Snacks you don't binge on?

cstexas2012

Hi everyone! So I have a real problem with binge eating food once it's in my house. In the past month or so I've started eating a lot healthier, so the food that it's in my house to do this with isn't quite as bad (dried cranberries vs. chips ahoy). However, it's still not great. I want to be able to keep food for snacks around (obviously), and I want to be able to eat stuff I like (rather than buying stuff I don't like so I won't binge), so I was wondering if you guys had any examples of healthy snacks that, for whatever reason, you're not tempted to binge on/that satisfy you after one serving both mentally and physically.

My problem foods in this area:
salted nuts
dried fruit (even with no sugar added)
peanut butter
cheese
milk (I know).

Thanks!

auddii

I don't have a ton of help with this. Personally, I used to find that I couldn't keeping binging items in the house because it would go horribly. A 1lb block of cheese would only last a few days! For the salted nuts, I've traded them for raw nuts. They are slightly less flavorful, but have the same nutrients (and way less sodium), and since they aren't *quite* as tasty, maybe you wouldn't binge so much. I also get them in a Pakistani/Indian isle of the local grocery store, and they are much cheaper than the roasted and salted kind (3lbs for $12).

As for everything else, personally, I just try to think: I have to log this; I can't go over. I've started weighing out my cheese, and even if I have cheese twice in one day, I've been under my calorie goals. I also eat very often, but small amounts. My weakness is being around the house and doing nothing, so I try to get and do more. Also, if you're hungry, get up and do a few exercises around the house for a few minutes to distract yourself. Usually it's all mental and it'll go away.

loztredders

I have greek yoghurt for my afternoon snack, the brand I buy (from lidl) is only 88cal for 150g and is so thick and creamy and really satisfying.
I occasionaly do over eat on this, but it's really hard to binge on as it's so rich! Even if I binged and ate the whole 1 kilo tub, it's only about 580 cals, and this would be massively hard to eat, and I'm a huge binger personally (well used to be - not so much recently).
The only other snacks I can allow myself on a regular basis, and keep in the house is fruit really. Nuts are too tempting for me to keep going back to.

m_shuman

I get the single serve greek yogurt cups with the fruit on the bottom. One of them satisfies me and I stop with one. I also keep fruit in the house such as banannas, apples and oranges. Other than that I have learned not to keep "snack" foods in the house. Even my kids think yogurt and fruit are "snack" foods. When we go grocery shopping that is what they beg for.

mscote12

If there are potato chips in my house...of any kind....I will eat them.
I tend to go for the salty/crunchy aspect of snacks more so than the chocolate/sweet.
So I completely avoid buying chips-instead I have come to enjoy Pretzel Crips, they have different flavors and 10 crips is only 110 calories. They are yummy and satisy that crunch craving I sometimes want.
Also, veggie straws...again, salty and crunchy..yet not high in calories. They tend to be found in the organic isles in the grocery store..and a serving is like 38 straws...so I throw that into a bowl and there is my crunch craving

I only tend to eat chips now when I am at an event of some type (baby shower, birthday party, etc) where they are laying out begging me to take some LOL...also, my boyfriend LOVES doritos...so if there are chips in my house, its his fault-hes not on any sort of healthy eating thing, so he will literally eat the whole bag in a day or two...so I am able to dodge the temptation there haha

WendyTerry420

This is a wide open field. I can honestly say that I haven't binged since I started. A binge could hamper my goals, so I choose not to do that.

For nuts, I just count them out and put the rest away to avoid eating too many. Same with peanut butter, measure carefully. The other option is to never purchase any foods if you are unable to control yourself with them. Then after it's been a few months, try them again to test yourself.

When I first started, I went the first month with no sugar at all, except for fruit. After a month, I was able to gradually add it back in without any problems.

Good luck to you! :flowerforyou:

quirkytizzy

The only treat I've found that I don't binge on is the Pop-Tart mini's. They are 100 calories a bag and the chocolate ones satisfy me after one bag. Everything else propels me towards a second serving.

(And I get the milk thing. I can drink half a gallon in a day, easy. It's so hard not to do that!)

fit4lifeUcan2

I can honestly say I don't binge eat. I do however find it hard to not eat certain foods. Especially salty snacks. I have to keep reminding myself that unless I want a heart attack I need to stay away from those things. There is a bag of fritos BBQ in my cabinets as we speak but I haven't had a single one. There was a time when I would have taken a fist full with no concern for my health. Now that I'm 50lbs down and off all meds I don't want to go backwards so I just say no and visualize a skull and cross bones when I look at that bag of salty junk. Hey it works for me! :laugh:

cstexas2012

thanks so much for all this advice! I agree that raw nuts are less tempting so I should probably switch to those. Really like the idea of the veggie straws as well. I'm 100% a salt/crunch craver. I SHOULD buy those fruit on the bottom yogurt things and will probably eventually cave and do so. I'm a student right now and am kind of compulsive about eating cheaply, so I always balk at buying them.

peanutbutterpretzels

I have trouble with like every food you listed! Dried fruit, especially apricots and figs are just so hard to resist for me. And don't even get me started on all nuts, nutella and PB products! Some snacks I don't binge on are-

- raw mushrooms
- rice cakes
- warm water (you must try this! Totally kills all my binging urges...if only it didn't take so long to warm up! )
- coffee
- spicy wasabi peas

Dark chocolate just does not satisfy any cravings for me, so if I ever want to stop a binge I try and eat something as spicy or bland tasting as possible. If it doesn't taste good, why should I binge on it? I agree with the others that just not purchasing foods you binge on might be your best option, but in the long run I would rather not do that because then whenever you do purchase them you might go crazy...hope I helped!

Lulu

tashaa1992

I don't really eat big meals, I prefer to eat something every two hours as it keeps me full and I have way more energy eating like this too. Is it emotional or actual hunger? When I do binge it's because I have left it too long to eat again and I'm really hungry so I grab anything, could this be your cause too?

stephdeeable

There's a few things that although they aren't necessarily unhealthy or high calorie, I only bought once and haven't bought since because I could never seem to control myself to just one serving.

For example, with almonds or walnuts I can eat 10 nuts and then put them away....i bought a container or cashews....I ate the whole container at once haha

Same reason I haven't put pistachios on my grocery list since I started to lose weight....they're healthy for you, but I'll eat them until I physically can't anymore.

cstexas2012

As for what kind of hunger it is, I think it's occasionally physical (in class and I don't eat all day) but mostly emotional/comfort eating (about to start a really stressful exam period). I also am more or less at my goal weight (it would be nice to lose 2 more lbs but I'm happy with how I look) which makes it easy to be like "oh it's okay if I eat half a jar of peanut butter," which is obviously not okay. I'm the worst about this at night. Like someone said earlier, when I'm sitting at home it's easy to start eating.

YES to cashews, no control with those. I have found (to answer my own question in case anyone else is looking for ideas) that frozen grapes, blueberries, and cranberries can be good. They're more satisfying than they are at room temperature for some reason, I think it's the crunch, but I'm not as tempted to binge and even if I did they're low in calories.

ninjakowski

I actually find the only things I binge on are the really crappy things - something about refined sugars and bad fats just triggers that 'eat more, eat more' response in my brain.

I dont have a problem at all with good stuff, I eat the amount I set myself and I feel perfectly satisfied.

Favourites at the moment:
-apple slices
-dried dates
-wholemeal crackers with natural peanutbutter
-dark chocolate

I love all of those, but never feel the need to go back for more. Whereas milk chocolate, or anything with added salt, sometimes I wont stop until I start feeling sick.

I think its about making some effort to find healthy options that you actually really enjoy - not just force yourself to eat because they are good. The list above are my current favourites, in a few weeks I'll be sick of them and I'll move onto something else for a while, as long as I have something I enjoy I'm hardly tempted to go back to the 'dark side'.

Sometimes its also about putting in a bit of effort to make a snack - for example I find the thought of picking up a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl boring as hell, but chopping things up and putting them in a bowl to munch on slowly = best snack ever. Weird, but works for me lol.

linzismith

Do you like pretzel sticks? I've never been a huge fan, so those are what I munch of if I want that feeling of munching something crunchy. You can eat 39 for 110 calories, but they're not so tasty that you won't be able to stop.

marthathebear

i have good results with greek yogurt loaded with my own fruit not the kind with fruit in it. i love to add strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and just a little granola. It really fills you up. I also like to snack on almonds. No matter how healthy the snack you sometimes just have to exert self control and put them away and do something to get your mind occupied. It's hard but you get used to staying within serving sizes. Good luck.

Denjo060

I like the special K cracker popcorn chips, I also like oranges , pineapple (fresh or frozen) Mangoes, and instead of milk I drink Almond milk either vanilla or plain I use it in smoothies too. I make them with frozen bananas, pineapple, or any kind of berries that are frozen sometimes I add greek yogurt or vanilla protein powder

cstexas2012

I was just thinking about almond milk today with regard to my addiction (more or less) to milk. I theoretically only buy milk to use in smoothies and then I end up drinking it plain. I was considering buying almond milk so that I wouldn't be tempted to drink it but I was worried it would make the smoothie taste gross, so I'm glad to hear that other people apparently do this and like it.

Articeluvsmemphis

I only binge on fast-food and things like chips/cookies, I CAN'T binge on healthy food, it doesn't make sense to me, lol

I can only eat one banana, one serving of oatmeal, one serving of yogurt, one serving of nuts (any kind), one serving of cheese, one serving of milk in any given day.

you sound like me in that you like to snack, my problem is that I didn't snack b/c I was hungry, i just wanted to occupy time, so i just try to eat bigger meals, and find other ways to occupy my time so there's no need for a lot of snacks.

and i had to learn what would make me binge, once i did, i don't bring it in the house. like i seriously wanted some holiday cookies and i WILL no doubt eat the entire bag, all 6ish servings

cstexas2012

Yeah definitely a boredom snacker. I have a hard time cause I'm in law school where you're basically supposed to spend 10 hours a day at least doing school stuff (worst idea ever), so it's hard to do what I did in undergrad to distract me from eating (shopping, friends, etc.). Now I'm just reading, studying, etc. which leaves the door totally open for eating!

lax75

Fruit - hard to eat "too much" fresh fruit

yogurt - very filling and I can make it last a while by taking small bites and savoring each one

raw carrots or other vegetables - takes a few minutes to prepare (I don't like the baby carrots for some reason), crunchy to eat, takes some time to finish, and again hard to binge on veggies

Popcorn (I use a hot-air popper with just a few sprays of ICBINB) - this especially works for me because it takes a few minutes to prepare which slows me down a little (lol), is crunchy to eat, and takes a while to finish

katetstefans

Hi there!!

Thanks so much for posting! Having graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition a few years ago, I was surprised to learn that we often crave what we are allergic too. For me, my cravings were fruits, and breads (SUGARS!) -- dried fruits for me were the worst. I know as we heal from emotional eating, adding more food rules to your plate might feel un-easing -- but with an enormous rise of food sensitivities -- I wanted to bring this up. When I cut out the fruit and the bread -- my digestive issues subsided, my cravings went away, and my low grade depression + anxiety went away almost over night. Just a thought! Feel free to check out my site: www.katestefans.com for some great information. I am coming out with an allergy free guide in the new year that I am really excited to release! I am hoping this might be of some benefit to you

Lots of love,
Kate

Vailara

I'm yet another person who is always tempted to snack on salty things! At the moment, I have some small clementines and tangerines in the house and try to have one of those if I really want something. It doesn't satisfy the salt craving, but it does seem to lessen it. I also have to be careful with alcohol. Drinking alcohol is pretty much guaranteed to make me want salty food.

cstexas2012

Omg yeah after a night of drinking all I want is salt and bread. I could eat like 4 bagels consecutively.

That's really interesting about allergies. I remember reading about that when I (briefly) cut out gluten after a doctor suggested it might help this breathing problem I have.

dorothytd

I would recommend buying single serve packs, but totally get the cash flow thing. So buy that stuff and get some cheap snack bags. Portion it out and put it in the freezer. Make yourself go into another room or place to eat your portion. You will be less likely to get up and get another one, and you WILL learn to appreciate a single serving. I went from bingeing on a can of nuts to eating just one serving out of the can. You can do it!

Also, more expensive, though, are healthy bars. KIND bars are a really nice satisfying snack.

Also for crunchy - single serves of dry cereal. You could make a nice trail mix with your nuts and dried fruit!

Good luck!