Food/snack query- anything other than toast?

[Apparentlychilled]

I'm not sure if I've started this thread in the right place. If not, apologies.

I'm looking for tips on healthy snacking and lunches. And maybe general diet tips.

I seem to easily opt for toast/bread when I'm at home and hungry between meals. Toast/cereal is so easy and quick, even though it kind of bloats me, but I try to eat a balanced diet. Having been a VERY picky child and teen, I now eat normally and am reasonably active (on a good week I exercise 3 times a week. On a bad week, it's usually once, lasting about an hour). I've never particularly dieted (kind of intentionally, as my DM and Dsisters have serious food problems, and I don't really read food articles/diet articles in magazines). My DH is really into food and cooking though, so we have a really wide range of meals. I usually have a snack of something like granola bar and a piece of fruit at home (I'm a SAHM) between meals, and lunch is usually left over dinners or a sandwich (or occasionally a baked potato and tuna).

Also, I was away for a few days recently and didn't really have much bread (granola and yoghurt for breakfast, then scrambled egg and some bacon)- it was amazing! I wasn't hungry till after 1pm (I'm usually eating my hand off by 11.30am, after having porridge and raisins for breakfast). I then had a baguette for lunch, but was fine (no bloat) till dinner at 8pm.

So I don't really want to go down the "diet' route, but I do want to have some healthy snacks on my list to avoid the allure of toast.

Any tips or comments would be great, thanks.

[turnipsoup]

homemade popcorn - flavour with chilli or herbs.
fruit
handful of nuts

switch jacket potato at lunch to sweet potato - make a big batch of soup for lunch, cous cous, quinoa,
what kind of bread do you normally eat? I've found that rye bread doesn't make me bloat and fills me up.

[Apparentlychilled]

I don't really like rye bread, but I avoid white of any kind. I usually eat granary bread or soda bread (Irish brown bread). My brother has recently discovered that he has a mild-ish wheat intolerance, so I wonder if I do too.

I was thinking oat cakes might be good- a while ago I got cottage cheese to have on them, but it had gone off by the time I got around to eating some.

And when I eat nuts etc, I struggle w portion size- maybe I should decant into a ramikin or something?

[turnipsoup]

ooh yes oat cakes, Nairns do some lovely cheese ones (I don't think they are too bad for you either)

[Apparentlychilled]

Footie- do you mean I'm someone who should do low-carbs, or that I already do? sorry for being a bit dim!

[Apparentlychilled]

Ah, thank you!- that makes sense, because you're right, I felt much better eating just a little bit of carbs rather than my normal amount.

But then what do I eat if I don't eat carbs?! Is bacon and eggs for breakfast really realistic most days? Lunch I can handle as that can be leftovers w ltd carbs or some ideas of Turnip's above, but what about snacks? How do you structure your meals and snacks without carbs, if you don't mind me asking?

[forevergreek]

Could you still do fruit and yogurt, with a boiled egg? The egg can boil while you eat the fruit/ Greek yogurt ( frozen berries also work well if you take out the night before and pop into a cereal bowl in fridge ready)- can add to yogurt overnight so nice flavours by am

[TomArchersSausage]

I keep meaning to make Nigella's peanut noodles Haven't done so yet but they look lovely

[Apparentlychilled]

The noodles sound lovely Tom, and yoghurt, fruit and egg sounds like it could be do-able, as long as I get organised Forever. I was about to ask if it'd get dull, but given that I've had porridge with raisins for, oh, about 4 years, I'm clearly a creature of habit!

So, how about daytime snacks? Fruit, nuts, oatcakes, popcorn. I guess maybe crudites? Hummous? (but doesn't hummous go off really quickly? Which is why I never buy it). Anything else?

[EMUZ]

I find the more protein I eat (I low carb) the less hungry I get and don't need to snack
If I do snack I have nuts, a mug of homemade soup, cold roast chicken maybe with mayo, chunk of cheese, full fat Greek yoghurt...

[forevergreek]

You could always boil 2 eggs in the morning, eat one, and let the other boil an extra minute then leave in the fridge for later ( I usually use a market pen on boiled eggs!), then that's one snack.

Tbh I eat fairly low carb, just in general not a diet or anything and rarely snack. I do eat porridge usually still though

So today

Porridge with honey,, a peach.
Leftover chicken, with avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, olives and feta
Dinner tonight will be steamed fish and vegetables.
Will probably have a few squares of good quality dark choc and some cashews

Drink only still or sparkling water

[Apparentlychilled]

That's really helpful all, thank you. I guess it's just a matter of planning snacks and meals in quite a focused way for a few weeks, until I get used to opting for things other than carbs as my first choice. I'm happy to still have some and I really don't want to get silly or fanatical about it, I just want to not be hungry between meals and not feel bloated.

Thank you!