Help with me with some ideas with my game: What you want----->what you eat

Ok so like most people I get cravings. I try to figure out the essence of what I want is and make a healthy choice on that rather than "oh I'm hungry I need to eat this salad" when what I want is something sugary or whatever

Just from the past couple of days:

What I wanted: potato chips (something salty). What I ate: tomato with salt. it worked!

What I wanted: dessert. What I ate: apple with a little peanut butter

What I wanted: Grease (something high fat content). What I ate: piece of string cheese (70 cals)

Anyone else got some ideas? Mainly for these categories:

Salty
Sweet
Fats/something to fill your gut

Sweets: any sweet fruit, usually whatever is in season. Strawberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes, melons, cantaloupes, apples, etc. I don't add sugar, because I don't really like sweet stuff that much.

I also love Lindt chocolate, so if I'm craving something fat/sweet, I eat one of their Lindor truffle balls which is some 80 calories.

Salty/fat cravings are usually addressed with a meal (soup, sandwich, something cooked), so I don't feel the need for salty/fat snacks, which means I can't really help you there. :/

Sweet and Smooth, like chocolate or ice cream: a good, creamy yogurt. This actually works well for me.

Tangy/Spicy: salsa on veggies! Very few cals and high impact.

Filling, like lots of pizza: oatmeal, cooked with water. REALLY fills me up.

spirochete, I'll have to try your salty tomato idea. Potato chips are my biggest weakness!! If that works, I'll be eternally grateful to you.

Salty/tangy - I wanted some of my DD's Salt & Vinegar Pringles SOOO bad - so instead I chopped up some cauliflower in small pieces and tossed it in vinegar and a little sea salt - worked pretty good!

Ooh that's good since cauliflower is pretty crunchy. I'll have to try that one

Thought of another I did - I wanted a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup - what I did instead:

Took 1 slice of light bread (40 cal) and lightly toasted it, then spread with 1 Tbsp of peanut butter (90 cal, 8g fat) and then drizzed it with 1 teaspoon of Hershey's syrup (only 16 cal for a tsp!)    It was SOOO good, now I do it fairly often when I'm a bit low on my fat % for the day.

Now this probably wasn't much better calorie wise than having just one peanut butter cup, but it was a bit healthier, much more filling,  and mentally I was proud of myself for not caving, and that's the important part.  (and there's NO way I would limit myself to just ONE peanut butter cup!)

Potato chips - i have to have the "crunch" to feel satisfied - so I usually use sliced up cucumbers with some salt instead of tomato! Also tomato with a sprinkle of sugar/splenda on it is excellent as well - TRY IT!

The strangest potato chip solution though? I slice raw potatoes, sprinkle with salt. They are actually potato chips! minus the deep fried fatness. (My bf tells me that because my mom taught me to eat raw potatoes that she made "bad parenting decisions" haha)

Sweet: Fruit almost always does the trick for me!  And sometimes even just a glass of milk solves the problem (its actually high in sugars). The best solution is a combo of the two: Banana "Cream" Delite! TRY THIS!   On super chocolate craving days I'll either make fat free jello chocolate pudding (even better mixed the pudding half n half with Cool Whip Fat Free to make it a mousse) - or I'll have a square of dark chocolate (just one!).

Fats: Nothing beats the craving except fats - but I'll have guacomole which is a "good fat"

If I'm just really wanting to snack on something yummy? Air popped popcorn. Or for a special treat I'll add a spritz of oil - and toss it in garlic powder and light parmesan cheese. DELIGHTFUL!

Juice - Fruit flavoured herbal tea hot or cold (zero calories, zero caffiene - can't beat it!)

Cookies: I have oatmeal with some cinnimon

Brownies: Sadly... I haven't found a substitute for these yet. Any suggestions? I love my brownies.

Potato chips/french fries ---- slice a potato very thin.  Lay on a paper plate.  Cover with paper towel.  Microwave for 1 min (or maybe more).... Remove and sprinkle with Ms. Dash or Seasoning Salt or Salt.  --- VIOLA - Microwave fries.  I love them.  Jef--I LOVE raw potatoes too!  And I don't even need the salt.

Sweet - Chocolate skim milk.  I use the dry Quick and a cup of skim....solves the problem....OR....... frozen bananas.  Just peel 'em, stick them in a ziploc bag, and freeze 'em..... YUM.... frozen banana popsicles!  Same with grapes but you don't have to peel those.

Fast Food: I crave McD's Egg Mcmuffins... so I made my own.... Thomas English Whole Wheat muffins, canadian bacon, microwave poached egg, slice of fat free cheese..........273 cal, very little fat and BETTER than McD's--- no grease!!!!

Dessert:  Frozen Fat Free Yogurt....with in season fruit: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries..YUMMM

Hmm lets see:

Dessert: Maybe not the best but: S'mores minus the chocolate. If you use 4 crackers (Honeymaid Regular) and 4 large marshmallows it's only like 160-170 cals. I cut the marshmallows in half and divide over 2 crackers, nuke for 25 sec. and top with the other 2 crackers. Though I love chocolate I prefer my S'mores without and I find this sweet enough to obliterate and sugar cravings I have...

Or: Del Monte Real Fruit strawberry-kiwi popsicles. Only 50 cals each. Made with real fruit (they even have chunks of strawberries in them). A little on the $$ side (at least here they are) but sooooo tasty and refreshing.

Salty: Melba Rounds with Low Fat Cream Cheese, I also love plain rice cakes, Peanut Butter and celery is good too.

I LOVE my sweets, but I've become much more controlled.  Here's what I eat to satisfy my cravings...

Apple or banana with peanut butter (I <3 peanut butter!).  By the way, I LOVE that toast with peanut butter and chocolate idea!  Another idea to go with the frozen banana is to use the same ingredients: peanut butter and chocolate sauce.  Also for my cravings, I'll have one piece of Dove Dark Chocolate, and for my ice cream cravings, I eat low-fat ice cream (usually Edy's slow churned).  I just make sure to fit it in my daily calorie allowance.

As for fats and wanting to feel full, I make either wheat pasta or brown rice, mix in a little olive oil and garlic/onion flavor, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a handful of mozzarella.  It's got more calories, but it's really filling and so good!

Sorry I'm not much help with salt...  I tend not to get the munchies for that so much, I think because I get it from meals.

for something sweet:
Frozen banana with cinnamon OR peanutbutter/chocolate,

Lightly Frozen (1-2 hours) Fat-Free Jello chocolate pudding cups,

frozen berries with yogurt

fruit smoothies

for something salty: i can get these mini baked pita bites at my local store, 9 of them are 120 cals, with 3.5 grams of fat, seasoned with garlic onion chives and a bunch of flavours, taste wayy better than chips and are really filling.

or thinly slices tomatoes microwaved with salsa

for something high-fat: peanut buter every time, get a slice or two of light bread 940-50 cals) and toast lightly and add any combination of peanut butter, jam, or nutella (GREAT for chocolate fixes, and has protein) :)

Original Post by jef9up:

Brownies: Sadly... I haven't found a substitute for these yet. Any suggestions? I love my brownies.

vitamuffin "muffin tops" deep chocolate.  only 100 cals, and probably the best tasting thing I've ever had pre-made like that.  unbelievable!! check 'em out, they're in the organics/natural section in the frozen area.

Sweet and crunchy: Apples with caramel sauce (very little, or else it's too sweet), Yogourt with almonds

Salty: Not going to lie, I usually end up caving in on salty cravings. What sometimes works:

Egg drop soup(really filling), carrots with low-cal ranch dip, hard boiled egg with salt

When I'm craving fast food, I get a 6" turkey sub on whole wheat from subway...Obviously not a snack, but it's a bit of a treat and low calorie

I have awful salt cravings, that means I can usually polish off a bag of chips in 20 minutes, all four servings of them. Instead of something so unhealthy I now snack on salted almonds. Yes its still high in calories, but I only eat one serving and its a great snack to hold me over to the next meal. I'm also swearing off of buying chips forever, though at parties I cave in. Hopefully one of these days I'll forget what chips taste like.

Sweets - Edy's low fat ice cream just 105 calories a serving and lower in saturated fat than other ice creams. I also snack on unlimited amounts of fruit.

Fast food - veggie burgers from anywhere

Dessert - Jamba juice pomagranite paradise.

For all of you chip lovers, have you tried Brothers All Natural Potato Crisps?  They're freeze-dried potato slices and come in little pouches.  They don't taste exactly like potato chips but they satisfy a craving.

When I'm craving potato chips I make these kale chips.  They're delicious.

What I wanted: pizza-----> what I ate: pizza.

It's not been a very good night

Salty cravings are really the only cravings I get. So I eat a serving of pretzel sticks. An ounce is actually a decent amount, & since they're individual sticks, they take a good amount of time to eat. Only like 100 calories or less & mmmmmm the salt.... =]

& I don't even need to be craving salt to eat tomato & salt. One of my favorite foods ever. yum.

I wish I read this before I went downstairs to the vending machine...

what I wanted - chocolate              &nb sp;  What I ate - chocolate

another 235cal onto my daily allowance, I'm not too far over my limit and I've already counted what I'm having for dinner. But I do have a question, does anyone ever eat a little bit less of something so that they can have chocolate?

I know it's not healthy to do that regularly, but like once in every 2 weeks? and I have my dance class tonight...

Ice cream --> blended frozen bananas with milk and vanilla (the famous banana "soft serve" alternative)

Pizza --> whole wheat pita or tortilla with tomato paste, italian seasoning, part skim mozzarella and veggies

Candy --> Medjool dates (yum!)

Chocolate --> small piece of very dark chocolate or a Larabar Jocalat bar (not everyone likes these but the only sweetener in them is fruit, so I prefer them over other bars)

Something sweet after dinner (always a necessity!) --> right now I love nothing better than a ripe, creamy mango! Frozen grapes are also awesome when you want something sweet + cold

Just a taste of something sweet - There are these great coffee chews from Trader Joe's, they're like 15 cals a piece and they take a while to eat because they are so chewy.  I use them as my dessert a lot, just grab 2 or 3 and savor.

Salty - I love cucumbers lightly dusted with Lawry's seasoning salt.  SO yummy.  I eat them as my lunch veggie all the time.

Sweet snack - fiber or protein bar.  I keep a supply of Fiber One bars and Detour protein bars in my house to use for my afternoon snack.  The Fiber One bars are about 150 cals and the Detour bars I get are 180 cals.  If that's too many calories for you, you can eat half and save the rest for later.  They're both very sweet tasting and filling, and savoring them makes them like a mini-meal.  And I can get them in bulk from Sam's Club.

Munchies - when I want to crunch something I will usually grab for baby carrots.  You can get a lot of crunch out of one baby carrot.

Oddly enough I have had very few cravings for anything since I started eating healthily.