Healthy snacks?

One more note, when I started logging all my food and balancing my macros (40% carb, 30% fat, 30% protein) I have found myself no longer craving anything. I used to eat so much chocolate but now I hardly ever think about it. I think balancing your macros and eating lots of fruits and veggies satisfies your body's need for everything. But when I see something I used to crave and want it, I allow myself a small amount. If I didn't, I think I would crave it more. That of course is all in the head. lol We always want what we can't have.

A Yasso or enlightened bar usually does it for me. The EL hot cocoa flavor takes care of chocolate AND ice cream cravings!

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

I don't snack either, I generally save calories for bigger meals and dessert. But - I don't consider chocolate/icecream a snack.. . It's something I have as a treat or dessert. If I feel like those, I have those.

This is the same for me.

JaydedMiss wrote: »

pineapple_jojo wrote: »

Dates stuffed with peanut butter is my favourite at the moment

holy *kitten* why have i never tried this

Because they're likely little calorie bombs?

'Healthy' snacks I like: apples, a small amount of popcorn or crisps, a square or two of dark chocolate, a Nature Valley protein peanut bar (or half of one as a whole one is around 150 cals). I've also started eating Belvita breakfast biscuits instead of porridge for breakfast on work days as it's easier to eat in the office. Each portion is a pack of 4 biscuits (220 cals total) so what I like to do sometimes is eat 3 and save the last one for a mid-morning snack. Most importantly, they have chocolate chips in

If I really want something more calorific, I'll just eat it and take the calories out later. Fortunately I make a point of leaving around 50% of my calories for dinner and post-dinner snacks, so I can usually make it work and still have enough left over for a satisfying dinner.

Another tactic if I feel peckish is to have a cup of tea or glass of water and then review the hunger situation in an hour. Sometimes the fullness I get from filling my stomach with liquid lasts long enough to take me to an acceptable time to start preparing the next planned meal.

sophie9492015 wrote: »

What do you have for a healthy snack when you feel like something junky like chocolate or ice cream?
Not snacking on crap is the hardest part for me.

Honestly, I'll just fit in a small serving of what I crave. In the past I used to try to ignore cravings and white knuckle through them. After a week or two I'd cave and eat everything I was craving. I would end up undoing everything I had worked towards, plus feel like a failure. I have found that fitting in small treats everyday or two has helped create better balance as well as keep my sanity in check (as much as possible). Maybe stop looking at food as crap.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

Obviously if you control your calories in an exacting way, it doesn't matter but for me, it's about forming a better sustainable habit and weening myself off the need for sweetness in everything (and I live in a country where they literally add sugar to EVERYTHING no lie)

I have zero need for sweetness in everything (I think many things are too sweet for my taste, and dislike sweetness in many or most savory foods and I have never understood the pleasures of sweetened coffee, as for me coffee is not supposed to be a sweet beverage). That has exactly nothing to do with whether I consume artificial sweeteners (I sometimes drink diet soda -- have been drinking Goslings Diet Ginger Beer lately, for example) or an occasional sweet dessert food.

Snacking doesn't work for me, and snacking on so called healthy foods (that often have no fewer calories or particularly different macro or nutrient profiles than what is called junk food) would not change that. On the other hand, I know it works well for others, people differ in what they find satisfying and satiating.

nutmegoreo wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

I don't mean to be a partypooper but ever since my ma became a nutritionist and started telling us the stuff she's learnt, I've tried to get as few conventional snacks (chips/bars/icecream) as possible and try to find my own replacements.

Chips - baked sweet potato fries
Bars - muesli with dark chocolate and greek yogurt
Icecream - frozen banana + all natural butters (99% of peanut butters you buy at stores have tons of unhealthy stuff in it and are nowhere near natural) or dark chocolate

My only HUGE weakness is fresh coconuts. When I lived in a surf village for a few months, I had coconuts every single day without fail but they're packed with calories and fats. I still allow myself a whole fresh young coconut (water + flesh hehe) once or twice a month but it takes me a whole afternoon to finish one cos I normally read while I savor those. So worth it tho.

EDIT: Oh also, if you decide to make your own replacements, a very easy way to replace processed grain sugar/artificial sweeteners is to use raw honey and/or molasses. (:

1) There is nothing wrong with artificial sweeteners. They aren't detrimental to health and are a realistic way for people to cut down on calories.

2) Replacing sugar with honey or molasses is just trading one caloric sugar for another and is literally no different. Honey and molasses is not 'better' or 'cleaner' than regular sugar, does not save on calories, nor does your body process them any differently.

Calories are calories.

Might just be my silly belief and I know that honey/molasses carry the same, if not more calories as processed granular sugar, but I've always believed that the less processed, the more natural, the better.

Re artificial sweeteners, an ex who was pursuing a doctorate's in neuroscience explained to me that artificial sweeteners aren't healthy mainly because it doesn't activate the food reward pathways like natural sweeteners do. Something about how because you don't gain full satisfaction from the caloric intake with artificial sweeteners, you don't feel as satiated, and thus tend to seek out more food to attain the same sense of satisfaction.

Obviously if you control your calories in an exacting way, it doesn't matter but for me, it's about forming a better sustainable habit and weening myself off the need for sweetness in everything (and I live in a country where they literally add sugar to EVERYTHING no lie)

While some people may find that's true for them, I doubt it's a universal truth. Personally, if I'm craving something sweet a diet Dr Pepper works well to satisfy it.

If you have any studies supporting your friends claims, I'd love to see them. I suspect that this is more a theory than heavily supported science.

I just googled "neural receptor" and "artificial sweeteners" and this was the second result: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/tricking-taste-buds-but-not-the-brain-artificial-sweeteners-change-braine28099s-pleasure-response-to-sweet/

lemurcat12 wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

Obviously if you control your calories in an exacting way, it doesn't matter but for me, it's about forming a better sustainable habit and weening myself off the need for sweetness in everything (and I live in a country where they literally add sugar to EVERYTHING no lie)

I have zero need for sweetness in everything (I think many things are too sweet for my taste, and dislike sweetness in many or most savory foods and I have never understood the pleasures of sweetened coffee, as for me coffee is not supposed to be a sweet beverage). That has exactly nothing to do with whether I consume artificial sweeteners (I sometimes drink diet soda -- have been drinking Goslings Diet Ginger Beer lately, for example) or an occasional sweet dessert food.

Snacking doesn't work for me, and snacking on so called healthy foods (that often have no fewer calories or particularly different macro or nutrient profiles than what is called junk food) would not change that. On the other hand, I know it works well for others, people differ in what they find satisfying and satiating.

nutmegoreo wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

bodwomon wrote: »

I don't mean to be a partypooper but ever since my ma became a nutritionist and started telling us the stuff she's learnt, I've tried to get as few conventional snacks (chips/bars/icecream) as possible and try to find my own replacements.

Chips - baked sweet potato fries
Bars - muesli with dark chocolate and greek yogurt
Icecream - frozen banana + all natural butters (99% of peanut butters you buy at stores have tons of unhealthy stuff in it and are nowhere near natural) or dark chocolate

My only HUGE weakness is fresh coconuts. When I lived in a surf village for a few months, I had coconuts every single day without fail but they're packed with calories and fats. I still allow myself a whole fresh young coconut (water + flesh hehe) once or twice a month but it takes me a whole afternoon to finish one cos I normally read while I savor those. So worth it tho.

EDIT: Oh also, if you decide to make your own replacements, a very easy way to replace processed grain sugar/artificial sweeteners is to use raw honey and/or molasses. (:

1) There is nothing wrong with artificial sweeteners. They aren't detrimental to health and are a realistic way for people to cut down on calories.

2) Replacing sugar with honey or molasses is just trading one caloric sugar for another and is literally no different. Honey and molasses is not 'better' or 'cleaner' than regular sugar, does not save on calories, nor does your body process them any differently.

Calories are calories.

Might just be my silly belief and I know that honey/molasses carry the same, if not more calories as processed granular sugar, but I've always believed that the less processed, the more natural, the better.

Re artificial sweeteners, an ex who was pursuing a doctorate's in neuroscience explained to me that artificial sweeteners aren't healthy mainly because it doesn't activate the food reward pathways like natural sweeteners do. Something about how because you don't gain full satisfaction from the caloric intake with artificial sweeteners, you don't feel as satiated, and thus tend to seek out more food to attain the same sense of satisfaction.

Obviously if you control your calories in an exacting way, it doesn't matter but for me, it's about forming a better sustainable habit and weening myself off the need for sweetness in everything (and I live in a country where they literally add sugar to EVERYTHING no lie)

While some people may find that's true for them, I doubt it's a universal truth. Personally, if I'm craving something sweet a diet Dr Pepper works well to satisfy it.

If you have any studies supporting your friends claims, I'd love to see them. I suspect that this is more a theory than heavily supported science.

I just googled "neural receptor" and "artificial sweeteners" and this was the second result: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/tricking-taste-buds-but-not-the-brain-artificial-sweeteners-change-braine28099s-pleasure-response-to-sweet/

Do you understand that that doesn't actually support your claim that people will all (or really, any of them, but I believe it might happen for some) want to consume sugar after drinking something with artificial sweetener?

I mean, I assume not since you posted it with no comment, but one can hope! ;-)

Haha, I never said that people will want to consume sugar after taking in artificial sweeteners. I only said that my ex told me there was scientific proof that it doesn't activate the same neural receptors and/or to the same degree as consuming sugars does and thus lead to a feeling of less satiation and subsequently, the increased tendency to seek out more food.

The article references multiple studies, each of which has its own merits. The conclusion is, well inconclusive:
"Taste and reward signaling in the brain is immensely complex. Research is only beginning to understand how altered brain activity with prolonged use of artificial sweeteners may impact our health long-term. While previous studies have shown an association between obesity and decreased caudate head activation during food-reward tasks, a link between artificial sweeteners altering brain activity in the caudate head and obesity has not yet been established. Future fMRI studies as well as looking at how appetite hormones, like leptin, alter the brain’s reward pathway after regular use of artificial sweeteners could further piece together this incomplete picture."

But the key takeaway is this: "Even if you aren’t married to the clean eating fad, the take home message is that real sugar or not, moderation is key for a healthy brain-reward response. Or as Cookie Monster with his new health-motivated outlook might put it: cupcakes are a sometimes food."