Cravings- suggestions?

Carrots are pretty good and are quite sweet if they are ripe.
Berries tend to be good and relatively low calorie, i.e. strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. I have seen lots of people recommend them.
I love my protein bars cause they basically just taste like rice crispy treats with chocolate on them.
Single serving of some sort of nut could be good for that salt craving (if you are allowed to have them that is).
Yogurt! People love yogurt... I don't, but people do. *nods*

It really depends on how many calories you can allocate to it. How much do your current snacks devastate your calories?

I normally do a string cheese or a greek yogurt. Sometimes a piece of fruit. Small pretzel bag w/hummus. You could also do some popcorn.

A banana drizzled with some honey and sprinkled with cinnamon! That should cover your sweet tooth for a while and still be relatively healthy.

As for salty, have some almonds or a small bag of popcorn.

I'm hooked on honey roasted chickpeas! They are a simple way to satisfy my cravings for something sweet/salty/crunchy all while getting a decent hit of protein and fiber, the recipe I use comes in at ~165 kcal for a half cup serving.

2 cups cooked chickpeas (rinse well if using canned) patted dry
1 tbsp honey
½ tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp cinnamon
salt to taste

Spread chickpeas out in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment, bake at 400 F for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Mix other ingredients in a large bowl and add roasted chickpeas, toss to cover and return to baking sheet. Bake for another 10-15 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container. Makes 4 servings.

Note: if you are craving something spicy a pinch of cayenne pepper can be subbed for the cinnamon.

yeah - I have to eat around 3pm. It's the toughest time of the day for me. If I don't eat something then by 4 I'm sitting at the bottom of the pantry caked in cheezit dust..... so instead I'll try to have an apple, banana, yogurt, grapes or even a protein bar of some sort just depending on what I've had for lunch.

You should figure out if you are truly hunger or tired by that time of day.

Hungry - eat a healthy snack before you get too hungry an crave junk food. Set an alarm on your phone to go off 30 minutes before 3pm and have your snack before you actually feel very hungry. Also having more calories for breakfast and lunch helps curb the afternoon cravings.

Tired - Take a break. Like a short nap, a stroll around the block, chat to a friend or just simply step away from what you are doing to get a mental break.

I hope it helps.
Lili

Rosie-A friend of mine told me that she gets cravings as well around this time and heard that if you drink cucumber water it will curb your cravings. She swears by it. I know it is not the sweet or salty you are looking for but just a suggestion. :-)

A few things that work for me:

- low fat plain yoghurt + chocolate powder mix (for cocoa). I create a chocolate pudding of sorts mixing them together, and I can totally adjust the amount of calories to fit in that day (e.g. small amount of yoghurt + small amount of chocolate powder will still be satisfying, but if I have calories to spare, I take a bit more) I weigh these things to get the calories correct. (This is actually my go-to evening snack.)

- I bought a bag of miniature cookies. They are 26 calories each. I make a cup of tea, and can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 depending on how many calories I can afford to blow on a snack. I pre-log and put the exact number out and the bag away so I'm not tempted to keep eating them. The tea cuts the taste when I'm done with them and avoids me just wanting more and more.

- a fruit (e.g. nectarine or clementine) and a cup of tea (I find drinking tea / herbal tea really helps a lot)

- 15-20g of hard cheese

I also find that the mid-afternoon snack urge is lessened if I up my protein intake and lower my processed carb intake at lunch. Apparently soup keeps one satiated longer than other things too, so you could also look at your lunch and try some adjustments there. Or, if you know you are going to need an extra 100 cals at snack time, eat a little less for breakfast and a little less for lunch and have a good snack.

Try to go off of added sugars for about 2 weeks and see if that helps with yoru cravings. It is really hard because added sugar is in most foods (read the labels) but it can be done if you plan carefully and make meals at home. After doing this for two weeks I was able to greatly reduce my afternoon sweet cravings (google "fed up challenge" for more information on quitting sugar).

I like to bring a couple of whole carrots and a piece of fruit to snack on in the afternoon. Eating whole carrots is more satisfying to me than baby carrots because of the extra crunch factor (plus they are much less expensive).