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.

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.

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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?

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...

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

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!