So you're on a calorie-controlled weight loss diet and you just don't know what to snack on any more. You can't have potato chips, french fries, cheddar cheese, or too many nuts. What on earth are you to have when that snack attack comes upon you, how can you maintain your weight loss program? It's all very well to try not to eat between meals, but let's be realistic: if you have always snacked in front of the television, you're not going to find it easy to break that habit overnight.
You're not going to stick to a weight loss plan for long if you are hungry all the time, so a few treats and snacks will be of paramount importance to you if you're dieting. Of course, these need to be tasty, sustaining and low in calories.
Fruit is one option for a low-calorie snack. We are admonished to make sure we get our five a day fruits and vegetables so try an orange, a satsuma or a bowl of cherries. Cherries are quite a good option - apart from being tasty and nutritious they are also a little bit fiddly to eat because of stalks and stones, so they will take you longer and occupy your hands more, and sometimes it's those idle hands which can be your diet breakers, when they reach for the potato chips!Fruit doesn't have to be eaten just "straight". You could perhaps have some low-fat creme fraiche on it, or even baked apple done in the oven with some cinnamon and perhaps a spoonful of nonfat yoghurt on the top. As fruit itself is generally a highly nutritious but low calorie ingredient, ideal for weight loss, you only need a little imagination to make it into a dessert style snack rather than just a piece of fruit.
Similarly, if you fancy something crunchy, then vegetables can fit the bill. Chomp on some celery sticks or carrots cut into batons. These often seem naked without some sort of dip though, so salsa, low fat yoghurt or hummus made from chick peas would go really nicely. Be careful with these though - some people find dips like hummus, fine in moderation, just that little bit too more-ish, and end up eating a whole big pot of it! Not so great for the old weight loss plan eh? Buy or decant it into small portions and only allow yourself one at a sitting!
If you have the urge for something proteinaceous like chicken or fish, you might try wrapping it in a large lettuce leaf along with a small drizzle of low-fat sauce and some cucumber, tomato or other salad veg. Leftover cooked chicken, lean pork, salmon or trout would be ideal in this way.
Sometimes though your urge for potato chips or crisps might come so much to the fore that you just can't resist it any more. If this happens to you then buy the low-calorie ones and never rely on yourself to take a large bag of them and stop part way through! Buy and eat in small, calorie-controlled doses and the odd indulgence shouldn't sway your weight loss program too far off track.
