Friday, July 17, 2009

Snack Time

I hit a milestone today on my weigh in! I lost 1 more pound to make it 30 pounds lost since January! To celebrate, today I will share my favorite snacks with you and maybe throw in a few comparisons! And yes, you will notice chocolate in most of them. I'm a chocoholic!

The Surprising Snack - When I started out last year, I thought I'd go all out and buy everything healthy, low cal, low fat, multi-grain, etc and so forth. I slowly found that a lot of that stuff went to waste, wasn't near as good, or better yet, the original just as good for you! One of the low cal things I picked up was the 100 calorie pack Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes. I have to admit that these are very tasty and very close in taste to the original. A serving is 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber. For all the points counting people, you plug that into your calculators and you get 1 point per pack! You get 3 little cakes, which I think is a perfect size to satisfy that chocolate craving. And honestly, the cakes aren't too little, so you don't feel like your getting jipped! There really is no comparison to the similar snack, Weight Watcher Chocolate Cake, for the same amount of points. They are very small, dry, funky tasting, and expensive!

The Salty Snack - I'm not always in the mood for chocolate or sweets. If I want a low calorie/point snack, I usually look to popcorn. There are the 100 calorie bags of popcorn, Pop Secret 100 calorie packs. And yes, the whole bag is 100 calories or 2 points. The only flaw I have found with them, at least at my house, is they burn way too easy in the microwave. I have yet to have a bag that not even a little was burned. It wasn't cooking error on myself, because I'd watch that stuff like a hawk, but no matter when I took it out, it seemed a bit was burnt, even if the whole bag wasn't popped! Instead, I found Act II Butter Popcorn to be a better alternative. You can eat the entire bag of that for 2 points (90 calories, 6 fat, and 1.5 fiber), and that bag is much bigger than the 100 calorie bag! And if you do want a bit of sweet with your popcorn, Act II Kettle Corn gives you that hint of sweet and salt for just 2 points as well (75 calories, 3.75 fat, and 0 fiber).

The Candy - In yesterday's entry, I told you that a Snickers bar is 7 points. Just about all candy bars are the same. Kit Kat bar is 5 points, Twix bar is 7 points, even one Reese's Peanut Butter Egg from Easter is 4 points. Fun size and Mini size aren't much better, 2 points for most, occasionally 1. But is that little mini enough to satisfy the candy craving. For me no, I find I just want to go back for more, then the calories and points add up fast. One day, I was in dire need of some chocolate, scrounging around my kitchen for something of substantial chocolate. In the fridge I had found some Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars leftover from a recent bonfire we had had (S'mores). I looked at the nutrition facts and 1 whole bar was 210 calories, 13 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fiber, 5 points, not too bad. On that particular day, I couldn't afford 5 points on a whole bar, but I did need something. I did a little math and found out if you break the bar into quarters, 3 squares of chocolate is only 1 point, 53 calories, 3 grams of fat and 0 grams of fiber. This is where the will power and self control come in. For me, the 3 squares is enough for me to savor, enjoy, and get my chocolate fix. You just have to remember to take small bites and enjoy the flavor of it, don't just wolf it down. (More on this topic at a later time!)

The Grand Dessert - On days that I try to have higher calories, if I have a lot of points left over, or if I just need to indulge in something good, I found something that really does the trick. Betty Crockers Warm Delight Mini Bowls are an amazing snack for only 150 calories each. My favorite is the Molten Chocolate, only 3 points for 1 bowl, but they also have Molten Caramel and Chocolate Raspberry Decadence. It does require just a tiny bit of work to make, adding water, mixing, squeezing on the chocolate, caramel, or raspberry, and microwaving for 30 seconds. To me, that is worth the warm, gooey, goodness. And if you really want a treat, a quarter cup of Vanilla Ice Cream on top help make it seem like a fancy dessert and not a lower calorie snack. I use Prairie Farm Vanilla Ice Cream, my favorite and shameless advertising of the place we haul our milk to, for only 2 points a quarter cup. If you want the full half cup, it's only 3 points, 130 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 0 grams of fiber. I find for the mini bowl, a quarter cup is plenty. Most vanilla ice creams have similar nutrition info. Of course, if you use Low Fat Vanilla Ice Cream, you'll find you can have more or use less points with the lower fat and calorie content!

The New Find - At my recent trip to the grocery story, they finally had 100 calorie pack Oreo Cakesters. I've been waiting to try these just to see if their as good as they look. I had one pack last night and I wasn't disappointed. They are about the same size as the 100 calorie Hostess Cupcakes, and like them, there are 3 in a pack. Granted, I want to try a few more packs before I determine if this is a permanent fixture on my list, but it is very promising. Especially at only 2 points a pack, 100 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fiber.

I hope these gave you some food for thought. I recommend you pick any or all of these up on your next grocery trip, you won't be disappointed. Happy snacking to everyone!

1 comment:

  1. I love those hostess chocolate cupcakes. I have to hide them from the kids. I'll have to look for those oreo cakesters the next time I go shopping.

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