Worst \ Best Snack

testing_times

Morning,
Just wondering what in your opinion is the best and worse snack to have when feeling a little peckish.
Is a bar of chocolate really all that bad, is the simple little biscuit really going to do damage?
Your thoughts please.

Khannie

I'm assuming you're trying to lose some weight?

If you're just talking about a snack between meals: Fruit, nuts, raisins. That kind of thing. A few almonds an apple and a banana really keeps you going. If you're talking about "treats"....

Sugar free jelly is a complete winner. Fills you up and virtually calorie free. I make pancakes out of oats and whey (whey not a requirement) and spread a little jam on them for a snack with a cup of coffee. They work out around 80 calories each in total.

Chocolate bars are a disaster zone though if you're trying to keep your calorie count down. Very few of them are < 200 calories. Lidls do museli bars that weigh in at around 100-120 calories each. I find a half of one of them can do just fine with a cup of coffee. My personal favourites are the orange choc and corn flake choc ones. They may say "museli" on them, but I'm fairly sure they're just junk.

A digestive's not the end of the world either. Around 70 calories. Basically junk, but a bit of junk never did any harm.

Khannie

Gonna move this to nutrition and diet....

EileenG

Reading some research recently that almonds are one of the best between meal snacks. They control insulin and lower LDL cholesterol, and in spite of being high fat and high cal, they seem not to result in weight gain unless you really go to town.

Cottage cheese is a good snack. High protein and filling, and impossible to binge on.

If you must eat chocolate, go for the very dark stuff. Over 70% at least. The darker it is, the more likely that you will eat a little and stop.

I reckon the worst snacks are the ones that are almost pure sugar, or that get turned to sugar as soon as you eat them. Rice cakes are one of those things that are so tasteless that people reckon they must be healthy, but they are very high gi, so they can send your insulin soaring. And my seven year old goes absolutely hyper after two of them. They have the same effect on her as a can of coke.

El_Dangeroso

Boiled egg FTW!

Kimia

My favourite treat of all time is the big bag of Tayto Occasions the cheese and onion ones. They are about 1000 calories but I lOVE them. I suppose you could say that's the 'worst'.

The best (as in healthiest) treat I have is a cadbury's finger. They supply the chocolate craving but are very low on cals (if you eat one or two!).

rubadub

Kimia wrote: »

My favourite treat of all time is the big bag of Tayto Occasions the cheese and onion ones. They are about 1000 calories but I lOVE them. I suppose you could say that's the 'worst'.

The best (as in healthiest) treat I have is a cadbury's finger. They supply the chocolate craving but are very low on cals (if you eat one or two!).

But if you ate only a few taytos then they would be "healthier" than the fingers. i.e. neither are really healthy, you are only looking at calories, and equating healthy food with low calories. Nuts are a healthy snack though very high in calories per 100g.

I do see your point though, some (most) people have great difficulty with portion size, and these can help. Wispas, aeros, malteasters are all just full of air and therefore low in calories compared to other bars of the same price. But they are all around the same calories per 100g, so you are really just being ripped off. Just buy a snack size bar instead, same amount of chocolate, same calories, half the price.

But people like this illusion of a larger bar. This goes for meals too. A tip is to eat on small plates, looks like you have more. Use a small fork and teaspoon so you have to make more effort to eat each bit. Or chopsticks!

I put tomato puree on ryvitas then some low fat cheese, then grill or microwave them, it is like mini pizzas. You can get puree in toothpaste like tubes and just squeeze it on.

cozmik

rubadub wrote: »

A tip is to eat on small plates, looks like you have more. Use a small fork and teaspoon so you have to make more effort to eat each bit.

rubadub, you crack me up! Seriously though keep up the good attitude.

regards

cozmik

Kimia

rubadub wrote: »

But if you ate only a few taytos then they would be "healthier" than the fingers. i.e. neither are really healthy, you are only looking at calories, and equating healthy food with low calories.

rubadub wrote: »

Thing is - I can't just eat a few!! I'm so addicted if I eat one I have to demolish the whole bag. There's is no way in hell I'd only eat a few. Chocolate though is fine - i'm not that into it so a small bit makes me feel just naughty enough! haha

Varkov

Marshmallows. Raisens are ok too.

El_Dangeroso

rubadub wrote: »

I put tomato puree on ryvitas then some low fat cheese, then grill or microwave them, it is like mini pizzas. You can get puree in toothpaste like tubes and just squeeze it on.

:eek: No offence but are you a student? That sounds like the most depressing food in the world

EileenG

Varkov wrote: »

Marshmallows. Raisens are ok too.

Don't agree there. Marshmallows are pretty much pure sugar. Even if you manage to keep your portion size small, you are still going to spike your insulin levels. You don't have to be doing a low carb diet to know that sugary foods and high insulin levels do you no favours.

g'em

neddas wrote: »

:eek: No offence but are you a student? That sounds like the most depressing food in the world

They're lovely actually, I make those from time to time too - you can add regular pizza toppings to them as well (pineapple, ham, chicken, onion, mushroom) and they make great snacks for when you're having a night in front of the tv.

corkcomp

g'em wrote: »

They're lovely actually, I make those from time to time too - you can add regular pizza toppings to them as well (pineapple, ham, chicken, onion, mushroom) and they make great snacks for when you're having a night in front of the tv.

+1 you can make some nice pizzas if you use a bit of imagination with the toppings ... I bought some thin spelt pizza bases recently and they are great, when they toast they get even nicer ... a bit less bland than ryvita

g'em

corkcomp wrote: »

I bought some thin spelt pizza bases recently and they are great

great idea, did you just get them from a health food shop?

corkcomp

g'em wrote: »

great idea, did you just get them from a health food shop?

yep, got them in a local health food store, exact same ones as www.herbalayur.com/uploads/BT422.jpg
they are great with king prawns, red onion,tomato and mozzarella!

Macha

Best, as in healthiest snack, would have to be cottage cheese with chocolate protein powder, ground flax and peanut butter (a la PN). I'm addicted to it now..