Suggest some lo-cal junk food

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I’m trying to lose weight. Well actually I couldn’t care less about the weight. I’m trying to lose figure.

Anyway, I’m going with the good ol’ tried and true, calories-in, calories-out method. No gimmicks. I’m going to the gym 4 times a week which helps to increase the overall number of calories that I burn, but I also need to eat fewer cals.

So I’ve discovered diet sodas. When I go out to eat somewhere, I’ll usually have as many as 3 or 4 “servings” of soda with my meal if it’s particularly salty or spicy. I’ve realized that this accounts quote a bit of calories. Turns out, I really don’t mind the taste of these new diet dealies with Splenda, so I’ve switched entirely to diet drinks. So drinking a crapload of soda isn’t necessarily “healthy”, but it does wonders to reduce my overal calorie intake.

Looking at the package of home-poppable popcorn kernels, it appears that a tablespoon (un-popped) is only 100 calories. So basically eating two bowls worth of home popcorn (w/ no butter, natch) is only about 200 calories. Not bad!

Any other things you can recommend? I’m really not talking about healthy snacks and foods, but rather junk food that is relatively low cal.

2

If you like strawberries, try a bowl of strawberries slathered with Fat-Free Cool Whip. It tastes sinful, but isn’t.

3

As an experienced dieting junk food junkie, I can tell you that you’re not going to beat popcorn for sheer volume/calorie ratio. Here are some other ideas for those desperate times:

–Sugar-free jello with low-fat Cool-Whip

–2 cups plain non-fat yogurt with 1 four serving package of sugar free pudding whisked in. White chocolate flavor is the best . Let it sit in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Not entirely unlike cheesecake.

–These guys,although I can easily go through a box. They also come in BBQ and Randh.

–Check the freeze section for Skinny Cow, No-Pudge, or Weight Watcher’s ice cream and desserts.

4

Beef Jerky is about 100 calories per ounce (the larger packs they sell are 4 oz, so about 1/4 of that).

5

Dill pickles are yummy, and they have very few calories and no fat. Lots of sodium, though.

6

I can’t believe I forgot sugar-free/no sugar added popsicles! There’s a variety pack called “Healthy Bunch” that is a mix of SF Popsicles, Creamsicles and Fudgesicles, having 15, 20 and 40 calories respectively. They’re really quite good.

7

Great suggestions! I’m pretty sure that it’s the snacking that blows my calorie numbers since the “meals” I eat are by and large pretty healthy.

8

I just got some fat free frozen yogurt tonight (I am forced to eat low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar because of recent health problems). Anyway, they had all kinds of flavours (mine is Dreyers cherry vanilla something or other), tastes like ice cream… and the nutritional info is as follows:

For 1/2 cup serving:

Calories: 90
Calories from fat: 0
Fat: 0g
Saturated fat: 0g
Sodium: 45mg
Total Carbohydrates: 19g
Dietary Fibre: 0
Sugars: 14g
Protein: 3g

Fat free yogurts are also good, but keep a close eye on those sugars. Sugar can be a “figure losing” culprit.

9

Just cut out those “sodas” (soft drinks?) altogether, switch to water and coffee and tea, and snack on a few peices of dark chocolate. MMMM! I buy this Lindt chocolate that is 70% cocoa, and a small chocolate bar-sized peice only has about 100 calories. Much more satisfying and better for you (has serotonin and trytophan, or something. Good excuse).

10

Friut smoothies, substituting fat free pro-biotic yoghurt for milk. Healthy, and tastes like a milkshake.

I like to snack on things like olives, nuts, parma ham and matzoh crackers…I have no idea if they are lo-cal or not.

11

Nuts are extremely high in calories (1 cup of almonds has about 1100 calories!). Olives aren’t a bad choice at 150 calories per cup (green stuffed olives). Prosciutto is also a good snack at 100 calories per cup. Wrap some of that around some cantalope at 60 calories per cup and you’ve got yourself a tasty treat.

BTW, I’d really suggest eating some protein in your snacks – snacks of high carbohydrate actually stimulate your appetite.

12

If you find yourself getting sick of styro–er, I mean light popcorn, the Smart Balance Buttery Blast spray is very, very useful. One or two sprays have no calories, and add a good amount of flavor.

13

Sorbet is better than ice cream, ice milk, or chemically empowered “diet frozen dessert.”

14

After a bit, you’ll notice that 'diet" now tastes “normal” and sugared tastes weird!

Rice cakes.

Baby Carrots.

Celery.

Oh and watch those condiments! Mustard is basicly calorie free, catsup isn’t too bad, but mayo will kill you.

15

Tic-Tacs

16

I like to add one envelope of sugar-free hot cocoa mix to an 8 oz. tub of Cool-Whip Free (mix well). This makes a good topping for plain rice cakes. Or freeze it, and it’s a reasonable facsimile of chocolate ice cream!

17

I usually try to avoid anything touted as ‘diet food’, but I did pick up a box of Thin Crisps (Chips Ahoy and Oreo) at Sam’s Club last week, and I really enjoy them - 100 calories, 0 fat, for a good little chocolate fix.

And pineapple. I could eat pineapple all the time.

E.

18

Seaoning won’t stick to plain popcorn, but butter defeats the whole purpose! And plain will get really old. So, if you want the seasonings to stick to it, spray it liberally with cooking spray. Shake. Pour some seasoned salt in there. Shake again. Scarf.

19

Baked Cheetos rock my world. In moderation, of course. The “Baked” version of other snacky foods can be pretty good, too. Don’t expect them to taste exactly the same as the originals, but taken on their own merits they are tolerable.

Take 1/2 cup frozen fruit (strawberries, cherries, blueberries, etc.), put it in a bowl and thaw it in the microwave. Add 1 cup non-fat yogut and 1 tsp of honey. 200 calories of cool, delicious, filling, nutritious goodness with 1/3 of your RDA of calcium. I have this for “dessert” almost every evening.

Like Sarah Woodruff sez, a small piece of goooood chocolate can be much more satisfying than a candy bar. A truffle, 1 oz of gourmet cheese . . . whatever little treat rocks your boat. Don’t sweat the cost; you’re only going to eat a small amount every now and then, and when you’re depriving yourself daily, little indugences can make all the difference in your morale.

A couple other tips:

If you think you want a snack, drink a glass of water instead. Oftentimes, you’re just thirsty, believe it or not. And sometimes the time it takes to drink the water is long enough for the craving to pass. And if you’re still hungry after the water, well, at least you’ve had some water, which is good for you, and you can have your snack knowing that you’re not just mindlessly following your craving.

Never ever ever sit down with a bag of pretzels or a pint of ice cream or any large container, thinking that you’ll just have a few bites. Hah. Put a small serving in a small bowl. If you want more, you’re gonna have to get up off your butt and get more.

The important thing is to STICK WITH IT. You will feel like you’re never going to make it, but if you can cut down on fat and sugar for a month or two, your body will adjust, and the cravings will ease, and you won’t even find junk food appealing any more. Mostly.

20

It’s not really junk food, but edamame are a good substitute for when you want something a bit salty. Microwave one package of frozen, shelled, green soybeans and it comes to around four hundred calories.

Nectarines with vanilla yoghurt and a little cinnamon are good, too.