Finding Filling low calorie Snacks

Hey everyone.  I have a serious pre-packaged snack addiction because it states the calories on the bag. (especially the natures valleys bars)  Unfortunately most of the snacks are full of preservatives and arent the best for me.  I do not like veggies and have a hard enough time getting them into my meals, so I know i couldnt snack on them.  I eat fruit but tend to eat a lot of fruit in general, so I dont really want to have them as snacks.  Does anyone have any good ideas for filling snacks? I cant do the one tblspoon PB or one slice cheese with 2 cracker bit.  It makes me feel like I am starving myself. So What do you guys do when you need volume but low calories???

Thanks everyone!

Natural popcorn is great.. I like to put Nutritional Yeast on top (as a butter sub) You can eat an entire bag with less then 200 cal! 

Here are some things to try

Edamame; I know, its a veggie! But, it is really good! Microwave for 1 minute, sprinkle with a little salt, and wah-la! :3
Oatmeal; Very filling and yummy, super yummy if you add some fruit
Popcorn; Air-popped all the way, baby!

That's all I cant think of that's yummy and filling and has no "evil" ingredients in them! :D

if i were you i would learn to like vegetables because your diet should consist mostly of them, especially if you want to be healthy.

Popcorn is great.  I actually eat a lot of that too. But i never thought of edamame.  I like it, but have never bought it. Do you buy it dry? frozen? How does it come healthiest?  Thanks for your suugestions!

I do eat veggies, I just cant as snacks. I hide them in my meals...sneaky sneaky..

Cottage cheese ( I use regular as I don't like low fat but low fat is healthier) on top 5 low sodium saltine crackers with a half olive slice or no olive at all. I find this pretty filling. EDIT; also sometimes I place 1/2 of a green olive or bread and butter pickle on top for the tang.

Light peaches from a jar or can (4 halfs). Mix those with 1 C non fat plain yogurt. Then add 1/2 C all bran crushed up and splenda or honey. This one is very very filling, low cal and lots of fiber and lowfat.

Alba 77 chocolate or Vanilla shake. Mix in blender with 5 icecubes and 1 C soy milk. This makes a huge shake and is very filling.

What about yogurt?  I didn't see that in your list.  The greek yogurts are low in sugar, and very high in protein.  A 4 oz serving is only 60 calories.  That leaves you plenty of room to add in whatever you like.  Some people do fruit, honey, peanut butter, etc.

I tend to eat a lot of fruit for snacks, but also eat string cheese, and kashi bars (less artificial stuff as compared to many brands).

My newest snack addiction is laughing cow light spreadable cheese ( comes in a blue round container with individual wrapped pieces) 45 calories

Spread i onto mulitgrain ryvita crackers 90 calories for 2 (he rivita crakcers are quite large not normal cracker size)

I ind thats enough for a snack, its healthy and only aobut 130 calorie

I get edamame frozen but I guess fresh would be healthier? I don't know if it's more exspensive or not though..

a laughing cow lite wedge on a rice cake is 70 calories all together and it satisfies the creamy thing i crave, and the crunchy somewhat too. plus it's nice to hold me over for a couple hours til dinner, or as a bedtime snack. i just had one. yum.

Quaker makes oatmeal-to-go bars that I love. They're really hearty and have a lot of fiber (which fills you up!).  They're larger than you're average bar, so they're 220 calories. They aren't super low cal, but they really are more filling than any other snack bar I've ever had.

Also, you can open a corner of the package, put it in the microwave for 10 seconds, and you have a delicious hot breakfast/snack!

How about other bars that are healthier than Nature's Valley? You could try out lots of different flavors of Luna bars, Lara bars, Cliff bars, and Kashi bars, to find new favorites with less preservatives.

• laughing cow swiss light on 2 wasa rye crispbreads
  
• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with apple sauce.. delicious!
• kashi cereal (your pick!) with yogurt and fresh fruit (mix fruit and yogurt, then add kashi before eating)
• rice or popcorn cake - sweet or savory, both are delicious!
• mixed nuts with raisins..  I love this combo!
• homemade hummus with cucumber.. I know you don't like veggies but perhaps eat with homemade pita chips?
• dry roasted edamame
• popcorn - you can toss some paprika or chilli powder on it for a kick
• string cheese
• protein shake with fruit

I hear you on your no-veggie preference, but they are really where it's at when it comes to high volume low calorie. I found hummus at my store that is 30 cals per serving, and it's awesome on celery or broccoli, and has so much flavor. It's very satisfying. Here are some veggie snack hints:

for celery, if you hate the strings, like I do, you can pull them off before you chop up the stalk. If you get good at it you can cut almost all the way through the celery, catch all the strings between your knife and your thumb, and peel them all off. just don't cut yourself, i'd feel bad.

for broccoli, you can make them much more appetizing for snacking by blanching them a little and putting them back in the fridge. You can either microwave them in tupperware with a tablespoon of water and the lid sitting on top (like 30 seconds or so?), or if you have boiling water on the stove for any reason, toss them in the steaming basket and dip them in for like five seconds. They turn bright green, taste sweeter, and are slightly less tough and crunchy.

other people like hummus on baby carrots, so those are another option.

you can totally ignore me if you just plain don't want to eat veggies as snacks, or give these ideas a try, and you might slowly become a veggie convert!

If you like pumpkin pie (a vegetable I know but keep reading) then I highly recommend buying canned pumpkin. Depending on your sweet tooth add a few teaspoons of brown sugar (2 or 3tsp per cup of pumpkin usually does it to me but you could add more and be fine) and some cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (not too much though, you don't want to cancel out all the sweet from the sugar!). It more or less tastes like you're eating pumpkin pie! (But without all the crust and butter ect). You can add butter too if you want. But a cup of pumpkin pie is only 80 calories and amazingly filling! I tried it yesterday and couldn't even finish it, and I can normally down entire pans of brownies if I want to.

Its super easy to keep it under 200 calories, and honestly that kept me full for most of the day. So full in fact that I ended up eating a lot of denser calorie meats later in the day just to meet my calorie goals for the day! I figure everybody likes pumpkin pie so you can't really go wrong?

Also, for ranch dressing lovers (if you are one). If you buy the powdered pack and mix it with 2.5 cups of lowfat cottage cheese it pretty much tastes like chip dip but with health benefits. Not to mention its pretty filling. Get some low fat potato chips and mush them up with it and its surprisingly tasty for only ~105kcal per .5 cups of dip. =)

Hope you like some of these suggestions. I really am normally a bottomless pit. So If you like pumpkin pie I really recommend the canned pumpkin.

All your suggestions are great but I love a handful of nuts.  Almonds (plain unsalted not cut with their brown skin) are only 7 cals each.  My large handfull usually amounts to about 15 or so which is only 105 calories.  You eat them one at a time which takes a little while and since they have lots of protein they fill you up.  I try and keep my snacks to 100 cals each.

All the best... you seem to have lots of support.  This is a great site :-)

Vicki

One thing I've learned is to get over what I think I "know" about what I will and won't learn to like to snack on.  Just a thought.

The palate changes to suit what it's used to being given.

Thanks for all your help. These are fantastic suggestions! I am definitely trying the pumpking trick ;)

A really tasty, low-cal yet filling snack I discovered today is cottage cheese with veggies.

It's best if you take a 1/2 cup of fat-free cottage cheese, add some ground ginger, cinnamon and a bit of sweetener (Stevia or Splenda are best) and dip carrots in it.  It's amazing, full of satiating protein, and it will only cost you about 100 calories!