Healthier snacking

Anonymous

Not strictly cycling related, but I find myself constantly hungry. I do have a pretty high heart rate which may (or may not?) be linked to a faster metabolism.

I am 28, weigh about 72kg, am 6ft and reasonably fit, ride 10 miles each way to work and back every day with a 30 mile fast chaingang once a week and a longer (70) mile ride at the weekends most of the time. Aiming to hit 6K miles for the year.

My concern is that I have a seriously sweet tooth and eat a LOT of crap, mostly chocolate and I worry that eventually I won't be able to get away with it so will get fat, probably will get diabetes and don't want my teeth to fall out.

Can you guys recommend what you snack on through the day (raisins and nuts could be a good way to go?) which won't lead to the above? I do eat a lot of fruit, but appreciate they are also full of sugar.

I also don't really like carrots or hummus. Sorry.

ta.

philbar72

Apples and bananas for me seem to be a lot better than when I binge on yorkie bars. day is structured thus.

breakfast 2 Weetabix with a few raisins.
Lunch, small portion of pasta, or rice with vegetarian stuff - 1 x banana
mid afternoon - an apple.
evening meal - something pretty substantive. chicken or fish with veg.

that's a good day.

a bad day is that plus 2 packets of crisps, and more sweet things...

I'm 5ft 9 78kg and need to lose weight, though have come down 5kg since end august (so the diet seems to work when I don't scoff)..

Anonymous

An apple and a banana will not sustain me. I can inhale an entire pack of hobnobs in an hour without thinking about it. Jaffa cakes perhaps 10 minutes.

Maybe I need to make myself bigger pasta lunches.

The thing is that I am not so concerned about my weight at present, just the sugar. I could always just not buy anything and starve, but I don't need/want to lose weight, really. Just don't want to be CONSTANTLY thinking about food!

Flâneur

May be too obvious but are you drinking enough (water)? Or is it boredom eating (occupying time/hands/more interesting)?

Having a similarly sweet tooth (at least a bar of milka today already because there was one around) I tend to go with cashew nuts and coffee because I feel the lack of sugar compared to fruit is probably for the best. I am aware that I may not always eat enough given that I train 5 or 6 times a week be it bike, running or gym.

Anonymous

It probably is boredom related as I am bloody bored at work (looking to move).

I do have a 500ml bottle which I get through at least 2 a day of water.

Don't drink coffee so may get a tub of mixed nuts and raisins but can see myself getting bored eventually!

philbar72

I'm seeing a doctor of nutrition on Friday after I asked what I need to do to sort myself out. any tips I get wll come your way.

she'll probably tell me to ease up on the "wafer thin mints"

iPete

I've just stocked up on these..
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/trek-protein-bars-16-x-55g/

Think some of their bars count as one of your five a day.

Anonymous

Can I bring myself to snack on protein bars?

iPete

Protein could be a better choice over sugar and should make you feel fuller for longer, thus avoiding other snacks. To my eye it's probably a good choice as a mid-morning post-commute snack and these Trek bars seem particularly good/healthy and only contain 10g.

On the theme of feeling fuller for longer, have you tried switching your cereal?
Watch food unwrapped on oats.. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-unwrapped/videos/all/s6-ep5-quick-cook-oats

I have exactly the same issues, except drink far too much coffee.

RutlandGav

The problem is we're all different, have different psychology, different genetics and slightly different copies of the various appetite regulating enzymes from one another, so what works for one person may not work for another.

I suspect I will always want to pick away at whatever is left near me, but in my case i was at least able to break a 20 year chocolate addiction by eating more carbohydrates, at least on the working days when i am constantly surrounded by vending machines and staff canteens that serve only fried food. I cycle to work so loading up on carbs isn't such a bad thing and on my days off practice a more intermittent fasting pattern.

Yes, I never much fancied apples or bananas instead of chocolate either, memories of the dreaded fruit bowl in mum & dad's house with oversized, watery, unripe starchy flavourless oranges apples and bananas. In my adult life I shied away from the fruit I might enjoy, worrying about the calories and carbs therin. Then I actually looked up how many bananas, grapes, pineapples and peaches i'd need to eat to get the same calories as i was eating each day in chocolate... case closed. Pineapple and bananas are only 15% natural sugars, the rest is just water and fibre.

Most of those chocolate cravings I was having were actually caused by sugar crashes i think, i also used to hit the bonk on every workout, and be forced to stop because of it, and just assumed that's what happened to everyone. The problem with chocolate though, is that 50% of the calories in it are fat, and not the carbs that you actually need to fix your glycogen, so you'll always end up overeating that way.

I have tried using lower GI starchy carbs at meals, with more fibre and protein, but am hard pushed to notice the difference. Just spreading the food out into smaller meals through the day seemed to help more with highs and lows, as does controlling portion size, but none of these things seem to make as much difference at eliminating the dizzy spells as just eating enough carbohydrate in the first place.

Last week , I had a box of Cocoa Pops under my desk and would just grab a handful when i felt the cravings coming on. At home, on a fasting day i just micro-dose with pint mugs of weak coffee, with a spoon of sugar in each. Stops the world getting too hazy.

Like I say, what works for one person may not work for another. Some would say the best way to eliminate sugar crashes is to cut out all carbs and go full ketogenic, but it's not for me.

pastryboy

Try a high fruit diet for a couple of weeks - I eat 1kg+ of fruit a day and have never felt better. No bloating, no energy crashes, leanest I've ever been, better digestion, more resistant to colds, etc.

sloppyschleckonds

Nakd bars

drewesq

I'm the same as you; I am hungry all the time, fortunately because I eat okay I don't put on weight. I find that full fat Greek yogurt with mixed (unsalted) nuts are really good.

A typical day for me (not commuting):
Breakfast - 6am: 100g porridge with blue top milk
Snack - 9am: yogurt & nuts
Snack - 10am: banana
Lunch - 12 - 1pm: pasta dish or rice or BIG salad
Midafternoon: apple
Dinner: try not to eat too much at dinner, omelette or jacket potato

I recently started to have 2 meat free days a week and 2 fish only days a week. Typically have a carvery every Sunday

I ride about 150kms a week (more if I commute (21 miles each way)

apreading

I have the same problem - when I was younger I could eat a million calories every day and not put on weight, so I regularly did and as a result did not develop any kind of restraint in my psyche.

Once I hit 30+ yrs old all this changed and I went up to nearly 18 stone at the peak.

I find the key is to make sure you eat things that are filling - snacks dont generally sate your hunger, so you have a second snack then a third and so on until they are all gone... Eat some toast with just a little butter but not much else which is filling, or some salad which has virtually no calories and can be filling, or just look for food which is bulky so that even if it has some bad stuff, you only eat one then are full enough.

Then the other part of the key for me is sugar free chewing gum and cups of tea - those help with the habit side of things, and I can resist much this way.

lancew

6ft
80kg
27
20 mile round trip commute

So similar, but maybe with less control than yourself. I love a big meal and a snack, but when I'm going on a full eating drive I try to have a SIS recovery shake with some milk, it takes the edge off the hunger.

I have also started to have a handfull of grapes with my morning snack which also helps. I've done this in the past and it works well - 3 biscuits + 1 banana = happy medium.

That said I'm obviously quite heavy...

cycleclinic

I can't help here. On my way to shop I stop at cakes yes that what it's called and you can guess what they sell. I get to the shop and eat cake. I have ridden 20 or miles there though. I then eat lunch and then snack on more baked goods in the afternoon and then again in the evening after tea. The problem I find without all these carbs I just can't ride the miles I do. More pasta and rice even fruit just does not do it. I felt great last on last Sunday's ride, lasting 4 hours before having to eat anything and then all i had was a bannana. Why I had 5 pints the night before and felt fueled really fueled.

Today's food.
4 crumpets for breakfast 2 boilled eggs and a 4 rashers of bacon
2 big biscuits and an Eccles cake
2 cornish pasties
1 pack of biscuits
Wife's lovely curry
About 200g of pretzels
Feeling not hungry as I write this not any heavier though.

So eating healthy is fine but if you need cars eat them. Then again I am a stable 82kg 6ft1 and ride over 300 miles week. I would love to loose weight but I also love eating cake which one will win uh mm it's not even a contest.

ozzzyosborn206

I find a recovery shake makes a massive difference at weekends when i do a longer ride to how much i need to eat, maybe having one a day mid morning or with your lunch could the the game changer you are looking for?

Dodger747

Wonderful Pistachios.

An absolute lifesafer for me - come in 3 flavours so helps with the variety.

mzm70

...a bit of an odd one but try almond butter.

You'll either love it or hate it, if the former it becomes addictive, 3 or 4 teaspoons fills me me up for hours, add it to porridge or as a spread on bread or eat it raw like I do. It is very nutritious, Meridian is the one you'll see most but the Myprotein is just as good, the small pots are expensive, the 1kg on MP can be less than £10 during their (frequent) sales.

dstev55

One thing I have discovered that I enjoy snacking on are Aldi Foodie Market Fruit Bars. They come in a wide range of flavours and are great as a snack in-between meals and certainly give you a sweet fix.