Everyday Systems

Whether your snack attack hits in the middle of the afternoon or during late-night TV, it can damage your weight-maintenance plan. Mindless snacking will put back on those pounds faster than you can say, "Pass the ranch nachos."

Smarter Snacks: Better Choices


A lot of the time, it's the little indulgences that really add up, says Emily Banes, RD, clinical dietitian at the Houston Northwest Medical Center. Here are some healthy suggestions from Banes to satisfy your urge for snacks and keep that weight from coming back.

Find healthy snacks with the taste sensation you crave. If your craving is sweet or creamy, try light or frozen yogurt, fruit, or sugar-free pudding. If your craving is crunchy or salty, try pretzels, popcorn, a couple of graham crackers, or apple slices with a bit of peanut butter.
Opt for protein. "When snacking, it's helpful to include a little bit of protein, like the peanut butter with the apple, or cheese and crackers, or string cheese," says Banes. "The protein will take some of the edge off the hunger pang. I've had patients who really like baked pita triangles with hummus. Sometimes you have to think a bit outside the box."
Don't forget the dairy. Banes' suggestion of dairy products such as yogurt and string cheese for weight maintenance is supported by a study of 338 men and women who were trying to maintain their body weight. Those who ate three or more servings of dairy a day held steady during the nine-month study, while those who ate very little dairy were more likely to gain. Smarter Snacks: Stock Up Wisely

A little bit of snack planning and self-knowledge can go a long way toward helping you maintain or lose weight, says Banes, whose personal credo is "All things in moderation." But, she cautions, moderation does not mean a daily chocolate bar!

Know your temptation threshold. It's important to know how much self-control you have when you are near the snacks you really love. Some people may be able to keep chocolate in the house and only eat it every now and again, but others will find themselves gobbling up handfuls every day. It's wise not to keep the snacks that tempt you to excess at home or in the office, says Banes.
Keep healthy options readily available. Banes advocates filling up with vegetables and fruits. Research supports this theory. A study of 1,713 adults who have been successful with weight loss showed that those who ate five or more servings of fruits and veggies a day were most successful at achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. So stock your snack supply with baby carrots, grapes, celery sticks, apples, berries, fresh salad fixings, and other vegetable treats. Broths or other soups without a cream base can also be good snacks.
Have a vending machine game plan. The best-laid diet plans can go awry and you may find yourself staring down the office vending machine despite your best intentions. It is still possible to make good choices, says Banes. Remember to choose items that have that bit of protein in them. "Pretzels or peanut butter crackers would be a better option than, say, the M&Ms or the KitKat bar," she advises. With advanced planning and some willpower you, you’ll be prepared to make healthy food choices that will satisfy any snack attack.

I snack.. It's the only S I don't adhere to really.. I have two planned snacks: 2 hours after breakfast, 90 calorie cheese stick. The good stuff, a Sargento cheese stick, not that horrible Polly-O string cheese (gag!). Then I have another 2 hours after lunch, a 90 cal yogurt with a little bit of granola. It definitely keeps me going .

So I eat
8:30 Breakfast
10
12 Lunch
2
7 Dinner

I go back and forth on snacking. Sometimes, I get so hungry between lunch and dinner that I get to the point of being irritable and weak, so that's when I have my snack. Other times, I'm able to go from lunch to dinner without snacking.
I have to be careful with my snacking, though. I notice when I do eat a snack, I'm always still hungry afterwards, so I have to force myself to not eat any more than what I planned. However, it does cut the hunger pangs on the days when I'm super hungry.

The upbeat, sunny tone of these articles irritate me. I'm not a snacker and haven't missed it.

Nichole wrote:I snack.. It's the only S I don't adhere to really.. I have two planned snacks: 2 hours after breakfast, 90 calorie cheese stick. The good stuff, a Sargento cheese stick, not that horrible Polly-O string cheese (gag!). Then I have another 2 hours after lunch, a 90 cal yogurt with a little bit of granola. It definitely keeps me going .

So I eat
8:30 Breakfast
10
12 Lunch
2
7 Dinner

Nicole, I wouldn't call what you're doing "snacking." It's too structured and sensible! More what R would call "mini-meals," which are quite No-S.

I think of "snacking" as less planned, more junky, more likely to get out of control... what you're doing is more like "tea" or that lovely phrase that someone used for the equivalent after-school routine for kids in their country (can't remember).

Whatever you call it, it's obviously working for you.

I agree Nicole. You plan your "snack" and never go overboard.

I would call them mini mini meals!

I'm with Blithe. Snacking is not my friend. I am so much happier since I stopped eating between meals. And I wasn't usually snacking on junk. I was eating grapes or dried apricots, raw almonds or unsalted soy nuts. But I was eating them all day. I am enjoying my 3 meals so much more now without snacks and I am sure my keyboard and mouse aren't as sticky anymore .

I don't snack. Well, I do on occasion, and then I call it a Failure day.

Now that I've been practicing the No S diet, I really don't understand snacking. If one eats enough at a meal, then a snack cannot be to satisfy hunger. So I guess that leaves snack for pure pleasure? Which I guess means it's a case of immediate gratification. We here can see the danger that can lead to.

So in the article, instead of eating those healthy snacks, just eat MORE healthy food at mealtime.

Kodama wrote: If one eats enough at a meal, then a snack cannot be to satisfy hunger.
So I guess that leaves snack for pure pleasure?
So instead of eating those healthy snacks, just eat MORE healthy food at mealtime.

You have given great advice for many people.
However, for various reasons, some people have bodies that don't tolerate larger meals,
and this makes it more difficult to control "between meal hunger".

As one example, over 16 years ago I had a gastric bypass.
This procedure creates a condition where one's body can tolerate only small amounts of solid food at one time..
especially the denser foods like protein and veggies.
Since that time my body tolerates only very small meals,
and I get quite hungry in between, which can be resolved with a small mini-meal
similiar to what Nichole (above) said she eats.

My personal primary eating problem is not the 3 meals and 2 mini-meals,
which takes care of my physical hunger,
it is the desire to graze...i.e. snack on small amounts of food all the time.
This is a long-term Habit I am continually working to eliminate.
In my case, (and in other cases as well) larger meals is not a problem-solving option.

Exactly BrightAngel! Mini-meals, or having 4 or 5 meals is then the key. I've read here that more than 3 meals works for many people. It's cool that No S Diet accounts for this!

Grazing... hmmm, I'd like to read more about that. On the one hand, it seems to fit with what some scientists tell us about humans of long ago, hunting and gathering, eating what they find, when they find it. But then again, perhaps that works better when food is more scarce? Our modern, high-calorie and abundant foods would seem to support less snacking, eh?

I don't know, but grazing vs. non-grazing(?) is an interesting topic.

Hmm, never thought of my snacks as mini meals before!

I like my "mini meals" because they give me energy and keep me going. The one between lunch and dinner is an absolute must because I personally can't go from lunch to dinner without anything, which is a huge gap of 6 to 7 hours. I've tried before, but I would be doubled over in hunger, a little dizzy, and distracted to the point of not being able to work. In a word: unpleasant! Plus I exercise as soon as I get home from work, so I need a little energy.

Smarter Snacks Keep the Weight Off

Hmmm... maybe this explains why they won't review my book

Nicole, I wouldn't call what you're doing "snacking." It's too structured and sensible! More what R would call "mini-meals," which are quite No-S.

Absolutely. I don't have a problem with "a meal called snack" (though I do think it's better not to call it "snack." My problem is with open ended "eat when you feel like it" snacking that often degenerates into "permasnacking."

But I do think that words matter -- and that calling it something other than "snack" helps keep it contained. And of course, if you can swing it, I think keeping the number of meals on the lower side is helpful, just because fewer input opportunities are easier to monitor for excess than many.

Reinhard

Reinhard,

I eliminated snacking and found that I thought less about food. If I wasn't going to eat anyway, what did it matter if I felt hungry? Over time, I started not to feel hungry.

Kathleen

I’ve heard this diet advice before. It sounds so logical. But in practice, I’ve wanted something ‘unhealthy’ and then I ate 2-3 ‘healthy options’ trying to deflect the initial food craving. After an hour or so, I end up eating the initial food craving anyway. I’ve also heard the opposite diet advice which recommends give in to a food craving after 15 minutes in moderation.

Snacks for me are a slippery slope. They appear to be due to 3 things: habit, boredom and stress. I bought into this whole consumerism idea of ‘healthy snacks.’ Unfortunately I don’t work out enough to offset such snacking nor do I appear to offset those calories at meal time. For me, the no snacks in No S are the most important S to tackle. Whether it was cottage cheese, nuts or a snicker bar - my body didn't need those extra calories in between meals - period.

I agree with burnnotice. If you eat a healthy alternative, you don't feel satisfied and you still think about the unhealthy version. Avoid the snacks all together and if the thing you crave is not sweet, add a little to your meal. I sometimes pick up a small handful of salted almonds when I walk by them at the office (common area/snack bar) and I wrap them in a napkin until lunch time and then I savor them. Food tastes so much better without guilt.

After being on No S for a while, I'm not so tempted to snack. My stomach still growls sometimes about 30 minutes before a meal but I drink a glass of water and hold off until the meal. It is worth it. I also found you automatically slow down your eating if you know you aren't going to eat again until the next meal. So, no snacking makes food taste better, makes you slow down eating (which the experts say is important for getting the signal that you are full) and removes the whole guilt aspect of food. I wonder why more "diets" don't promote the avoiding of snacks.

I'm much happier NOT snacking. Now that I eat 3 good meals, I don't feel hungry between meals and I don't have cravings -- so much different than before when I ate very few satisfying meals and just did alot of permasnacking.

Burnnotice and javafan, you've done a great job of describing what a difference adhering to "no snacks" makes.

I totally agree. To me, it's the most helpful piece of No-S! (Though it did take a while to adjust at first.)