Wednesday, March 29, 2006

By Popular Request

Whatever Asian Mistress asks, I do.... well, maybe. ;-) When it comes to giving good at-work snacking advice, though, I can happily oblige!

I tend to work best with pre-packaged snack items, but I'll include some suggestions for snacks that might have a little more assembly required. My best options for at-work snacking:

- Granola bars. I keep a box of South Beach bars (3 points each) and/or Quaker Chewy Granola bars (2-3 points each depending on flavor) in my desk drawer.

- 100 Calorie Packs. These come in assorted varieties. My favorites are the Chips Ahoy, Oreo, and Nutter Butter varieties. Another coworker of mine tends to have the gummy fruit snack kinds. But it's a lightweight box with about 6 days' worth of snacking inside. They're all 2 points each.

- Fruit cups. I do buy those Dole Fruit Naturals things and usually keep 1-2 on hand in the work refrigerator. When you really want something sweet, it's nice to have a little cup of pineapple chunks to steer you away from getting real cookies or ice cream. These are usually 2-3 points.

- Yogurt cups. Ditto. Non-fat yogurt is 2 points.

- Clementines. When I remember to bring my big tote bag to the store, I try to pick up a box of Clementines. So tasty! And I give 'em just 1 point each.

- Yogurt-covered raisins. A pack of these things will last me forever, but it is nice to have them around for the occasional sweet tooth craving. They're 3 points per 1/4 cup serving. I sometimes also go for yogurt-covered peanuts.

Now, I did learn an important lesson this week. It's a *BAD IDEA* for me to keep a bag of sugar free mini chocolate candy in my desk. I bought a bag of the sugar-free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - available in the diabetic section in the drugstore - and I should not have. It's WAY too easy to pop a few of those into your mouth without even thinking about it. It's 4 points for 5 pieces, which does translate into about 1 point apiece. That sounds ideal, but trust me, it's VERY hard to stop at just 1 or 2 of those! Buyer beware. :-)

For a few more labor-intensive, but maybe more interesting, snack ideas (though I haven't figured out the points). Note, these will probably require Tupperware:

- Reduced fat wheat thins and hummus, or a little peanut butter.
- Veggie sticks with fat free ranch dip.
- Celery sticks with a little peanut butter and raisins. (Yay for bugs on a log!)
- Fresh fruit salad.

And, when all else fails, if you've got a microwave at work... you can bring in a box of the 94% fat-free microwave popcorn and have at it. A whole bag is only 4 points. And they even make those little snack size mini-bags, too! (Who are they kidding? A WHOLE bag is snack size for me!)

6 comments:

Asian Mistress said...

Aww you love me!! :)

Anonymous said...

The Dannon Lite n Fit 60 cal yogurts are 1 point - they changed the container size recently - it's fabulous!

Thanks for the tips!

Stef said...

AM: You know it! We should go out sometime soon...but the challenge will be to go somewhere that doesn't influence us to have lots and lots of point-heavy alcohol! But, that is all the fun...!

Anon: Thanks! I need to pick up those yogurt cups the next time I'm at the store!

GwenMarieDC said...

First of all, congrats on the 13! Keep truckin!

Second, the 94% popcorn I buy is 1 pt for the whole bag...and the Week 1 book says 5 cups (I think the bag claims to have 7 but it doesn't yes I measured) is only 1pt. DARLIN! You're overpaying for popcorn! Now you can have the bag of popcorn (though i've resigned myself to once a week) one sugar free candy, a sugar-free jello and a small apple. More for your points baby!

I find Special K bars are good, 2pts, as are the Special K bites, 2pts. I've started replacing 100 calorie pak snacks once a day with an additional piece of fruit - I'd rather eat the Nutter Buddy snacks but getting another bit of whole food really worked well for me last week.

52lbs! HEART

Smooches

Stef said...

PiP: First of all, you totally continue to rock!!! 52 pounds is amazing. Thanks for your tips.

But I do admit the 94% fat-free popcorn thing is something that continues to confuse me. I had been told the first time I did WW that one whole bag was 2 points, but then I recently heard different opinions on the boards that it's 4 points. So I actually have a box of the 94% fat free Kettle Korn in front of me and I'm doing the points calculation. According to the Nutritional Info, one bag = 13.5 cups popped corn.
1 cup popped = 15 cal
A serving size = 3 tbsp unpopped or 7 cups popped (1/2 a bag)

So, 1/2 a bag is 120 cal, 2.5 g fat, 7 g fiber. Which equals 2 points. By that math, a whole bag *would* be 4 points.

How do you get to just 1 point for a whole 13.5 cup bag? Is there some magical disclaimer for popcorn that I'm not aware of? Please enlighten me - I'd love for this to actually be 1 whole point a bag!!!

GwenMarieDC said...

Haha well that's what I've been counting it as for 5 months! I don't have any in front of me (rumor is if you make popcorn here the president FREAKS out). But have you measured how much popcorn comes out...it's not what they say...whether you should use the nutrition info anyway...I am going to check my box when I get home and come back to you. I SWEAR it equals out to a point :)