Sugar Free Munchables

I'm cutting sugar out of my diet, except for certain vegetables. Essentially, if you can't find it on the perimeter of a grocery store (deli, produce, meat, dairy) then I won't be eating it (also this point is not going to be debated, so I don't want to hear about how everybody needs to eat bread and cereal and frozen pasta).

Now, let's say hypothetically I regularly indulge in a substance that makes me really freaking hungry for sweet or salty things. How could I resolve this seemingly unresolvable conflict?

So far my options are:
1) Whipped cream (that is, cream I whipped myself) with a touch of sugar free vanilla syrup or dark chocolate powder.
2) Sugar free jello with some whipped cream
3) Pork rinds
4) A single square of super dark chocolate sweetened with orange rind.

But I'm not very creative. The only requirement is that a serving have no more than 5 or 6 carbs (also not going to be debate that point) and be fairly easy to make on the spot, or to store for future use. Help please?

Low-carb trail mix

1 cup roasted peanuts
1 cup raw or roasted almonds
1 cup pumpkin or squash seeds
2 oz unsweetened coconut

Makes 14 servings, with 4 grams of effective carbohydrate and 3 grams of fiber.

I can't believe I never thought of trailmix before! When I eat like this, I use almonds a lot. The leap to trailmix should have probably occurred to me sooner. I could portion it out into 14 little baggies and stick them in the freezer (if it's cold, I'll eat it slower and make it last).

My suggestion would be to find some way to make veggies into palatable snacks.

Personally I love radishes, and they're spicy enough, usually, that I can eat them plain. I also enjoy broccoli and cauliflower.

Normally I'd suggest using a sour cream based dip to add 'yumm' to those veggies, if you need it, but that's not for everyone.

Other decent things to use would include drizzling a little balsamic vinegar over the veggies to give them a bit more flavor. Though - be a bit a careful with the vinegar: per nutrition sites I've checked online it's got 3 g of carbs for 16 g in a tablespoon serving size. So use it lightly.

Red pepper dip, which is excellent with veggies

2 large, roasted red peppers
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts
3/4 cup fresh basil, packed
3 tbsp nutritional yeast*
1/4 cup olive oil
dash salt and pepper

Grind up in your food processor until smooth, drizzling oil in bit by bit until the consistency is right. The amount of olive oil you use might be different than what I have above, based on your other ingredients.

I don't have the nutritional information written down here with the recipe, so I can't tell you how many carbs there are but it's high in fiber and you're not eating a ton of it at a time.

* The nutritional yeast basically replaces cheese in this recipe, so you get some of that umami going on without any troubles with dairy. If you don't want to use any, some soy sauce, worcestshire sauce, beef broth, or ground up bouillion cubes can replace it. If you're okay with cheese, then do 3 tbsp of parmesan.

I have been cutting out sugar (and most processed foods for that matter) for awhile now. I think you will probably be more likely to have good results if you make peace with not snacking much at all. I don't wanna bum your high but for me at least, it was more about getting over the urge to snack all the time (and, really, adults did not use to need to "snack" between lunch and dinner every day) then trying to be satisfied eating carrot sticks.

If you do decide to eat a lot of vegetables, though, I'd find (or make) a salad dressing that doesn't have tons of sugar in it, rather than balsamic vinegar, which is quite sugary. Mustard has about zero nutritional value (seriously, read the label, there's like no calories at all) if you like that.

The dip looks wonderful, Zuul. I'm GREAT with hard cheese, so I can use Parmesan for the dip. Scanning over the recipe, everything is perfectly within the boundaries of my "allowed foods" so I'd guess that as long as I didn't eat an entire bowl of it, there won't be too many carbs.

Oh, and I just remembered I can have 2 or 3 tablespoons of all natural peanut butter a day. That'll definitely be helpful.

ETA: Exy it's not that I want to snack "all the time." Once I get over my constant craving for sugar, it's usually pretty smooth sailing. But I usually do get hungry at night, and that's exacerbated by the high. While my sister reaches for the doritos or the ice cream, I'm going to need something else to keep my mind/mouth/hands occupied. I don't want to sabotage myself by feeling like I've been deprived of something. Because then I start feeling contrary, as stupid as that always is.

I use mustard and mayo a lot (especially with my eggs). Ranch has surprisingly few carbs, as long as you actually measure it out and don't just eyeball it.

Out of curiosity, are you doing some particular diet plan? I'm just wondering where these specific rules came from.

In 2004, I tried the South Beach Diet for a while, and your food restrictions remind me a bit of South Beach Phase 1, so here are a few things that worked well for me:

- A tablespoon or two of cashew or almond butter, on celery. I found both of those "sweeter" than peanut butter, yet they still have negligible glycemic impact thanks to the fat and fiber.
- Edamame is your friend. Hell, this holds true whether you're dieting or not.
- Jerky. Just make sure you actually look at the nutrition information; a lot of "teriyaki" and "BBQ" jerkies are sugar city.
- Sugar free Jell-O pistachio pudding, with a decent handful of pistachios stirred in.

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Originally posted by Exy

Out of curiosity, are you doing some particular diet plan? I'm just wondering where these specific rules came from.

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I'm following the basic rules for the Induction levels of the Atkins diet. I've done it twice and both times it was really effective for me.

Thanks OneCentStamp! The cashew butter never occurred to me, or the edamame for that matter.

There's like 8 grams net carbs in a serving of edamame (although the serving size it says is 155 grams, which seems like kind of a lot.) Just a heads up, I don't know much about Atkins but edamame aren't super low carb.

I'm on day 28 of Atkins and it's working for me. Once I get into the Atkins mindset, I'm good. I'm not at all tempted when I'm on Atkins. If I try other diets, I find I slip too much.

I drink coffee or tea for my snacks (with cream and Splenda)- I've found that I'm not usually hungry anymore, and I eat because I must these days.

I've done quite a few stir fries with lots of veggies (mushroom, broccoli, onions and spinach) and a little bit of meat (chicken or steak).

For Valentines Night I had steamed crab legs and steamed broccoli.

If I want dessert, I have Sugar Free Jello in my refrigerator. I can have strawberries, blueberries and raspberries now so I have those for snacking too.

Cream cheese on celery is good. I make turkey burgers and onions with swiss cheese and mayo some nights,with a little raw spinach on the side.

I had a few cashews (9 is 4.4 carbs) one evening. Yum!

I bring cans of tuna with seasoning to work for lunch. There are lemon pepper and roasted tomato flavors that I really like.

French Onion soup is still delicious without the croutons.

I've had devilled eggs and egg salad too and I'll probably have chicken salad tonight.

Good luck - we CAN do this!

Oh - I find that watching cooking shows seems to help me. It's almost like I've had the dish without eating it. (Weird - I know)

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Originally posted by jali

I'm on day 28 of Atkins and it's working for me. Once I get into the Atkins mindset, I'm good. I'm not at all tempted when I'm on Atkins. If I try other diets, I find I slip too much.

I drink coffee or tea for my snacks (with cream and Splenda)- I've found that I'm not usually hungry anymore, and I eat because I must these days.

...

I've had devilled eggs and egg salad too and I'll probably have chicken salad tonight.

Good luck - we CAN do this!

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I find I'm on the same way now that I'm a week into it. Usually the first week is the hardest for me. Last week I was ravenous. It was awful. My body kept shouting for more carbs and I was having all sorts of crazy cravings, like my body was trying to trick me into eating sugar. Now I'm on a pretty even keel.

Would you be interested in a dedicated thread to low-carb recipes?

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Originally posted by jali

Oh - I find that watching cooking shows seems to help me. It's almost like I've had the dish without eating it. (Weird - I know)

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I've always referred to the Food Network as a porn channel for precisely that reason.

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Originally posted by jali

Oh - I find that watching cooking shows seems to help me. It's almost like I've had the dish without eating it. (Weird - I know)

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Oh, I wish I had that reaction. I try to avoid cooking shows - if what they're making looks good, I want it. If what they're making doesn't appeal, I start thinking how to change it to make it appealing.

Hell's bells, if you remember that disgusting macaroni salad thing that was going around in chate with all the calories being added to it (If you really want to see it, Google: "Simply Sara Wanda's Macaroni Salad video." I'm still surprised she didn't just add Karo syrup to the whole mess, too.) left me disgusted by her macaroni salad, and needing to make my own healthier* version within a day.






*Which is not the same thing, necessarily, as a healthy salad. There was a lot of room with that thing to reduce the awfulness without actually reaching into balanced, healthy food territory.

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Originally posted by pepperlandgirl

Would you be interested in a dedicated thread to low-carb recipes?

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Sounds great! I've been making stuff up and I'd love to share - I'd love to try some of your recipes.

I was just on the Atkins page, contemplating buying the baking mix. I'd love just one pancake :), but I don't want to spend the $12 yet.

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Originally posted by OtakuLoki

Hell's bells, if you remember that disgusting macaroni salad thing that was going around in chate with all the calories being added to it (If you really want to see it, Google: "Simply Sara Wanda's Macaroni Salad video." I'm still surprised she didn't just add Karo syrup to the whole mess, too.) left me disgusted by her macaroni salad, and needing to make my own healthier* version within a day.

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I watched her video feeling an almost overwhelming sadness.

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Originally posted by jali

I watched her video feeling an almost overwhelming sadness.

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I hear you on that, Jali.