Snacks, What percentage of diet?
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Yep ... and I cycle on the weekends, so there's always an extra snack or two mid-ride!
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I suggest you take a look at how you're defining snacks. There's a whole world of options between "hardcore junk" and "celery." There are tons of threads listing healthy snacks in the forums -- start by deciding what you consider a worthwhile snack (high in protein? high in good fats? low in sodium? crispy? chewy? fewer than X calories?) and then browse those threads for suggestions that match your goals.1
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I suggest you take a look at how you're defining snacks. There's a whole world of options between "hardcore junk" and "celery."
Exactly!
One of my snacks today was a banana. Later I had some yogurt for a snack. There was also cottage cheese with cucumber slices. I snack a lot ... but there's nothing wrong with the food.
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I typically don't eat in the morning, have my biggest meal sometime between 11am-noon, have an afternoon snack and then light supper at around 5 or 6. Snacks are typically some sort of chips or pretzels and dip combo, instant flavored oats, cheese and crackers etc. I don't eat the snack ever day though, just depends if I'm in the mood to eat something in the afternoon.0
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Don't get me wrong.... I could eat snack foods the rest of my life. I love snack foods.
I am attempting to change my life style of eating and need to be aware that my snack foods are ok as long as I am eating a decent amount of healthy foods.
My food log is open. I am not counting my beer at night as junk food, it is low in calories and I can stop at one. If I drank more than one beer, then it would be considered as snacking for me.
I am beginning to think I am setting my own rules to what I am considering junk type snack foods. I will still eat the junk foods because I love them, but I need guidance on a calorie or percentage average for the week.
My maintenance calories are 1600. I am female, 5' 6" and 62 years old. I set my goal range for 155--160 pounds. The only exercise I do is walking and I have slacked off doing that for 2 weeks already. I average eating 1300--1400 daily or less. On one or two days, I can eat up to 2000 calories, of course some of this is lots of snacks or eating out.
I set my goal for 155 - 160 because, I did not want to have to exercise to have to keep the weigbt off. I love my snack foods and I am not willing to give them up to be at a lower weight.
I am considering changing my weight range a little lower... maybe.... 153 - 157 pounds.
Also, as for weight... I do not want fall between sizes in clothes. My rules....
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Thank you for all your responses.0
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Keep your responses coming. I need a list of healthy type of snack foods.1
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Snacks for me would be candy, donuts, cakes, salty dry snacks, icecream, popcycles, cheetos, popcorn, granola, alcohol drinks high in calories.....any type foods that would be dense in sugar and calories.
If I had to name some good snacks they would be celery, and carrots. Nuts and seeds in moderation. Diet sodas (need to start limiting sodas to 1 or 2 a day).
Your views or more suggestions for healthy snacks.
If this is what you are calling snacks, 10-20% of your total calories. The beer would be included in this total also.
Best of luck.1 -
My view is that it matters only on a personal preference level. It's all food and it's your overall intake that matters both nutritionally and for weight control.0
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I am missing some nutrition each day. My macros are not met or average well during the week. I am missing lots of vitamins each day.
I eat to many Carbs each day and not enough protein and fats each day. Some days my fats will go over.
I am fine tuning my eating life style, but I am not willing to exercise myself my butt off to keep at a lower weight. And, I want to be able to eat out and eat some of the foods I love....like pizza, tacoes, and icecream, and salty snack foods. I am sure there are a lot more foods I could list.
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I am missing some nutrition each day. My macros are not met or average well during the week. I am missing lots of vitamins each day.
I eat to many Carbs each day and not enough protein and fats each day. Some days my fats will go over.
I am fine tuning my eating life style, but I am not willing to exercise myself my butt off to keep at a lower weight. And, I want to be able to eat out and eat some of the foods I love....like pizza, tacoes, and icecream, and salty snack foods. I am sure there are a lot more foods I could list.
Add veggies to your pizza (peppers, onions, spinach, basil, tomato, artichoke hearts, whatever strikes your fancy) and tacos (avocado, beans, peppers, onions). Eat your salty snacks with vegetables (hummus, guacamole, salsa, bean dip, etc).
Just watch your calories as some of those things can add up quickly, but you can eat them as part of your normal daily diet. And take a daily multivitamin.2 -
Snacks for me would be candy, donuts, cakes, salty dry snacks, icecream, popcycles, cheetos, popcorn, granola, alcohol drinks high in calories.....any type foods that would be dense in sugar and calories.
My "snacks" are usually around 25% of my calories. But I might be defining it differently to you. To me snacks are just any food that I eat that aren't part of my 3 main meals, whether it be an orange at 11am, a protein shake at 4pm, or a chocolate brownie at 9pm. I don't really think of different types of food as "snack" foods or "junk" foods.1 -
All I do is eat snacks technically. I don't get the chance to just sit and eat like EVER. If my "lunch" is a chicken breast, broccoli, spinach and carrots, these items are usually all eaten separately within maybe an hour of each other. "Snacks" that aren't a part of a meal? Well, that depends on what time of the month it is. However if I squander too many calories on something like snack cakes or candy I regret it later because I am faced with either exceeding my calorie goal by a LOT or being hungry. I look at the potential snack decide if I will have enough calories left over so that I'm not starving the rest of the day. If that helps at all.2
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I am missing some nutrition each day. My macros are not met or average well during the week. I am missing lots of vitamins each day.
I eat to many Carbs each day and not enough protein and fats each day. Some days my fats will go over.
I am fine tuning my eating life style, but I am not willing to exercise myself my butt off to keep at a lower weight. And, I want to be able to eat out and eat some of the foods I love....like pizza, tacoes, and icecream, and salty snack foods. I am sure there are a lot more foods I could list.
I looked at your food log and to be honest your diet is poor. 40% or so of calories on a low calorie diet cannot be from nutritionally poor foods which is your situation
How about some fruits and vegetables? Your protein isn't even meeting the very minimal recommendation.
Replace the snacks you are currently eating with vegetables, fruit, Greek yogurt, things that have some nutritional value
Reserve around 150 calories for non-nutrient dense food, what you are currently call snacks instead of 4-600
Best of luck3 -
I don't think the percentage matters so much unless by snacks you mean foods with very low nutrition.
This. Some people like to snack all day, but include those as part of their regular nutrition. If I snack, I tend to choose fruit or nuts or the like, but I dislike snacking since I just do better on a regular 3 meal schedule.
If you mean what percentage for lower nutrient things you are eating just for fun (what I'd call dessert), it depends on calories, but I usually aim for around 200-250, with some days none at all and other days more budgeted in (like Thanksgiving). My "dessert" isn't always sweet -- could be ice cream, but could be some good cheese. I might use the calories for a higher cal savory meal (like going out for Indian) or a rare breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup. I look more at the overall day but that's probably the average.1 -
I am missing some nutrition each day. My macros are not met or average well during the week. I am missing lots of vitamins each day.
If this is your concern, I'd recommend focusing on how to meet nutritional needs in your meals or through your snacks and then use calories left over for whatever.
(I'd also note that MFP can't do a good job of measuring nutrients, so I'd look at things like protein and fiber and then just look to see if you consumed some healthy fats, a good variety of vegetables, some fruit if you like it, stuff like that. One thing I do is make sure I have a decent amount of protein and lots of vegetables at all meals, to the extent possible (which is most of the time).)1 -
My shopping list includes apples, Grapefruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, celery, baby carrots, canned no sugar peaches.
I eat in phases. I will eat healthy big salads for lunch for awhile, then switch to eggs for lunch. I used to eat apples daily. I need to get back eating healthy. Holidays coming up...
Awesome advice given! Thank you!0 -
Based on my patterns, I tend to split my calories like this:
Breakfast: 300 - 400 calories
Lunch: 400 - 600 calories
Dinner: 500 - 700 calories
Snacks: Remainder, depends on my amount of activity that day
As far as snacking goes, I focus on getting my protein in first. After that I'll indulge in something yummy. If I have a lot of calories left, I make sure a good portion goes towards fruits, yogurts, an extra glass of milk, that kind of stuff while still saving some calories for a fun snack.1 -
What percentage of a diet should be allowed for snacks?
What are your views?
When you say "snacks" are you referring to anything you eat outside of your actual meals or are you referring to "treats?"
Either way, I don't think there is a definitive answer to your question. I personally focus on quality nutrition which includes my snacks...if I'm hitting on all of that, it's perfectly fine for me to have a little treat now and then.0 -
Redefine your snack category to include nutritionally dense snacks. For example, nuts are yummy snacks but also nutritionally dense. You are better off nutritionally snacking on nuts than on crackers or chips. Fruit is sweet but nutritionally dense. You are better off eating whole fruits than drinking a fruit drink. You don't need to give up pizza, tacos, ice cream and salty snacks. You do need to use restraint and choose an overall healthy diet.
Some things that immediately come to mind as nutritionally dense snacks: nuts, fruit, yogurt, string cheese, celery stuffed with peanut butter, a nuked frozen veg with olive oil & grated parmesan for decadence, GORP (Good Old Peanuts & Raisins), ...1
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