It's now 2:30-3PM, your lunch did not work past 3 hrs. So what is your go to snack to hold over until the next regular meal?

This time and about an hour before I go to sleep are my weakness moments where I want to devour anything...

I was just wondering what others do.

If hunger comes early, I just eat my snack early. And drink water or something like decaf coffee or tea.

It can be a problem because I usually bring my lunch and a snack with me to work, but if I am going to need another snack, then I am certainly not prepared for that. So, this is where the "emergency" snacks come in handy, like having a zone bar handy, or something like that. If you don't have zone bars available, it is sometimes easier to grab a string cheese stick and a piece of fruit.

Snacks that I like to have:
-Tomato chopped up, drizzled in balsamic vingegar/EVOO, topped with fat free feta cheese
-blueberries with cottage cheese and sliced almonds (I start with frozen berries in the morning, they are all thawed out by snack time)
-hard boiled eggs, halved, scoop out yolks and replace with hummus (hummus deviled eggs) this is actually quite satisfying
-grapes (or any favorable fruit serving)/string cheese, might also choose cut up carrots/other veggie in place of the fruit
-deli sliced meat, spread hummus and roll them up

I work from home, so my Go To Snack for between Lunch and Dinner varies.
If I were going to an office?
Possibly I'd keep a few Zone bars available in my desk and have 1/2 of one.
Or, seeing my results with the Zone cereal,
I'd keep it in my desk drawer, sans the box for space, and grab the equivalent of 1 block and eat as granola like, dry.
Or, since I pack a lunch the few times I do go into the office to work with another remote colleague or to
use the network for faster uploads and downloads of huge files we use or need to collaborate on,
I'd also pack a snack with my lunch.
So when I do, I usually grab a clementine orange (about 100 grams, skinned, 1 block Carb).
And also bring a slice of good cheese with me, 1 oz, 1 block P (and some fat).
and add some additional almonds that I also bring for lunch to have with the snack.
No need to refrigerate, the cheese and clementine last without.
Or if you want, in summer, add a freezer pack.
Those 50 cent ones at K-Mart, WalMart, Target, grocery stores.

John, looks like we are posting at the same time again!

Those are great ideas. thank you for responding.

>> As a follow-up, you don't have the ready made "snack" you only have a 7-11, WAWA, Quick Chek or other convenience store. What do you go for?

If they have fruit, as some do, then a small piece of fruit, like a small apple and a cheese stick.
Not the best fat, but you will get protein and good carbs and enough fat.
OR
failing any fruit, sometimes they have as a last resort, protein bars,
BUT they will probably have the least fav carbs,
AND read the labels carefully to fins one that at least is balanced the best,
and has the least unfavorable ingredients.
Some times a drug store is a better bet.
They might have fruit where a 7-11 does not.
.
On one business trip, before the ZONEFAST Foods which are now discontinued,
Only food choices were high end expensive, or low end fastfood garbage.
I was within walking distance, a few blocks of both convenience stores and a drug store.
So I got a refrigerator in my room and did the best I could loading up with fruit, nuts and one had some hard-boiled eggs.
Try finding unsalted nuts in 7-11, etc - but drug store had more choices.
Now, on that same trip, every year, I spend money for a cab, and now that Co. does per diem instead of per meal,
I go to grocery store. Another option if a Grocery mart is nearby, instead.
Also, another possibility if you can find plain and low-fat, is yogurt.

Kevin,

We have "Kwik Trip" common around here. It is a gas station convenience store, and they sell a few good zone options, like fresh fruit, boiled eggs, single serving bags of baby carrots, string cheese sticks.

Many convenience stores have bars, but like John suggested, you really have to look at the labels to find something that is at least balanced. Balance Bars, Zone Perfect are examples of "balanced" bars, but not the greatest of ingredients. IMO, they do fine in a pinch (we are not perfect and sometimes this is "good enough").

The drug store idea is a good one, you can find a Walgreens around pretty easily, and you might find a better selection of bars to choose from (you just won't find the official zone bar). I don't recall ever seeing fresh fruit in there, though.

I'd get plain yogurt and some peanuts or almonds. Another quick and easy one is string cheese with 1/2 an apple, or an unsweetened applesauce cup.

I like the yogurt idea, however, I have never seen single serving sizes of plain yogurt. Now, a tub of it is easy to find, but I would not personally buy it just for one snack, unless I was like John with a refrigerator in my motel room.

Applesauce is another good idea, but again they don't sell that way, so you'd have to buy the entire package and then just eat one. The bonus is that you can keep those extra single servings just about anywhere.

Maybe depends on the part of the contry you live in. I've seen them both in the gas station convenience stores around here, plus single oranges, apples and bananas, also small packets of almonds and packets of peanuts.

Yes, perhaps. I have seen the flavored yogurts sold individually, but never the plain yogurt.

Also, regarding nuts, the packet has to be very small, otherwise there is more dividing required. I have only rarely seen a packet of nuts that I didn't have to ration out.

Fruit sold singly seems to be very popular around here-apples, bananas, oranges. One store also sells individual containers of berries, like strawberries and blueberries.

I went with the plain Greek yogurt, with fresh blueberries I put in myself with almond.

We will see how that helps with the satiety. The feedback here is a real help.

Thank you to everyone who responded.

Kevin, I was stuck without a snack this morning and ended up eating almost the same thing. I picked up a small Chobani (sp?) honey flavor Greek Yogurt and got some almonds to go with it at Walgreen's. It made a 2 block snack. That specific flavor of that brand of yogurt is Zone balanced, just missing the fat (15 g protein 20g carbohydrates, 0g fat). The the only added carbohydrate is honey. Honey's not the best choice of carbohydrate, but considering that Greek yogurt is almost Zone balanced on it's own, only missing a little bit of carbohydrate, you can figure the amount of honey added is minimal.

Actually, by itself, Greek Yogurt is not zone balanced by itself. Plain yogurt is much closer to Zone ratios. Most Greek Yogurts have similar nutrient make-up of cottage cheese (perhaps just a bit more carb). I looked at several brands of greek yogurt and found, in most cases, there is about 1/2 as mang grams of carbs as there is grams of fat for each serving.

So, if one eats a FLAVORED greek yogurt and finds that the carb is significantly higher, one must be wondering where the added carbs are coming from? One needs to pay close attention to the food label so one is aware of what is making up the carbs, because that sounds like a LOT of carb coming from an unfavorable source!

Kevin did a good thing by choosing a plain greek yogurt and adding his own fruit and nuts to it--this is a much better way of balancing it out and creating a Zone-favorable snack.

It worked great for me and I'm very carbohydrate sensitive. :D

Sue, I don't doubt that at all!

I felt that it was important for others to know that there is a mile of difference between flavored greek yogurt and plain greek yogurt. In all honesty, the flavored greek yogurt would not work for me at all, and I am also very carb sensitive. :-)

I can't stay in the Zone with the typical purchased flavored yogurts, but the Chobani flavored Greek yogurts are very different in P/C. For example, a small container of Yoplait Blackberry Harvest regular yogurt contains 5g protein and 33g carbohydrate (basically 1/2-3/4 P to almost 3.5 C blocks), which is way outside of acceptable Zone paramaters for P/C. The slightly larger container of Chobani honey flavor Greek yogurt I ate today for my 2 block snack had an excellent P/C ratio (containing 15g P and 20g C) in spite of the small amount of added honey. That's why I was able to stay in the Zone with it even though I can't with the typical flavored yogurt. It's a good alternative from me in a pinch, with some nuts added, when I'm caught without snack.

I am glad that it worked for you! As I said, I was pointing this out for others, as what works for some may not work for others.
I can't really say that it was a small amount of honey that was added, but the numbers suggest to me that it was an entire block's worth of honey that was added (but that is just speculation and not a known fact).


CHEERS!

To clarify, Labels must list Fiber and sugars in Carbs count;
however, the remaining unaccounted for Carbs are starches.
.
I have not looked at the Chobani Honey flavored label;
however, I would bet as Sue stated, and no reason to doubt,
that compared with the same Chobani plain, no honey,
that little additional Carbs are from sugars (the "Honey" flavor).
So, for Sue, who is also Carb sensitive, I imagine it would hold a lot of folks.
And when you are stuck, it is a very good choice, when choices are very limited.
Good to know, should I find myself short, as well. Good info and suggestion on the Chobani Honey flavored yogurt.
In a pinch, more real food than in a bar, if available. Good call, Sue.

Well, I was at the store and was tempted to purchase a chobani honey yogurt, just to see what it would do for me.

Decided not to, but did some comparing.

I had a plain one in one hand and the honey in the other and compared labels, both 6 oz. servings
The plain had 18g protein and 7g carb
The honey had 16g protein and 20g carb.

So, by adding honey, one whole carb block was added while some of the protein disappeared.

Seems like a reasonable assumption that the whole block of carb is from honey, which is an unfavorable carb.

Guess we do have to put it in perspective, this thread is about choosing the best thing that you can in a pinch, and so in terms of that, I would say that it is probably better than some of the other flavored yogurts out there, or bars, etc.

Also keep in mind that this is 2 blocks, and not just 1. So, for me personally, l would have to limit myself to eating just half of it for a snack.

No matter how I go, it is better than a soft Philly pretzel. I love those, but the don't love me. LoL.

Well, that is definitely true! I love those things, too. I think they love me so much that they want to stick around me for a long time! LOL

Ditto! I grew up in Trenton, NJ, 25 mi from Philly and 50 mi from NY, NY.
Talk about your good food, I mean bad food! CheeseSteak hoggies, Italian Pizza, Pretzels, Real fresh baked bagels, etc.
Almost a good thing we are now in NH!

There is Five Guys Burgers in Ewing. Scotch Rd. Torture. The have great fries and enough to feed three, or 20 zoners. LoL.
and Now they put one in less than 10 minutes away.

"Stay focused" I remind myself.

Kevin, stick with the peanuts at Five Guys, and shell them vereeeery slowly. :D

Just thought I would mention that I got myself "stuck" in a situation where I was unprepared and needed a snack. Stopped at a gas station convenience store in a "hick" town (really nothing much to it). Was happy to find that they DID have chobani. Only 2 flavors, strawberry and blueberry. DH got a pack of nuts, and I got the yogurt and "borrowed" some nuts (well, not like I am gonna give them back LOL). Chobani was delicious, and would say that it worked for a bit, but not really long-lasting satiety. Since it was 2 blocks, I had hoped to get 2-3 hours of satiety from it, but sad to say it didn't last.

Well, it did save me from purchasing a bar (they had the special k protein bars), so I guess some nutritional content.