Question about snacking?

  • I'm one of those people that never eats a big meal, but smaller snacks throughout the day.

    I ate my breakfast this morning, had lunch, a morning snack, and afternoon snack. However, I am still a little hungry sometimes so I've been popping a cherry tomato ever now and then. Is this bad? Can their be too much snacking if the item is P1 friendly?
  • Veggie, yes there can be too much snacking. If you feel you can control what you eat well enough to snack like that, it might be fine. But I do much better if I stick to my meals and just increase the amount of food I eat at each to help with my hunger. Every so often, I find I'm still hungry after my snacks, and I'll have one more...but not two or three, which would send me down the beaten path! Are you eating enough veggies during your meals? Drinking enough water?
  • If you are consistently hungry after certain snacks then try having a larger snack and make sure it is protein based. Always sit down at the table to eat your snacks. Otherwise it is easy to overeat or eat out of habit.

    I used to pick before dinner time so now I have a substantial snack mid-afternoon and aren't hungry until dinner time. I also used to pick all evening but now I eat a lot of vegies at dinner time then make desert an hour or so after dinner.
  • I drink tons of water and eat quite a few veggies at each meal. I'm a vegetarian so my meals tend to be mostly vegetables. Can I up the amount of beans in my diet so I feel a little more full? Right now I stick to the 1/3 cup.
  • Have you thought about figuring out what your going to eat over the entire day, then divide it up so that you are eating a small amount of that every hour or so?

    That way you aren't eating a big meal, yet you have food when you want it and you know that it is the correct amount, not going over board on the higher fat/calorie things.

    I tend to be a grazer and that is how I work around it. I've gotten a little better about eating bigger meals 3 times a day and snacks, but in the begining it was hard. I carried several baggies of cut up veggies, the 1/2 cup containers for meat/protein type (beans, tofu?) and cottage cheese or yogurt with ground flax seeds. Sometimes, I would eat half my lunch around 10, the other half at noon and then have my snacks in the afternoon.

    Just an idea.

    edited to add:
    How funny, we were just talking about beans on another thread:
    http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43461 the one about stomach cramps.

    Sarah