Hello!

Today I learned something - well, I knew it already, but - I really MUST plan and be more prepared for the mid-afternoon hungries or I either a) become ravenous and get a headache or b) give in to any snack available at that moment.

Yesterday I did really well on my plan, and I didn't need anything around 4pm. Today I was absolutely ravenous, even AFTER having a snack around 2:30 (a large NF cappuccino and a lovely nectarine). I had nothing extra with me. I drank a lot of water but I just was completly empty and it wasn't helping. Then I heard that someone brought cookies up to our floor I caved. And not only did I eat a bite of a cookie (they were the honkin' huge kind) I probably ate enough bites to make up one whole big honkin' cookie.

My question to you all is:: what are some good snacks/in between's that I can prepare easily at home to bring with me? I normally always have fruit, but sometimes I eat fruit and I am still hungry later. I need something really around 4pm (if I feel that emptiness) because I leave work at earlist 5 and I have a 2 hour commute home (yep, you read that right, 2 hours!)

I am following WW (at least for my daily intake, portion control, points) so it should be something low or no point that would be filling. I live in the Netherlands, so I can't do any pre-packaged goodies from the whole foods store (or any other store in N. America). It really has to be honest-to-goodness whole foods made from scratch.

Am I being too demanding? Can anyone help me?

TIA!!!

Here are a few things that may get you through the afternoon munchies:

3 stalks of celery with 2 tsp peanut butter and 1 tsp raisins
1 tbsp plain unsalted almond slivers and 2 tbsp raisins
1 apple with 2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 banana with 1 tbsp peanut butter
6 Whole wheat crackers and 10 baby carrots

Most of these have protein which should help to control cravings for junk food. I try not to eat too much suger in the afternoon (even if it's naturally occuring sugar like in fruit) as I find that it makes me feel like I'm gonna die if I don't get my dinner right at 5:00 PM. I find if I eat something with a bit of protein and some veggies I do much better fighting off the afternoon munchie monster.

Hope that helps...Tamara

I'm sitting here with the same problem. I planned ahead, I brought two Kashi granola bars... one for a morning snack and one for an afternoon snack, but I ate my second one with lunch so now it's 3:23pm and I'm drinking so much water I'm going to swim out of here.

Tamara ~ thanks for the ideas! That's great!
One question - are gold raisins as nutritionally sound as the dark raisins (sorry they must be called something else, I just don't know what!)? I have a bunch of raisins in the cupboard so I'd like to use them

Is feta cheese (low-fat) OK? I was thinking of mixing some into some brown rice, with some nuts/seeds and some chickpeas. Just a small portion. Do you think that would help?

LadyJane - sorry you are having the same problem! Some days I'm good with my snacks some days I could eat just about everything I have by lunch! I don't like to have too much stuff with me "just in case" because sometimes I'll eat it anyway, even if I'm not so hungry (I have "bored" eating issues).

I had that problem last night, sooo hungry and not wanting to eat to keep my calorie count down. I tried coffee, tea, water, some fruit finally I caved and had whole grain bread and peanut butter, that worked!

But mmmm I like that brown rice, feta, nuts and chickpea thing....sounds good and I have never had anything like that, sounds like it could be a good cold salad. Maybe even throw in come raw veggies like celery or something? I may have to try that I LOVE feta.

Good luck and let me know if you come up with some low cal (or points) option that is very filling.

Here are some of my die-hard favorites:

6 Triscuits (whole wheat!!) and 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light cheese
1 frozen banana (sliced and frozen in a tupperware), thawed slightly, mashed and added to a 1 c tub of 0% Fage Greek plain yogurt
Fiber One bar (for the sake of convenience)
1/4 c nuts
apple or other fruit
carrots and celery

I find it easy to keep the snack sized baggies of nuts on hand (1-2 baggies so I don't overindulge!). I keep them in my desk drawer. I also have a Fiber One bar on hand. The other things you kind of have to plan ahead for unless you have a fridge at work (and you don't have to worry about people stealing your treats!).

1/2 cup plain, NF yogurt is very low on points and I find it to be very filling. I've read that there's something about yogurt that supresses your appetite. You could add a little fruit to make it more palatable. I esp. like Greek yogurt. You can make Greek yogurt yourself if you can't find it in the store--just drain regular non-fat yogurt through muslim for several to overnight.

I also like a spinach salad with cucumbers, strawberries or raspberries, sea salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. I think you could eat a pretty big salad for not a lot of points. My typical salad is 2 oz spinach, 3 oz cucumbers, 2 oz raspberries, and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and comes out at around 60 calories. That's a BIG salad for 60 calories. Just don't put the vinegar on it until you are ready to eat it.

How about popcorn--either microwaved at work or pre-popped at home and brought with you?

I also really like the Fiber One Muffins, if you can get all the ingredients. I sub baking powder for the baking soda and use regular non-fat milk (instead of the buttermilk--note that if you use baking soda, you have to use buttermilk), sub splenda for the sugar, sub canned pumpkin for the applesauce, and add 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or you could do a combo of cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves). I also leave out the raisins but sometimes I add fresh cherries or blueberries. I make ten muffins per batch and the calories come out to around 70-80 per muffin. I eat them with a tbsp of cream cheese.

A hard-boiled egg.

Veggies with hummus or salsa.

Fruit with NF cream cheese sweetened with artificial sweetener and cinnamon.

2 oz fruit (berries, mango, or stone fruit) mixed with 1/2 can tuna or salmon in water (drained), 1-2 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tbsp non-fat yogurt, and sliced green onions.

1/2 cup of high fiber cereal. Fiber One is only 60 calories if you can get that or something similar.

I also get really hungry around 4 or 5 pm and don't eat dinner until late. I will eat a smaller dinner so that I can have a bigger snack in the afternoon. You might want to give this a try. You'd have more snack alternatives if you could eat something with more points.

Thanks for your response I actually left the nuts out and added some spinach instead. I'll let you know if it's tasty or not, but I'm thinking it is!!

I need to get to the store to get more crunchy veggies like celery

We have a fridge here at work, which is great We don't have Triscuits, but I'll check into what sort of crackers we do have available. We also don't have anything "Fiber One" so that's completely out. I did have a granola bar here from work today and have to check the points value on it, but I believe it's pretty low. Maybe I could even get some bars from the store - thing with these though... I just don't know that I can "trust" these things to be nutritionally sound, but I just need to check.


I LOVE Fage NF Greek Yoghurt and eat that pretty regularly

I also eat a spinach salad at least 3x a week just for lunch.

Popcorn I will look into - but is that really fitting into the "whole-foods" category? I'm not a huge fan of anything microwaveable. I do appreciate the suggestion though

Anything with fibre-one is out, but I can look into an alternative here in the Netherlands.

I'll put hummous and salsa on my list for shopping

We usually eat late because I get home late so, in generally already eat a smaller dinner. Having a larger snack is definitely what I'm aiming for in the afternoon, plus on the train home I usually eat 1 or 2 apples or some other fruit.


Thanks to everyone for the replies!!

Hey there, Edzard! "Welcome to the forum... for a day or a lifetime!" Couldn't resist! For the rest of you who won't know this... that is the welcome slogan for Bothell! How exciting to find another Bothell person here in 3FC!! Thanks for letting me know!!

I try to go the whole foods lifestyle too in that I try to eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, etc., and stay away from processed foods. Though not as strict as some in that I do eat popcorn and some frozen veggies, etc.

I look forward to getting to know you.

in Seattle (aka Sue)

I have to second the hummus with veggies idea. The veggies add enough fiber to get you through the afternoons.

Can you pop your corn at home a bring it? That way you can add yummy seasonings to it if you want to.

ARe some fruits better than others to snack on? Like figs? I was reading WW mag last night and had the suggestion on Core for two figs and goat cheese (I think it was goat cheese) as a snack.

whenever I am hungry, I drink something calorie free first, to see if that works. I keep celery and salsa handy, for munchies problems, I know when I am really really hungry ( & tired) like that that that ( these three thats are not a typo, but must be a first for me. I didnt even know you could create a real sentence with three thats in a row, lol) is when I am going to drop weight, so I try to hang in there, its a threashold. make a big bowl of canned green beans, salted, no butter, or a bowl of some very low cal veggie that is your favorite. and keep busy. it will pass. ........

Like many others here, I do these:
sliced apple and pb
sliced peaches (or grapes) with ff cottage cheese or ff plain yogurt
Shredded Wheat and some plain soymilk
a hb egg
black bean soup w/some cooked brown rice mixed in

I always have to plan ahead and usually take a lf cheese stick or granola bar w/me every time I leave the house. Plus I keep bars in my gym bag and glove compartment.