I know your diet is the most important next to exercise when dieting. But my question is what can you eat that's healthy? I'm a big snack eater. I love my snacks so instead of chocolate and soda what healthy snacks can I eat? What do you guys eat when you feel like having a snack?

I love my healthy snacks, I count my calories so I've started weighing everything out. I usually snack on fresh fruit and berries, seeds and nuts. Today as a snack I had 11.6 ounces of blueberries, and this afternoon I will have 6.6 ounces of raspberries drizzled with honey -- yum. I also had 2 ounces of sunflower seeds.

All the snacking keeps me full and really helps me from getting cravings to binge.

Hmmm, some ideas so far:

- sugar snap peas, red peppers, carrots
- hummus and low calorie crackers
- rice cake with a little bit of of peanut butter on it
- diet hot chocolate when I need some chocolate!
- fiber one bars (also good for a chocolate fix)
- apple and some peanut butter
- a handful of almonds
- hardboiled egg
- a cup of cheerios
- banana or an apple, or some cherries

I am a total snacker and I prefer to snack all day than to actually eat big meals. I usually eat about 5-6 times per day at about 200-250 calories each. I feel like I'm always eating, it really helps me.

get things that are ridiculously low in calories. like stuff that makes you full but you cant believe you only ate 60 calories. my current favorites are sugar free jello cups (10 cals!) or skinny cow ice cream cups (150!) or microwaveable campbells hand-soups (70!)

Some of my favorites are: almonds, fat free greek yogurt with agave nectar, blueberries, apples, mozerella cheese sticks, pumpkin seeds, cherries.

J

Fruit or yogurt mostly. But I have dessert every night and it's generally either sugar free jell-o, pudding, or a low-cal ice cream dessert.

Things I snack on:

- Chobani or Stoneyfield yogurt
- 100 cal. pack of Emerald Cocoa Almonds (Yummy! And I hate almonds!!)
- 1/2 C low fat cottage cheese with fruit
- Fruit: apples, fruit cups with juice drained, blueberries, strawberries, etc.
- Cucumbers with spray of dressing (those 1 cal per spray things)
- Grape Tomatoes
- String cheese
- 10 - 12 Food Should Taste Good chips w/ laughing cow wedge or hummus
- 100 cal bag of microwaveable pop corn

This is going to involve telling a little story but I think it is important to why I do what I now do. My hubby and I have a favorite restaurant we have gone to for over six years. Although it is an all you can eat buffet style restaurant, the manager, whom we have gotten to know quite well over the years, has a really strong committment to offer a wide variety of foods that anyone can eat; vegetarians, meat eaters, salad lovers, etc.

I also live in a very large metropolitan city where there has been quite an influx of people from other countries and cultures as well. One thing that I "observed" was that many of these diners who hail orginally from other countries than our own do not eat the typical American dessert like pie, cake or ice cream at the end of their meals. Almost always, they will go to the salad bar and bring back a plate full of fresh fruit, whatever is in season. Did I mention that none of these people have a weight problem?

I also read that if you eat your salad at the end of your meal, it will actually signal your brain that you have finished your meal. So, guess what I have been doing consistently in the past several months? Yup. Fresh fruit is now not a side but the dessert. I also eat my salad at the end of my meal. Guess what? I rarely crave anything like cakes, cookies, candies, etc.

Just thought I would share this with ya'all.

Snacks I have might be...

Fudgesicles
Fat free, sugar free plain yogurt with strawberry or vanilla flavored protein powder (and occasionally I'll mix in a high fiber cereal)
Fat free cottage cheese
Cheese sticks
Hard boiled eggs
Pre-cooked chicken breast that just need to be microwaved for a second
Popcorn
Low calorie soup (might not be the healthiest option, but it sure fills you up and is very low in calories!) (also good to add lentils or something else with high fiber in it)

Another good (healthy) one that's a bit heavier on calories is whole wheat tortilla shell with natural peanut butter spread on it and sliced banana... Mmmmmmm....

I absolutely HATE cooking, so these are pretty much my staples

One of my favourites is a couple of oatcakes (total 70 cal) with a small cube of cheese.

I don't eat any 'pretend' sweet things, with artificial sweetener, because it sets me off just wanting more and more sweet stuff. I'm sure it's all in the mind! I know they work very well for other people. My head's just weird.

Oh I've said this so often, "I had to rethink what a snack is".

I rely heavily on snacks. For me they are planned. I like to eat and I HATE being hungry - snacking fits the bill, solving both these problems. Snacks for me is food - good wholesome food. Not *junk*. I need my snacks to be filling and satiating. I can't have a 100 calorie pack or the such. I eat one of those and minutes later, I feel as if I haven't eaten.

Some of my snacks:

an apple, if I'm home, sliced paper thin and sprinkled with cinnamon
a baked apple with walnuts, raisins, sf maple syrup
a no fat yogurt, partially frozen with 1/4 cup fiber one cereal
all different sorts of salads - cucumber - cucumber/tomato/onion - red cabbage slaw - the list is endless
a big bowl of soup
a big bowl of ratatouille - zucchini, peppers, celery, onions, mushrooms, carrots cooked in tomato sauce, sprinkled with parmesean cheese
grape tomatoes
blueberries or other in season berries
peach or other in season fruit
celery, cukes, baby carrots, raw string beans - dipped in salsa

I just want to mention here, that yes exercise is vital to weight loss and adhering to a healthy lifestyle, of that there is no doubt, but first and foremost, according to most sources and I am in TOTAL agreement with it - is the foods that you eat - your *diet*. So I wouldn't say that diet is the most important NEXT to exercise, I would say that your DIET is THEE most important aspect.

In other words, we can't possibly exercise away all the extra pounds.
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I'm seconding all the great snack suggestions that have been given but I think the most important this is the permanent lifestyle changes you make. Dieting should be dropped from your vocabulary. Dieting just gets weight gain when it is over and you return to you old eating habits. I've a nearly 200 pounds and never dieted. Did make a whole lot of permanent changes in what I eat, drink and how I exercise. That's what works in the end.

organic or all natural greek yogurt (like Oikos or Fage)
organic berries
almonds, pistachios, walnuts
organic baby carrots(actually sweeter than the non organic)
Popchips (I'm completely addicted)