Fruits!

- Fresh fruits

- Frozen fruits, homemade fruit popsicles, homemade fruit sorbets

- Baked or roasted fruits: pop a pear or an apple into the oven (or even the microwave) with a touch of cinnamon sprinkled over the top. When it’s finished add a small sprinkling of nuts to give the illusion of a pie crust. Or try roasting fruits like pineapple or grapefruit under your oven’s broiler for 3 to 4 minutes.

- I’d avoid dry fruits (unless you’re having an active day and need some extra energy). They’re healthy but they’re more calorie-dense: 

If you want something that looks like a cake or a cookie here are some suggestions from my blog: fitnesstreats.tumblr.com/tagged/healthy%20treats 

Or you can come up with your own recipes using these healthy recipe substitutions.

If you’re at the grocery store and want to buy a sweet snack [and you don’t want to eat fruit instead which you know you should because it would be a much better choice], all these cereal bars and snacks claiming they’re good for you on the package are okay as an occasional treat, but not as a dietary staple. 

Hi! Here are a few portable snacks around 200 calories that don’t need to be kept cold. Hard boiled eggs in their shells, raw celery and carrots can last a couple of hours unrefrigerated in a lunch box or a cooler.

- 1 apple + 23 almonds
227 kcal, 14 g fat, 23 g carbs, 6 g fiber, 14 g sugar, 6 g protein

- 3 celery stalks + 2 tbsp peanut butter
206 kcal, 16 g fat, 9 g carbs, 5 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 8 g protein

- 2 hard boiled eggs + 1 cucumber
199 kcal, 10 g fat, 13 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 14 g protein

- 3 apricots + 1 square (28 g) dark chocolate (85% cocoa)
219 kcal, 12 g fat, 25 g carbs, 6 g fiber, 16 g sugar, 2 g protein 

- 1 cup edamame + 1 cup cherry tomatoes
216 kcal, 8 g fat, 22 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 18 g protein

- 3 medium carrots + 2 pieces of string cheese
235 kcal, 12 g fat, 20 g carbs, 6 g fiber, 9 g sugar, 19 g protein

- 1 homemade no-bake chocolate/bean protein bar 
181 kcal, 11 g fat, 14 g carbs, 5 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 13 g protein

- 2 homemade sesame fig bars
220 kcal, 13 g fat, 17 g carbs, 6 g fiber, 8 g sugar, 9 g protein

- 5 homemade tuna chips
212 kcal, 1 g fat, 24 g carbs, 0 g sugar, 24 g protein 

- 5 homemade vegan soy flour cookies
200 kcal, 15 g fat, 14 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 10 g protein

- 1 homemade popcorn protein bar
182 kcal, 10 g fat, 7 g carbs, 2.5 g sugar, 16 g protein

Hi! Make sure you’re eating protein every 3 hours or so during your day. Don’t rely only on carbs (bread, cheerios) to fill you up. Carbs are great to give you the energy you need for your busy day but associating carbs with protein will help you stay full much longer. Ideas of foods that are rich in protein and easy to “grab & go”:
- cottage cheese
- fat free Greek yogurt
- tuna packs (in water)
- hard boiled eggs 

Try to complement or replace half of all the fruits you eat with pre-cut raw vegetables (carrots, radishes, cucumber) to avoid eating too much fruit sugar all day long.

Hi Juhi, it’s important for you to make the difference between: 
(1) when you’re hungry and you need a break and a real snack and
(2) when you’re stressed and you feel like you need something to chew on to release part of your stress. When I was a student I used to chew on pens a lot. Study stress made me feel like I needed to chew on something. It’s a bit like being a baby who needs a pacifier to calm himself down. It has nothing to do with hunger. 

Here are some tips:
- Keep low calorie vegetables, such as celery sticks or cucumber on hand. It’s very difficult to overeat them (ps: don’t dip them in anything ;). One large stalk (11”-12” long) of celery is 10 calories. Eating 100 calories of celery (10 stalks!) will take you a little while… 

- Chew gum and blow a bubble every 5 minute or so. It can help you relax :)  

- Try chewing sticks like licorice roots or sugar cane stalks to keep you busy masticating and release tension. You can find them in ethnic supermarkets. www.ehow.com/how_6404128_use-chew-sticks.html

- Drink herbal tea (chamomile, lavender) to calm yourself down and focus.