Low Cal Snacks

I am right there with ya! Its so hard to come up with something snacky that has no wheat....
If you like tart I have discovered that pixies satisfy a lot of my craving for snacking, also apples and peanut butter, not super low cal perse but very filling, also a handful of nutthins and hummus or rice crackers and hummus

Hi I also have celiac and no large intestine so snacking is very hard for me since my body doesn't digest like everyone else. I also have a 4 month old so snack prep has to be minimal and fast. My favorite things to snack on are string cheese, Larabars (smiths, harmons, whole foods, against the grain --gluten free store in west valley), kind bars--Same as Larabars just nuts and no dates, glutino pretzel sticks-ener g makes q nice 99 cent snack pack of pretzels, some veggies, walnuts or cashews -small quantities for me, honey kix, trix, raisins, yogurts, edamame (costco sells individually wrapped packages that are frozen. 3 mins in micro and voilà
instant protein snack), carrots etc, I make GF pantry French bread in mini loaf pans and slice 2 pieces at a time -little honey,litte butter, fruit cups, canned peaches or pineapple, corn tortillas with cheese-I would imagine one is about 100 cal. You can do cheetos, doritos, tortilla chips, potato chips and separate them into snack baggies. I just get a little bowl or small Tupperware and put it in there to snack on vs straight out of the bag. Good luck and I hope that helps.

My family loves mini rice cakes. There are so many flavors and you can have enough to be satisfied. For example, right now we have chocolate ones in the house - seven rice cakes is only 60 calories. The ones I have currently are by Quaker, but I also buy Safeway brand too, when I am there and they have a flavor I want.

Hi we have the same issue at our house. Here are some snacks we eat: soyjoy bars (we actually think they r very yummy!); peanuts and raisins; lots of rice cakes r consumed here! (There are a lot of different flavors); egg whites; cheese; fruits and veggies; rice crackers; peanut butter on lots of the above works great; handfuls of gluten-free cereal; popcorn!!. Hmm. I'm sure I will think of more we do for snacks, but that's off the top of my head. Hope it helps. :) E.

Popcorn; hummus to dip veggies; dried apricots or plums; nuts; low-fat string cheese and yogurt. If you have a Trader Joe's close, crunchy curls (a potato/lentil blend), Snapea Crisps (sundried peas), marshmallow bars, and many other gluten free snacks.

Fruits, veggies, and 10 cal. cheese packets or 2% string cheese. You can precut the celery and carrots then put them in salt water in the refrigorator. Low-fat cream cheese is good on celery sticks.

http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=176504

This is a collection of recipes that I found - there should be some that you can use or even modify some that will work with your allergy (my mom is a celiac, so I understand).

Good luck and enjoy! :)

How about edamane beans that are already cooked but still in the shell. They are at Trader Joe's in the freezer section. You can buy them unshelled also, but for me personally, half the fun of eating them is taking them out of the shell. Some people think it requires too much work to eat them this way, and prefers to buy them unshelled, but we dont agree. They are a great snack.

HI Momma-
I have some of my favorites that I will share with you. You will have to put them together at least a twice a month, but they are FANTASTIC.
The first is the veggie snack bag. Go to a local market, get some fresh veggies- I like sugar snap peas with baby carrots, cauliflower with grape tomatoes (you can put a tiny bit of italian dressing in there and oh boy, super yummy!), and broccoli and one of the above is pretty good, too - and make up snack bags. You can buy actual snack size baggies that will hold about 100 calories- you can stuff them with veggies and not over eat.

Another idea (can you eat nuts?) is one of my hubby's fav's. He is diabetic, so we eat the snack bags pretty religiously. You will need plastic snack bags, dried cranberries, and nut of choice- I like to use pepitas, almonds, pinec nuts, or walnuts- or a mixture of any. The tiny bit of saltiness on the fruit with the crunch of the nuts is SO GOOD!

Another idea is the yo baby yogurts. They are low calorie, low fat, and have no weird sweeteners in them. These are not just for babies!

I also like to snack on apples cut up with yogurt poured over the top and add some dried cranberries.

One more idea is carrots and peanut butter. Get the pure peanut blend (excellent at Trader Joe's) with no salt. I like the chunky.
It is hard at first, to let your taste buds adjust to the real and natural flavor of foods, but it really is delicious.

A last item, depending on what you cannot eat, is granola. There are some gluten free recipes made with honey that are fantastic. A coworker of mine has a really bad gluten allergy and this is one of her favorites. A small cup with rice milk or mixed with a yo baby yogurt is a great snack, and really refreshing.

The best thing to do, in my experience, is to rotate the snacks so you don't get tired of one too quickly. And then creativity is key. I like tortillas with a little lunch meat or cream cheese in them. I am not sure how to find a wheat free one, but I would bet that a whole foods store might carry something edible. =)

Always keep fresh fruit, tea, and water in take and go size containers. This saves you from drive thru's, high fat foods and drinks, or not eating at all. My sister ( I am so proud of her) actually boils up the kettle the night before and fills a large water bottle with her favorite iced tea. So every day she has a drink available to her that is not soda! And she LOVES IT! I think the tea she likes best is some apple cinnamon kind. I love black tea and passion flower tea....just pick a good one that you like the flavor of!

I hope that helps!
Good luck!
-E. M

Low fat cheeses - string cheese and Laughing Cow; raisins, dried cranberries, yogurt (I recently tried greek yogurt - very creamy and filling!), cottage cheese, egg whites, carrots/celery and low-fat peanut butter or low-cal dressing.

I snack on fruit, string cheese, low fat yogurt, and 94% fat free popcorn

Read the label on these snack bars by clicking on the box that appeals to you, then clicking "read label" to see if they would work:
http://healinghappens.myshaklee.com/us/en/category.php?ma...

What about cooking some gluten free oatmeal and then adding fruit - apples, bananas or berries. Also, I've recently discovered quinoa. It's also gluten free and its a complete protein. I cook it in coconut milk (1 can of milk with 1 cup of quinoa) for about 10 minutes. Just before the end of the 10 minutes, I add in dried cranberries and diced apple. If I have some leftover in the frig, I warm it up in Coconut oil on the stove which gives it some extra coconut flavor. You can also check out www.elanaspantry.com for more recipes. Lastly, I do a trail mix as follows: 1 part nuts (usually almonds for me), 1 part dried fruit (usually cranberries) and 1/2 part dark chocolate (Dagoba chocoate chips). I mix up a bunch and put it in ziploc bags to grab and go. If I'm at home, I may put the train mix with some GF oats on top of plain yogurt - yummy!

Pre-cut veggies (w/ or w/o dip), cheese sticks, cut up fruit of any kind, fruite salad, 1/2 of a gluten free bagel (Trader Joes has some I believe) w/cream cheese, peanut butter on celery or wheat free bread, hard boiled egg, low fat protein bars (just read the ingredients to ensure they are sans wheat), rolled up lunch meat, dried fruit. Hope this helps.

One of my favorites is a cheese stick with an apple. The combination of protein and fruit is filling, the combination of crunchy and chewy is satisfying, and they taste good together!

tofu jerky or organic beef jerky; yogurt, odwalla original juice, organic cashew krispie treats; mozzarella sticks; nuts

Any kind of fruit with string cheese, non-fat yogurt, apples w/peanut butter and honey (my favorite), granola (usually oats and fruit but no wheat). Check Trader Joes. They have lots of things for healthy snacks without wheat.

I'm sure you've already thought of most of these but I do weight watchers and these are my usual snacks...popcorn, fruit, veggies, pickles, oatmeal, sugar free pudding or jello, popsicles, yogurt. Sometimes just drinking a cup of hot tea or sugar free hot cocoa tides me over too.

Good luck,
K.

My girls' favorite snacks from the time they were old enough to eat finger foods and up include the following; however, check to make sure there are no wheat products in them as we didn't have that problem... I did have to remove sugary items and salty items because our oldest has a heart condition (born with it but controlled via medication and both are children of a diabetic father so we have them tested every year for diabetes and for any pre-cursor symptoms and blood tests for autoimmune diseases since I have lupus (SLE) and Sjogren's disease not to mention other autoimmune diseases that run rampant in my family for multiple generations as I am from a Native American Indian family both maternally & paternally)...

Try peeled cut up apples with cubed (tiny cut) chedder cheese as a snack

Cut up various fruits in a bowl in finger food sizes such as apples, pears, kiwi, strawberries (when in season), bananas, plums, peaches, and etc... Dry toast with a product called Simply Fruit works well too but I would only use that in small amounts because even Simply Fruit, even though it's made from PURE FRUIT, has natural sugars.

Add veggie trays with cut up celery, broccoli, carrots, and maybe even rolled ham slices with a bit of cream cheese in the middle. These are all healthy foods that satisfy their cravings without being overly heavy or causing health problems with regards to obesity. Popcorn puffs are good too. Many specialty stores carry them in low-salt to no-salt options and best of all, unlike popping popcorn, the Popcorn puffs don't have the kernels in them.

Those little 100 cal packs you mention are loaded with sodium and often high fructose sugars. Read the ingredients list and the additional information regarding what's in the products. It's the same with frozen food dinners and lunches including lunchables, which are quick and easy but not so good for the body because of the ingredients and additives. The biggest thing to avoid is MSG. I have to often wonder if many cases of wheat allergies are nothing more than allergies to MSG.

The reason I say this is that once I was able to remove my girls from MSG processed foods then switch them to organic vegetables and fruits, their behavior changed, they began to listen, they rested better at night and took naps without the daily hassle of fighting to get them in bed for their naps, and best of all they were not running around like a kids on sugar highs. Much of this I learned from my oldest child then applied to my last one because there are 10 years difference in their ages. My oldest is now 23 years old and planning her wedding for August 2010 whereas my youngest, who will be a junior bridesmaid, recently turned 13 years old this past January.

I hope these ideas help. I know they have in my home. BTW, if you live anywhere near a fresh food market vs a grocery store particularly in the summer months, check into buying your fruits and vegetables from the fresh food market. You'll find the foods are more healthy, picked closer to ripeness, have a better taste, and more often than not you can find organic foods that don't cost an arm and a leg unlike those in grocery stores. Did I mention the Food Markets by local growers are generally more healthy? :)

Stay as far away from high salt, high sugar, corn fructose, processed foods, and anything with MSG in it. These things have a tendency to bring on not only possible health problems but also behavioral problems that were not present before. Before I forget, my oldest is ADD. She did take the Ritalin and then a newer drug for ADD until she was able to put to use the behavioral modifications our therapist worked out for her. She will be graduating from college spring of next year with her first degree anyhow; and, since she began using her "tools," to handle the ADD and I removed all those hideous additions to her diet, the ADD became more controllable even without the medication using only the behavioral therapy and it didn't put her heart at risk or her overall health.

If I could remove one thing from the foods we have available today, it would be MSG. You would not believe the difference in children and in adults when you eliminate MSG from your diet. It's like living a whole new life - even for me as a mother with lupus (SLE) and Sjogren's disease.

I realize foods are not cheap and many of us can't afford to buy groceries that are healthy; however, Check out this new program that has come out called the Angels Food Network. They offer lots of healthy boxed offers including specialty foods at a low price that is affordable and they take food stamps for those who can't otherwise afford to buy groceries, particularly those in grocery stores filled with the additives we don't need that only make us more tired, cranky, and even more unhealthy. Google the Angel Food Network for your area and you will understand what I am talking about first hand. It's a great program. I've used them from time to time and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Best of luck...

Dole fruit snack in gel cups. They taste good and are only 90 calories with 0 fat per 4.3 oz. cups. I've tried peaches in strawberry gel and mixed fruit in peach gel and I like them both.

English muffins with low calorie spread are also good. Hope this helps.

Updated

Dole fruit snack in gel cups. They taste good and are only 90 calories with 0 fat per 4.3 oz. cups. I've tried peaches in strawberry gel and mixed fruit in peach gel and I like them both.

English muffins with low calorie spread are also good. Hope this helps.

I have Celiac so am in the same boat. I do a lot of fruit, mozzarella sticks, yogurt and granola, rice crackers and peanut butter, almonds, protein bars, popchips, snap peas and then do my own baking so I can have muffins...exactly low cal though : )