Husband needs healthy snack ideas

cathys75
cathys75 Posts: 1
edited February 10 in Food and Nutrition
My husband is joining me as I follow Weight Watchers simply filling. He's just not eating enough. I entered his food into MFP for him, and he should eat about 1000 more calories a day. He is scared of carbs, thinks he needs to eat lots of protein (afraid of protein shakes), and eats tons of fruit. What are your thoughts on protein shakes? What snacks do you recommend? He is a really big guy, and needs to eat a lot more than me during the day. Thank you!

Replies

  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    Boiled eggs
    String cheese
    Greek yogurt
    Beef/turkey jerky
    Celery and peanut/almond/cashew/sun butter
    Mixed berries
    Carrot sticks
    Nuts/seeds

    Although, it doesn't make sense to me that he's "scared of carbs" but eats "tons of fruit". Fruits is, for the most part, very carby.
  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
    Fruit is carbs and sugar... Anyhow - carbs are good and your system needs carbs!
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Both of you should eat a good amount of protein to help retain your muscle. 1 g per lb LBM is recommended (rough estimate is 0.8 g per lb of actual body weight).

    It's usually better to eat real food than shakes in general for all the other nutrients in the food, but shakes certainly aren't going to hurt him and are a good way to increase protein using few calories.

    The snacks already recommended are good. Add in veggies + hummus, cottage cheese + fruit, tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, anything like that.

    Ditto the confusion on "afraid of carbs but eats lots of fruit". If you can help him get over his fear of carbs, lots of other snack options open up.
  • Katus130
    Katus130 Posts: 50 Member
    First, I think it's awesome that your husband is doing this with you.

    I'm not very familiar with the Weight Watchers diet so I can't comment too much on that but I'm not a big fan of protein shakes. At least not the canned/ bottled stuff. I just can't get past some of the artificial ingredients. I make my own using frozen fruit, greek yogurt, and almond milk. There is also a mix called Amazing Grass that I've used from time to time to add a little extra protein. It's a green powder which doesn't bother me but probably puts off a lot of people. I would try a little packet from the health food store before you buy a big container.

    As far as snacks are concerned I think all of the suggestions so far are great. I'm a big fan of half an avocado filled with cottage cheese. Lots of protein and it's an easy thing to eat when you get home from work and just can't wait for dinner to be done.

    I'm sort of puzzled as to why he's afraid of carbs. Protein is great but his snack options are relatively limited without carbs. Not that low carb is always a bad thing but I'm more of an everything in moderation sort of gal.
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    First off, carbs are not the devil, so no need to be scared of them, additionally, fruit=carbs. As for protein shakes, I think they are great if you are not getting enough protein from your food. On days that my protein macro is low I'll have a Quest bar, or a shake.

    As for snacks, well, anything really. Beef jerkey makes a great snack with a good amount of protein, eggs, peanut butter, cheese, add fruit and veggies in and you have a well rounded snack plate.

    Rigger
  • vinny76063
    vinny76063 Posts: 133 Member
    some of the suggestions up top are good can also try egg whites or something like dymatize iso-100, is low on carbs and decent on peotein.... Be careful on too many fruits especailly late in the day to do the sugar
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