Needing New Ideas
 

Hello everyone! It's been ages since I last checked in and I was not doing so hot. It has taken me almost 4 months but I am finally down 20 lbs! (well 21 something to be exact :carrot: ) I went on vacation back in June and gain a few pounds back and had a month long menstruation that just really messed with my weight. However, my body is now back to normal and I'm getting back on track.

Since I'm a teacher, I go back to work in just over a week and I'm really nervous about sticking to my good eating at school. What are some great snack foods people think I should take with me? At home I don't "snack" too often but at school I want to be prepared so I'm not stuck with the crap they fill the break room with.

I adore fruits and veggies btw! So don't think I'm looking for sweets or chips or something. I'm a really good healthy eater. Just not so good with deciding what is actually good for me and when only looks good for me.

Thank you in advance!

I love munching on baby carrots. Or slice up some veggies and have them with a little hummus. When I want something with a little salt, I have some popchips...if you haven't had the before, they're potato chips that have been popped like popcorn instead of baked or fried :) Apples are great too, especially since they'll be in season soon. Sometimes I'll have them with a little peanut butter, or oven dipping them in the yogurt I have in my lunch is good too.

I don't much care for food preparation in general, so I like simple fruits - berries, kiwi, apples, pears -- or raw veggies -- celery, carrots, cherry tomatoes -- that are easily accessible. In fact, I have not tried this in years, but I think I am going to get some carrots and add a bit of lemon juice and salt to them. Crunchy, and unbelievably delicious.

Any fruit or veg you can cut up at home for convenience is great...

I like greek yogurt with frozen berries. The berries keep the yogurt cold (and delicious). Add some kashi cereal and you've made a delicious parfait type thing. This is generally my breakfast, but could be a snack if you scale down the portion size.

Also good: tomato cucumber salad. a little balsamic vinegar and you're set.

Sometimes I do nori-rolls of tuna & cucumber (basically just sushi without the rice) and take that to work to munch.

Celery or red peppers with hummus is nice, WW cheesesticks are good too and personally I think they're better than a number of the light cheesesticks out there. Apples are good red delicious have the most antioxidants (in the skin) but they get all gross looking after you slice them up (if you're looking for ease) Not too crazy about the baby carrots because they are soaked in chlorine before we buy them but I do like to grab some regular bagged carrots and slice them up myself with my celery sticks :)

i love simple salad: tomato, feta and oregano. any fresh veggies and fruits are great for a snack, also you can take nuts, berries. make sandwishes with healthy bread boiled chicken breasts, meat, avocado, shrimps, feta or some other creamy low fat cheese

I enjoy pretzel rods that I "dip" into a laughing cow wedge... that's my go-to low cal snack when I want something that tastes like its "bad" lol.. :)

Great suggestions! I like cottage cheese singles with cherry tomatoes and maybe a little salsa...and I love cilantro! I also love hard boiled eggs. I recently discovered that you can actually bake them (with their shell on) in the oven and that this will come out even more delicious.

Thank you! These ideas are great so far. Right before school let out for summer is when I started my new weightloss journey. I would snack on little baggies of pretzel sticks or cheerios, which I know aren't a great diet food but the child in me could not give them up at that point. Lol. Anything I can keep in my purse or small lunchbox is great for me. I normally buy a salad for lunch from the school. Mostly lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and black beans. No salad dressing for me. Never found one I liked. Just every now and then between chasing kids at recess and teaching them how to read you just need a snack! So thank you all for your help so far!! Keep em coming.

Jiff makes individually packed peanut butter cups that I like to stash along with slices of apple. Ok sometimes I just lick it up with my finger haha. I also love all kinds of hummus, right now I'm crazy about Sabras roasted pine but hummus. I also love black bean hummus and split yellow pea hummus. I've got really easy recipes for both.

I also love to make spicy feta spread. It is sooooooo delicious. Just get a cup of feta cheese, a jar of roasted red peppers (drained), a cup of Greek yogurt, some red pepper flakes and olive oil. Buzz in a food processor and you've got yourself one delicious dip!!!

Once a week I buy a bunch I dandelions, boil until tender and use it all week as a side dish or to top sandwiches.

I freeze cups of lentil soup or veggie soup and it makes a great snack.

Another favorite snack is veggies wrapped in ham or turkey like carrots, red peppers, asparagus etc.

And don't forget ants on a log!

I'm a big Chobani Greek Yogurt fan. All the protein keeps me full. Hearty grain granola bars are another favorite though some tend to have too much sugar at times. Even the natural ones....still, they're tasty and easy to grab.

And as Wannebeskinny mentioned- hummus on just about anything!

Super suggestions :) and I just want to point out that the snacks that combine protein with carbs are going to be your best bet. One suggestion... make your own snack mix with healthy cereals and nuts. You could also throw in a bit of dried fruits or whatever you like...

I just love mini peppers. I eat them plain or sometimes I dip in hummus or I'll buy those cream cheese packets from Costco (taste like a jalepeno popper with cream cheese!). Sometimes I chop off the top and sometimes I just pack them whole and bite off the edible part. They are cheap, easy, little to no prep, and they don't spoil very quickly.

I just posted this on another forum because it's so darn good.

Slice up a large cucumber

Sprinkle with olive oil, coarse salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili powder.

75 calories! :carrot:

Have you considered giving up snacking?

Not snacking means you can eat larger meals which works far better for me.

Just an idea to consider.

I love sugar peas for munching because they don't need to be cut up. If you live near a Trader Joe's, they have really good ones.

I bought one of those 1 lb dark chocolate bars and some seeds and dried fruit from Trader Joe's. I chose fruit that had minimal sugar or other stuff added. I created my own mix, figured out the calories, and packaged my mix in those little snack bags. These live in the freezer and are great for grab and go. Each bag contains 200 calories. That little hit of two of dark chocolate in each snack really does it for me. LOL!

Trader Joe's also has some snack crackers that I really like. I am posting a link because it is important that you get exactly this. They have others that look the same, but have more calories. I love these with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese or to dip. These come in cracker size and in mini size.
http://www.goodguide.com/products/26...nal-multigrain

Here is a roasted red pepper dip that I particularly like. I think the crackers they refer to might be the Trader Joe ones. I freeze this in portion sizes.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/roas...0000001571422/

Why do you need snacks?

Are your meals not keeping you full long enough?

Are you eating out of boredom or habit or because the food is there?

To John P and Seagirl's point, I grew up in the 40s and 50s. W didn't snack like we do now. When we went on road trips, my mother packed a picnic and we stopped along the side of the road and ate it - potato salad, deviled eggs, sandwiches with lettuce and mayo and maybe leftover roast or ham. Yum!! Sometimes there was a table, other times we spread a blanket. I know, "how quaint" you are thinking. LOL. Were we practicing intermittent fasting?

We didn't eat in front of the tv because we didn't have one. Even after we got one, we ate at the table and watched tv later. We just didn't sit in front of the tv eating like we do now. It's not that we were so "pure" we didn't approve of eating at the tv. We just hadn't thought of the possibility yet.

We didn't choose a car based on the number and size of the drink cups! This is actually an issue with me and my DH, although we don't drink high calorie stuff. We live in a very hot climate and need to stay hydrated.

Anyway, somehow we survived without snacks and other constant eating. No wonder so many of us are on the "chubby" side. I know I seem to think I won't survive if I have to go a few hours without food.

I like snacks, but basically all of my meals are "snacks." A piece of fruit or veggies with some kind of dip are my snacks that I pack with work, but my breakfast and lunch are also around the same amount of calories as my snacks, so a cup of soup or a veggie egg white scramble or mini quiche could also be considered a snack to some.

On days when I really need something a little bit sweet, I like to make a strawberry cucumber salad. Just chop them both up into small pieces (I slice my cucumbers, then cut each slice into fourths) and add a little bit of honey or agave nectar mixed with white wine vinaigrette. It's low cal and light, but sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.