The hardest times for me are those periods about an hour to an hour and a half before my next meal or snack. I sometimes start craving munchies! At those times I'm just starting to get a little hungry and I'm bored or need a break from work or I'm stressed and find myself wandering into the kitchen, looking for something to snack on ....

So, what are your best low or no calorie tricks for getting through those periods when you're wanting to snack, but it will just ruin your diet! Sometimes chewing a piece of sugarless gum helps me, sometimes I get a low/no calorie beverage (iced tea, club soda). But I need more tricks to help me through those periods! Share your secrets!

Hi. I also have these kinds of cravings. I usually sit down with a nice cup of hot tea. This really helps me.

Keeping my hands busy is what works best for me (I don't have enough fingers to eat and knit at the same time, for instance . But that may be because my real emotional trigger is boredom more than anything else, so it kind of makes sense. It may not work for everyone.

I like raisins. I buy the minature boxes. They definately satisfy my sweet tooth cravings. But here's a tip...the best raisins really are the brand name raisins. I had bought a store brand and they actually had some that were kinda hard...but i bought a pack of brand name one...i don't actually know who they are by, they just say disney magic on them...but they are so sweet, juicy and soft. I love them!!!

Gosh, the way I have my meals and snacks spaced, I eat every 2 to 3 hours--so it just doesn't come up! The only time it happens is when I'm late getting to a snack--and then I have to decide whether to have the snack and move the next meal out further, or skip the snack and wait.

I like baby-cut carrots as a snack--they are crunchy and you can eat a lot of them for not many calories.

Jay

I LOVE Almonds, I do half a serving a a couple of dried apricots and make it at 100 calories even.
For dessert, I love the snack pack pudding - the no sugar added are only 60 calories and then I mix in 2 tbsp of Cool Whip Light and it is like chocolate mousse for under 80 calories.
HTH!
KM

Veggies, veggies, veggies! I eat vegetables constantly throughout my day, and it does wonders to keep my full.

Like Jay, I also eat about every 2-3 hours so I'm never really craving munchies....but what I do love, especially in the evenings is to make a fruit smoothie with just any frozen fruit and some diet clear soda (Sprite, Sierra Mist, 7UP)....it's perfect and so refreshing, and great after a workout. I love to make these when I have company because EVERYONE loves them. Adding a banana makes it nice and creamy too.

If your stomach is growling and you just want to quiet it for a little while, I find that chugging a couple glasses of water (not ice cold water, that hurts!) does a good job of distracting my stomach for a bit. Even better is exercise, if I can...vigorous exercise generally kills my appetite for an hour or two, although it does come back with a vengence.

If I'm just looking for something snacky because I'm in a mood to eat, I go for Diet Coke and maybe some cottage cheese or baby carrots. Low calorie, but not too delicious so I don't get carried away and overeat.

BRUSH, FLOSS and RINSE. Works every time. (Be thorough- Brush teeth at 45 degrees to gum line, floss between everywhere and rinse with something powerful like Listerine. It feels so friggin' clean I'd never ruin such a mouth with food.)

I like the cubes, not wedges of Light laughing cow cheese. The cubes keep my hands busier, since there are 5 cubes in a serving, opening those cubes takes a minute or two, especially if you open them one at a time, eat one, open one. I know that sounds silly, but it honestly works for me. It sort of passes the time and gets me over the bordom hump.

If it is really close to a meal, i will go outside and piddle in my garden, or go check the mail. Anything to get my mind off the kitchen.

I try to keep fruit around but it gets hard with so much junk food at work.

Lumi-I like to do the raisins too but mine are yogurt covered which really defeats the prupose!!

i usually get whatver im craving for but in a tiny tiny amount.. like this morning i was craving something sweet (candy) and i had a little bag of skittles, well i just grabbed around 5 and my cravings went away because i found that if i try and replace my cravings with something i really dont want just because its "healthier", by the time im done eating it.. im still hungry and craving what i did in the first place.

I am lovin' the Diet Dr. Pepper. It's sweet that it curbs my candy craving and carbonated so it satisfies the soda urge - I'm trying to cut out the sodas, and that is so hard for me.

I'm just curious as I've seen mentioned so many times...why are people so worried about sodas? I drink diet soda every day....along with my 80 + ounces of water. I see nothing wrong with it. Am I missing something here?

Or do people just take it out of their diet because they're not drinking enough water and need to re-train themselves?

Anyways....the Diet Dr. Pepper hits the sweet spot for me as well...I love that stuff. I don't think I could handle eating only 5 skittles...that's like when I used to buy bags of Nestle Treasures and say I was only going to eat a couple and then I'd eat the whole 2 lb bag! I'm a chocoholic and can't handle candy like that. I'd be proud of myself if I could though! I have a buy a bite size piece of chocolate so that I am truely limiting myself.