I am one of those people who grazes throughout the day and love snack foods. So I'm curious- what is everyone's favorite snack food when they have the munchies?

It varies for me. If I need a "fix," I go straight to the OREOS. If I just want a snack, I might eat one of those yogurts with the fruit at the bottom, or a half of one of those. They're pretty filling.

Cheese...I LOVE cheese. As I told Dotsie just today, my arties are slapping each other to wake them up they're so clogged.

Biscotti....I'm a biscotti junkie.

Lord, come to think of it, its a wonder I'm still alive.

In the summer months,I love all the fresh fruit when it is in season, and I will eat myself fruity. I especially looooove really good watermelon. I will have bowls of watermelon chunks in my frig.to snack on all day long. But in the winter months,that's whole different snackin' story....

I generally 'graze' all day on things like bananas, cheese, carrots, and I make my own 'trail mix' with my favorite cereal and add whatever I have on hand such as raisins or other dried fruit, tamari almonds or other nuts. I also love summer fruit and go crazy when it's in at our co-op.

Oh, I love fruit, but only in season. Chocolate, dark, rich chocolate makes me happy. Crackers, cheese and fresh veggies, especially radishes, satisfy most of my cravings.

When my brother was in hospital, the only thing he could tolerate seeing me eat in his room were potato chips. It became my food of choice, because I didn't like losing any time with him. One afternoon he was on lots of pain medication and barely conscious, but my crunching woke him up, and he looked around to see where the noise was coming from, saw me eating chips, rolled his eyes and said "you eat too many chips"....it was one of the last things he ever said to me (or to anyone for that matter).

Ever since he died, I've had major cravings for those chips. I can't go even one day without a handful of them, usually around 3 in the afternoon. They have to be very crunchy. Sometimes I think it's not the actual chips I'm craving, but the crunch.

Cookies. Any kind really. I like potato chips too, but most are too salty for me anymore. I love the crunch mroe than the chips too.

ktri

Nuts & dried fruit . Only since I heard they were good for you... Another attempt at being healthy . Wonder how long this one will last .

During this time, if it isn't raisins, then fresh fruit ie. grapes, lichees, plums, etc. This is why I can hardly wait for local fresh fruit again.. instead of flown in from California. I have become a fruit basket fiend.

We don't keep potato chips and similar in stock at home.

My big thing these days are Good and Plenty, because a whole box is only 3 Weight Watchers points, and rice cakes. I would definately eat chips if I thought I could get away with it and not feel crappy, but I can't so I won't.

Kate

Eagle
I know the feeling...potato chrisps (we called them here)
Last meal we had as we waited for Gran to pass over was tinned tomato soup and knowing everthing for us was about to change it reminds me still of the sadness.
We rarely had this tinned soup (Brand name GRANNYS ) because Gran made broth and all kinds of soup but that day we shared
this.
All said we enjoyed in in some surprise.
"Better a dinner of herbs"
Mountain ash

I love summer fruits as well. Right now I have Santa Rosa plums and apricots. Next week maybe cherries. I have berries (blue, rasp-, straw- or boysen-) for lunch with a dollop of sour cream.

I love raw sunflower seeds (no shell or salt.) Probably my favorite snack year round.

I can snack on an entire watermelon daily but usually eat nothing else that day. I too love Biscotti's with a hot cup of tea...Dark chocolate too...Eagle I agree 100%, its the crunch we crave, me as well. I freeze and eat my cheesy grapes too, not fattening and so good, right J.J.?

How aobut Tostitos and salsa? I'm trying not to keep them in the house.

Our market is opening tomorrow. I can't wait for all the fresh fruits and veggies. I love any fruit that is either bite size or cleaned and cut into bite sizes.

I'd have to say , all of the above!

LOL all above for me too!

Crunchy things are the only ones that make me feel full but I also have a huge sweet tooth. I'm a sucker for chocolate, as we already covered :-) I also have a big weakness for Little Debby Snack Cakes.

Oh honey, Little Debby's have petroleum in them and PLASTIC! I swear. I just found out thru a friend of mine. Twinkies, too. It broke my heart.

Chatty, bring on the cheesy grapes. YUM! And the watermelon. I love both of those. And cherries, too but fruit has gotten so high ($) since someeeeeebody in the news said, "Its good for you."

Does anyone follow Oprah and her diet? Someone told me today that she's gained again. Is that so?

Shortbread and snickerdoodle cookies. Fruit. Chocolate covered raisins LOL.

Petroleum and plastic?! But I love them so :-( Thankfully I only eat them a few times a year. I am realizing I sound like a junk food fanatic here but I'm really not!

Hmm, what does petroleum and plastic do for us? THat's scary...but not a surprise.

I try to avoid "food" where the wrapper is the most nutritious part.

I for one will never understand Oprah. She has all the money in the world, a private chef, a nutritionist on staff and her own exercise instructor. How in the hell can she be fat with all that help? Shame on her...What a crock!

I hear ya Chatty...I guess that just goes to show us that even money can't buy slimNESS.

Anybody here have a favorite brand of GREEN TEA they can recommend? And can it be bought ONLINE?

What? Oprah is fat again? When did that happen?
Maybe she's lonely....sort of wierd to say about her, but it's lonely at the top, so I hear.

So, buy some friends for Pete's sake...teehee.

I can so identify with EAgle Heart. I love chips--not just potato chips but doritos, nuts--anything crunchy!. Like her I don't think it's the chip--I think its the crunch and the salt that is satisfying. I read recently that when under stress you crave more salt. Since stress seems to be the name of my life I would have to agree.

In that case, I need to get me a "salt-lick" like they use to give the horses....

Salt lick. lol

I drink Celestial Seasons green tea every morning and highly recommend it. You can buy it at Walmart and just about any store. They have several great ones but I just drink the regular one. I'm sure you can get it online too.

Have you tried carrots or other crunchy vegetable? I have heard there is something about the crunch that attracts us.

Laurel

Thanks Laurel, I bought some green tea at the store this week and while I was in a buying mood, I bought some cranberry as well. Talk about yummy. I've been using that as a snack. I love that TEA! I'm going to order some online now. I found a place where I can order 100 packets for what I'm paying for 20-count box at the store. Good grief!

Okay, a week ago today here's what I did. STOPPED all snacks which were made of chocolate. I know, I know, it killed me. Then I started drinking at least 16 ounces of water a day. AT LEAST. Usually double that. Then TEA at other times. I sip something all day while working.

I cut out all meat except fish and chicken, which wasn't any big deal for me because I'm almost a veggie anyway. I put a salad with every meal. The salad usually consisted of romaine lettuce, onions, mandrian oranges, cucumbers and if I had them, tomatoes. Either tomato-basil dressing, Olive Garden dressing, or a bit of Ranch (Ken's brand).

Fruit was a snack around 10 and then again around 3-4.

I tried to eat my last meal around 5ish. One day it was 6:30 before I ate, but other than that, around 5.

I've lost 8 pounds.

I cannot believe how my energy level has skyrocketed. My exercise during this time was cleaning out closets and house cleaning. I'm telling you, it works!

great going JJ...

Thanks Jane. I know that these pounds were fluid, for the most part...but hey, I was still carrying that around on my body and stressing my old bode out. You know? So now the real work begins. Shedding the fat that has been housed here for quite some time now.

Just finished a cup of Raspberry Tea. Now its time for a snack. Watermelon. Yummmy!

JJ, giving up chocolate would shed pounds for me. I was never a chocolate eater unless it was that time of the month. Now I crave it daily.

I think I'll join you in giving it up. I have a Milky Way sitting in front of me and I am going to celebrate giving up chocolate by eating my last one. Maybe once a month I will oblige.

Meat - does it really take days to digest red meat? I don't eat much and prefer fish and chicken. I am a salad lover but a dressing fanatic. I think I'll start getting fit again.

You have encouraged me. Congrats on losing 8 lbs. 2 a week from now on is healthy and a plateau or 2 comes ever now and then but if we continue to do it right, it has no choice but to come off, right?

Wow, JJ...you got me motivated.
A month ago I fasted. Just ate a bowl of thin soup at 12:00 and then nothing. I lost 10 pounds. Your diet sounds more humane, and you lost almost as much. I'm going to try that.

Good for you guys! Its actually not that bad. The key is to NOT skip meals. You want to wake up your metabolism rate and keep your sugar levels in balance. Thus, the six meals a day. And this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. At least for me it is. I've known for a long time that I needed to get back to fruits and veggies, fish and chicken. An occasional piece of pie, cake, or Oreo isn't going to kill me, but a steady diet of that stuff would.

So, here's to a healthy regime and something I haven't had in a long, long time. No, not that...AHEM....I'm talking about ENERGY!

Good for you JJ. The chocolate fast would be the hardest for me.

Do you mind sharing the site where you got your tea? I drink quite a bit and I'm always looking for a bargain.

I'm the only one at my house that eats salad and always ended up throwing out much of it. I learned that cut up tomatoes were part of the problem. I started buying grape tomatoes and now put them in my salad. They cost a small fortune but I figure the health benefit is worth it and my salads last a few days longer.

I put red bell pepper (when I can find them), broccoli, leaf lettuce, baby carrots (because I don't have to cut up or wash them), and grape tomatoes in my salad. I buy black olives and keep them in a seperate container and add them to my salad on my plate. I eat less other foods if I eat a salad and for lunch sometimes that is all I eat (with a few crackers or cheese fishies).

Laurel,
I haven't bought from these people YET...but I think I'm going to. Its http://www.luckyvitamin.com/019067100301.html Actually, I always do an overkill on researching, so I'm still looking at other sites. If anyone has a TEA site they would recommend, please let us know. I'm wanting quality AND price. I'm sure you do too, Laurel.

Gals?

I use the grape tomatoes as well. Simply because they allow me to put as many or as few as I want. When I'm using the mandrian oranges, I don't do tomatoes. Something about the flavors that don't mix well for my own taste buds. But you are so right, the prices of those babies WOW! Ridiculous!

I love this time of year when we can visit the farmer's markets.

I'm a tea drinker too. Love it! I like Red Rose tea. I drink their English Breakfast, Original, & Green. I like it with a little honey added to it. I use to be able to get the red rose tea at Kroger, but not anymore. So I order it off line like just about everything else. However, I don't see some of the teas that they had in the past, including the green. They have been updating so maybe they haven't added it back to the tea line yet. http://www.redrosetea.com/

Wow, thanks Cookie....I love all these great resources. Who says there's only one way to order tea? I love it!

Here's the brand I've been buying. I'll probably give them a try as well. http://www.bigelowtea.com/

ps---their Red Raspberry is deelish...I didn't know there was no caffenine in it when I bought it though. I need the fix...hahaha...

Of all the teas I have drank, I love the tea that I drank when we traveled through Canada on into Alaska. That was many years ago but I sure do remember the flavor! I always ordered hot tea when we stopped for a meal or a break in travel....it was delightful! I don't know what kind it was, but it sure wasn't Lipton!

Funny JJ, I need decaf so I'm going to look for the Bigelow red raspberry at the store. Thanks. It sounds refreshing.

For me it's green grapes. I love them and would have them with every meal if I could. Right now in season is Cherries and I'm using them as a snack.

I also snack on celery. Great crunch-iness.

For tea, I drink Good Earth. http://www.goodearthteas.com/

You can't find them in every store. I've found some in Albertson's. But I shop at Winn-Dixie, so it's a pain to go to Albertson's for one thing.

I have ordered from them before. Don't know about the price difference.

My favorite of the teas is the Caffeine free Sweet & Spicy blend. https://www.goodearthteas.com/productinfo.asp?prod=2&typek=none

I use Splenda and it really brings out the sweet and spice in the tea.

I gave up chocolate a month ago. Went cold turkey. Now, I don't even crave it. Went to the movies on Saturday and didn't even want chocolate covered raisins. I have some fruit snacks instead. I know if I eat one bite of chocolate, I'm going to fall of the "wagon" and over indulge again.

You don't know how bad I want to make my 88 calorie chocolate brownies. But, I'm standing firm. No chocolate.

Make a rich carrot cake instead with lots of walnuts. You can sweeten it with the Splenda as well, yummy!!!

VIcki and chatty, I also use Splenda and love it. Do either of you have any good Splenda substitute desserts?

Dotsie, for strawberry shortcake, I cut up my strawberries, put them in a bowl, sprinkle splenda on them, mix it up, then let them sit overnight in the fridge. Put the strawberries over your shortcake, (can make with reduced fat Bisquick) and then top with sugar free cool whip.

For breakfast I have cottage cheese w/strawberries and my breakfast is only 189 calories.