What To Munch On In Large Amounts?

briegirl28
briegirl28 Posts: 121 Member
edited March 2016 in Food and Nutrition
Is there any kind of wonder or magic food that a person can almost mindless snack on without eating a ton of calories? I think I may cravings may really be due to being dehydrated, but I have been feeling like I have just been craving something crunchy for a long time.

I know mindless eating is not good, but when your body just wants to munch, maybe due to nerves or emotions or whatever, what are the "safest" foods to gnaw on?

I'm thinking that celery and carrots would be my best bet. Maybe just celery? Or plain popcorn, but I worry about the salt.
«1

Replies

  • Lynzdee18
    Lynzdee18 Posts: 500 Member
    Ice water. With lemon. Often that helps. Numbs your mouth and takes away cravings for crunchy. At least for me. Often times I'm really not hungry. I just need something to drink....to keep busy? Who knows. It tricks my mouth anyway... :)
  • NaturalNancy
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
    Carrots and celery, they still have calories but they're healthy... Snap peas, cucumber with lemon, green or red peppers! but drink lots of water too!
  • karmelpopcorn
    karmelpopcorn Posts: 77 Member
    You CAN break your addiction to mindless munching but you have to work through your anxiety in a different way. Get up. Get active
  • selina884
    selina884 Posts: 826 Member
    Home made broth
  • mwood1234
    mwood1234 Posts: 60 Member
    cucumbers
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    Thin slices of cucumber with a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt.
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    edited March 2016
    karmelpopcorn wrote: »
    You CAN break your addiction to mindless munching but you have to work through your anxiety in a different way. Get up. Get active

    If you just can't be active at that moment, keep your hands busy. Learn to knit or do needlework.
    ETA: Another way to handle this might be to plan your snacking and make sure you have enough calories at the end of the day to have some popcorn or vegetables. That way, you get something crunchy but still stay within your plan.
  • kandeye
    kandeye Posts: 216 Member
    Cucumbers are my go to munching snack. They do have calories, and they can add up depending on how mindless you are. My advice is to portion out these snacks and weigh them. You can munch on them, at the end of the day weigh what is left so you can still track it.
  • briegirl28
    briegirl28 Posts: 121 Member
    karmelpopcorn wrote: »
    You CAN break your addiction to mindless munching but you have to work through your anxiety in a different way. Get up. Get active

    Thank you, Karmelpopcorn. You are right. I have been a bit more anxious lately and a little blue and also trying to reduce my sugar and carb intake, so maybe all of it combined is causing me to graze. :/

    I decided to window shop today after work, I did buy some frozen chicken that easy to heat up, some plain almonds, and some popcorn chips. :/

    Once I got tired of waking around, that insatiable/munchies craving went away. I did scramble some eggs for dinner because I worried waking up too hungry, and I got full quickly and simply. Water bottle is close nearby, just 2 glasses away from my goal of 8 per day.
  • briegirl28
    briegirl28 Posts: 121 Member
    Thank you, everybody! :) All of the suggestions are great! :) I'm going to make sure I stock up on things that I can snack on without the guilt. You all rock! :)
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    Lettuce. Baby spinach. Cucumber.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Raw vegetables. I did it when transitioning to no snacking.
  • cbelc2
    cbelc2 Posts: 762 Member
    Cucumber or raw squash slices.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Raw vegetables. I did it when transitioning to no snacking.

    Do you mind elaborating on your no snacking transition? I'd love to hear more about that.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    Sauerkraut and pickles for truly mindless snacking, though the sodium content is astronomical. Carrots are good, but they have about 40 calories per hundred grams. I can go through 200-300 grams of those at a time, so as long as you're good with 100-120 calories, you should be good. Cucumbers are about 15 calories per 100g, so a pound would run you less than 75 calories.
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Raw vegetables. I did it when transitioning to no snacking.

    Do you mind elaborating on your no snacking transition? I'd love to hear more about that.

    +1

    Do you truly only eat at mealtimes? I pre-log food between meals and after dinner. Would you consider that snacking?
  • nlkklrocks
    nlkklrocks Posts: 26 Member
    Air pop some popcorn kernels with some salt (or cinnamon for a sweeter twist). Serving size is something like 3 cups popped for 30 cal. Herbal tea works for me and water. Try to down a whole bottle of water wait 10 minutes and if the craving is still there. Then try some of the low calorie snack suggestions..
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    nikkihall0528 wrote: »
    Air pop some popcorn kernels with some salt (or cinnamon for a sweeter twist). Serving size is something like 3 cups popped for 30 cal. Herbal tea works for me and water. Try to down a whole bottle of water wait 10 minutes and if the craving is still there. Then try some of the low calorie snack suggestions..

    Seconding popcorn. When you look at 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels and see how big it gets when popped. 1oz of popcorn has about 100 calories but it's bigger, in volume, than most snacks and that has a nice psychological effect for me.
  • animalldy
    animalldy Posts: 140 Member
    I have 85g of carrots and 100g of cucumber almost everyday with my lunch, 50 calories. It fills me up and I like the crunch. When I get sick of cucumber I do snap peas.
  • Shells918
    Shells918 Posts: 1,070 Member
    Can you chew gum to keep your mouth busy without actually ingesting calories?
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    animalldy wrote: »
    I have 85g of carrots and 100g of cucumber almost everyday with my lunch, 50 calories. It fills me up and I like the crunch. When I get sick of cucumber I do snap peas.

    I love the volume of veggies. My daily lunch salad is yuge! 1.5 pounds of lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, celery, onion, & tomatoes for 150 calories.
  • samanthamurphy070613
    samanthamurphy070613 Posts: 1 Member
    I hate to say this but I love Pork skins they are low in everything except sodium :(
  • amclain93
    amclain93 Posts: 64 Member
    Gum! I l love ice breakers, the big sharing cup lasts me like three months! The act of chewing and blowing bubbles really cuts down my desire to snack. Plus, ten calories a piece for something that lasts all day is hard to beat!
  • rshaw11
    rshaw11 Posts: 25 Member
    I roast chickpeas and measure them out and crunch away on them, one at a time. They are really filling and cut my snack cravings considerably.
  • rbfdac
    rbfdac Posts: 1,057 Member
    POPCORN!!!!!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Raw vegetables. I did it when transitioning to no snacking.

    Do you mind elaborating on your no snacking transition? I'd love to hear more about that.

    I just realized that I tended to eat well at meals and that I was overeating due to mindless snacking at work. So I decided to cut out the snacking and eat only at mealtimes (sometimes I do a planned snack, depending on my workout schedule).

    If I eat sensible, balanced meals with adequate calories (they tend to be about the same size -- 400 for breakfast, 500 for dinner, 500 for dessert, maybe 200 for a planned snack or after dinner dessert if I'm aiming for 1600), there's no reason I should be hungry between meals. I knew that I never was when I ate that way at school or when I was living at home growing up. It's just that I got into bad habits because of food being so easily available and around and a tendency toward stress eating. So that was something I knew mentally going into it.

    If I wanted to eat between meals I simply thought about how delicious my next meal would be and that it wasn't that far away. At first the desire to munch was stronger so I allowed myself raw vegetables as a replacement, but that went away pretty quickly. I will have a cup of coffee instead of a snack, sometimes.

    What I find is that when I'm in the habit of this I really don't think about eating outside of mealtimes (unless something really amazing comes up that I might make room for, as a rare thing). When I struggle is when I get out of the habit and have to get back into it (for example, I went on a week-long biking trip where we were eating all the time, since riding all the time, and when I came back I had that desire to continue to eat all day long, but I just had to focus and get back to my usual habits).

    I know lots of people enjoy snacking or more small meals, but for me thinking of their being 3 mealtimes and other times not for food works best and I love it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited March 2016
    tincanonastring wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Raw vegetables. I did it when transitioning to no snacking.

    Do you mind elaborating on your no snacking transition? I'd love to hear more about that.

    +1

    Do you truly only eat at mealtimes? I pre-log food between meals and after dinner. Would you consider that snacking?

    I think a planned snack is different than letting yourself graze all day (for me) and functions more like a meal. I tend to eat dinner late -- I eat at 6 am, noon, and 9 pm most days, so if I do a mid-day workout I often do plan a snack for 5 pm or so, but I'd plan it, not just eat whatever is available at my office or even think about that stuff.

    (For me, it actually works better not to have that snack, but then it's tougher to eat all my calories, so I've been experimenting with just having a bigger lunch.)
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
    air
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
    I just bought an air popper and we have been enjoying popcorn nightly in my house. 1 cup is 20 calories. I'm also a huge fan of baby carrots with those 35 calorie laughing cow cheeses. Nice and crunchy. If I'm really needing something crunchy, chippy I'll have one serving and just save the calories for it. Some times a girl just needs some chips. I snack at night only. Too busy the rest of the time.
  • Summerberry1012
    Summerberry1012 Posts: 109 Member
    Tea! :)
    I realize it's not something to munch on but it's helped me quite a bit with my cravings. If you find a good brand it's almost addicting, and most are zero calories. (David's Tea & Stash are good brands) :)

Categories