I’m another popcorn addict. Love the stuff. If rice cakes are too blah for you, check out the popcorn cakes (by Quaker, IIRC). There are several flavors: buttered, white cheddar cheese, caramel corn, etc. None of 'em are hideous in terms of calories.
For a really tasty nosh, cut jimaca into strips or slices; sprinkle with lemon juice and a dash of chili pepper. They’re crunchy and slightly sweet, and the contrast with the zingy stuff is great.
One snack I picked up from my husband: sliced cucumber shaken in a bag with a little lime juice, salt, and red pepper. I used to prefer Italian dressing on my cukes but found the lime juice stuff to be even tastier and certainly healthier.
And I’m an unabashed yoghurt junkie. Beware the sugar though, some brands add tons of corn syrup : pukey smiley :.
I use I Can’t Believe It’s not Butter spray topping on popcorn. It’s about 1 calorie per spray. And not bad at all IMHO (YMMV). Pretty salty though so careful if you’re trying to cut down on sodium.
I also use the spray on a small pita bread and rub fresh garlic on it for a low cal faux garlic bread.
I mix a half packet of low-cal cocoa with my coffee for a mocha coffee.
I super-dilute all my juices with lots of water. I found out I like them better that way (not so sweet) and they’re much fewer caloires. I especially like dilute orange juice a lot more than I thought I would.
One old el paso taco shell has only 50 calories. A boca burger is 70 calories. If you’re creative with the fixings (and use lots of shredded lettuce) you can make yourself a couple of low calorie tacos.
Ever been to a chinese market?
Ever seen those huge tubs of “lychee jelly cups” or “fruit jelly cups?”. I haven’t had any for over a year now, but I distinctly remember them being 5 calories/cup.
While probably not qualifying as health food, I think pretzels are a much better choice than almost any other sort of crispy-bagged-can’t-eat-just-one snack such as chips, cheetos, etc.
Head to your local grocery store and pick up a few jars of pickled mushrooms. They very nicely satisfy my craving for savory/vinegary/garlicy. But the best part is when you find that you’ve scarfed your way through the whole jar and you check the label to see how many servings/calories you just consumed. It is quite trivial, as long as they are prepared without oil. Like 20-40 calories for an entire jar.
I’ve found prunes to be low calorie and quite satisfying.
Another nice not too bad for you snack is salsa and some baked chips.
Cool! Great suggestions everyone! As I said in the OP, I specifically do not want healthy food, but rather low impact junk food!
Here’s a challenge: what’s the lowest calorie, widely available candy bar? Why can’t they make Spree with Splenda?
I’m going to go with Hershey’s Special Dark bar – 220 calories for the whole bar. Milk Chocolate and Milk chocolate with almonds bars aren’t far behind at 230 calories. Most everything else is in the 250-280 range for a traditionally sized bar/package.
Hmm…I always wind up eating the entire box of Tic-Tacs instead of just one or two like the commericals say. Even so, there’s what, 1 calorie per Tic-Tac, and probably about 30-40 in a box? That’s only 30-40 calories, right? Right?
Plus you get all of the health benefits.
There’s this fantastic low calorie ice cream sandwich I discovered on my last cutting phase. “Thin Cow”, I believe it was called. Tasted like the real thing, but only 140 calories. Highly recommended.
I like to snack on sliced hot pepper’s with a bit of salt, occasionally. I think they are tasty and if hot enough, they somehow act as an appetite supressant for me.
Triscuits? I think that they’re fairly low in fat, and the immense crunch-factor tends to make them feel very filling, IMO.
Cadbury’s now makes a special “thin” chocolate bar with only 100 calories (mind you, it’s smaller than a regular bar, but might satisfy a chocolate craving). I’ve also seen Cadbury bars that advertise 80% less sugar. I think they use sugar alcohols, though, and those can cause some nasty intestinal side-effects if you eat too much, so careful! I don’t know if Cadbury bars are only available in the UK/Canada, though.
I like almonds for convenience and being lo carb. Also, almost any kind of fruit.
Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs are 45 calories each, compared to 180+ for regular hot dogs. They taste pretty good and, if you pair them with Wonder Lite hot dog buns, which have a bunch of fiber added, you can have several hot dogs without doing too much (caloric) damage.
I’m a convenience food junkie and also trying to lose weight. Here are some of my favorites:
1.) Splenda-based ice cream treats. If you can get the lite Klondike bars (hard to find around here), they’re quite good, but Skinny Cow, Weight Watchers, Blue Bunny, and other brands all make very good lite ice cream treats. Lite food in general has gotten a lot better since the introduction of Splenda.
2.) Baked Lay’s. I don’t even like potato chips that much, but I like these. The Doritos version is good, too.
3.) Cheese. It’s not that low-calorie (I hate the low-fat cheese, except maybe mozzarella) but it stays with you. After dieting for awhile I started to get sugar shakes and feeling faint a lot because I wasn’t intaking enough protein during the day – just carbs (I eat a lot of cereal and granola bars). I eat cheese for breakfast a lot of the time – just one or two ounces, though – along with an english muffin or a cereal bar.
4.) Fat free yogurt. There are plentiful varieties and most of them are pretty good. Watch out, low fat yogurt is a LOT more calories.
5.) The little rice cakes like Quakes, or the chocolate rice cakes are pretty good.
6.) If you can get to a Costco, they sell giant boxes of Rice Krispy treats that are small portioned and only 90 calories each. They definitely satisfy when your sweet tooth is bothering you. (If you buy the Rice Krispy treats in gas stations, they are much larger versions with a lot more calories… but as junk food goes, they’re not too bad.)
7.) Light or whole wheat English muffins, toasted, with whipped cream cheese. The whipped cream cheese is full-fat, but has a lot of air, so ends up being spoon-for-spoon as many calories as low-fat cream cheese but with better taste and mouthfeel.
I have two snacks I like, one a staple. A container of Jello sugar-free pudding (individual serving size) with a Slim Fast Optima cookie bar. Together they have about 180 calories.
My staple is Russell Stover SF dark chocolate candy miniatures. 5 are 190 calories. The thing is, if you take small bites (make each piece 3-4 bites) and suck on the chocolate instead of just chewing them up, they are so filling that 2 or 3 are very satisfying.
I don’t like eating low fat foods, because I find them less satisfying unless they have lots of fiber (like vegetables), but I don’t touch sugar or refined flour.
Er, I should clarify that I try to avoid refined flour and sugar. Those Optima bars aren’t entirely free of either. I always choose sugar free or low sugar versions of any snack, and I won’t get fat-free stuff if they simply replaced the fat with sugar.