favourite munchie food (next to chocolate, lol). It's nice to know that there are others who think in terms of quantity.
The item that fills my evening munchies best is the already mentioned 100 calorie popcorn pack. I supplement it with some grape tomatoes and just a hint of cheese. I have the deli super thinly slice a flavorful cheese and eat just a pinch along with the tomatoes and popcorn (maybe half a "you can see thru it" slice).The calorie expenditure is under 150, I get in a little extra veg and tad of protein and I am satisfied. Almost like a last mini-meal. After that the "kitchen is closed" except for tea.
Years ago when I was active in Weight Watchers there was a lady who swore by 1/2 bag of frozen veggies nuked and then mixed with spices of choice and 1 tsp of margarine (you could sub a nice olive oil or even a light dressing) Another lady who had lost and kept off over 100 pounds and liked volume swore by canned pumpkin mixed with spices and a non caloric sweetener and topped with just a low cal whip or stirred up with a little low cal pudding. I try to avoid the artificial stuff, but pumpkin is such a nutrition winner that a little of the fake stuff is fine in my book if it makes it tasty.
Fruit at night makes me more hungry!- just something I learned about myself over time.
I live in a very rural area. Trying to find shirataki noodles is like trying to reach the moon. But, oh, I wish I could. Do you know of a reputable place to order them online? (Preferably in Canada.)
I discovered a happy accident when hubby and I recently went to a chinese restaurant buffet. I chose the buffet because it had a nice salad bar as part of the buffet. I guess it technically counts as a salad, but I laid down a bed of shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, sliced green onion, and a few pieces of baby corn - and while I was trying to decide on the salad dressing, decided that I wouldn't make a salad that I'd use the veggie combo instead of rice. So I put small helpings of the stir fries on top of the shredded cabbage. Mostly I took ones I knew would be fairly low calorie, but I even put on small dabs of two of my higher calorie favorites (general tso's chicken and sweet and sour pork, but just a very small dab of each).
It was so good, that I decided to do that at home the next time I make foods I'd normally put on noodles or rice. I don't know if spaghetti sauce will be good over raw shredded cabbage (bet it would be good on cooked - sort of like exploded cabbage rolls), but I was thinking that stir fries, sloppy joe or pulled pork barbecue would be very good over shredded raw cabbage.
My faves for volume are smashed cauliflower, shredded papaya, and grilled veggies. When I eat these items I don't even concern myself with the calories really. Egg whites I would rate pretty highly as well--plus the added benefit of it being protein. Oh, also another favorite is jicama--I eat a ton of it.
Last edited by Thighs Be Gone; 04-12-2009 at 11:00 PM.
One of my favorite salads is basically veggies with some refried beans and salsa on top. Sometimes I'll put black beans with salsa instead but (nonfat, vegetarian) refried beans are my favorite.
Veggies are definitely large volume, low calorie foods. I also buy no oil/no salt microwave popcorn (favorite brand is bearitos). Beans overall are a great filler that have good protein and fiber to help fill you up with not too many calories.
It's all about volume
Obviously, salad comes immediately to mind, and I do eat lots, but sometime want something else. Especially in the evening when the munchies hit!
