Snacks

So far, so good on my eating healthy challenge- I went to Coborns and bought a BUNCH of salad stuff and other fruits and veggies, some cottage cheese, eggs, and just stuff I can make for healthy meals. I've been trying to stay right around 1,800 calories for the day, which might not seem like a small number, but compared to what I'd been eating without really realizing it, it's a pretty big drop. I've been entering my meals on myfitnesspal.com (you can check it all out here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/NicolleLindgren) and just looking really closely at the nutritional facts of everything I put in my body.

I had NO idea how small the portion sizes of some of the things I'd been eating were. I JUST went grocery shopping last weekend and got a bunch of snacky stuff, but I only got one bag of chips and the rest of if was crackers- which I thought were a better choice. Turns out, the Ritz Roasted Vegetable crackers (which I thought were a healthy pick) had a serving size of only *5* crackers! Uhh.. pretty sure I could eat like half a tube.

Right now, I'm going to portion out a serving size of every snack food I have in my house and see how big it is and what the nutritional content is.

Ritz Roasted Vegetable Crackers.

Serving Size: 5 crackers
Calories: 80 (35 from fat)
Fat: 3.5g
Sodium 150mg
Total Carbohydrates: 10g

 Wheat Thins

Serving Size: 16 crackers
Calories: 140 (45 from fat)
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 230mg
Total Carbohydrates: 22g

 Cheez-its

Serving Size: 29 crackers
Calories: 140 (45 from fat)
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 180mg
Total Carbohydrates: 20g

 Chester's Puffcorn

Serving Size: 46 puffs
Calories: 160 (100 from fat)
Fat: 11g
Sodium: 290mg
Total Carbohydrates: 14g

 Doritos Nacho Cheese

Serving Size: 11 chips
Calories: 140 (70 from fat)
Fat: 8g
Sodium: 210mg
Total Carbohydrates: 16g

 Spiderman Graham Bites

Serving Size: 1 pouch - 8 pieces
Calories: 130 (35 from fat)
Fat: 4g
Sodium: 115mg
Total Carbohydrates: 21g

 Little Debbie Little Chocolate Chip Muffins

Serving Size: 1 pouch- 4 muffins
Calories: 190 (80 from fat)
Fat: 9g
Sodium: 150mg
Total Carbohydrates: 26g

 Spongebob Fruit Snacks

Serving Size: 1 pouch - 7 fruit snacks
Calories: 80 (0 from fat)
Fat: 0g
Sodium: 30mg
Total Carbohydrates: 19g

Musselman's Applesauce

Serving Size: 4oz
Calories: 90 (0 from fat)
Fat: 0g
Sodium: 10mg
Total Carbohydrates: 20g



All in all, definitely smaller portion sizes than I'd usually eat for a lot of them- the bowl in the picture is pretty small, I'd say that about a cup and a half of liquid would fill it up. I was also surprised that I could eat that much Puffcorn for one serving- pretty exciting for me, since I tend to crave something crunchy/salty/cheesy when I'm trying to eat healthy.

Obvioulsy, none of these choices are the best options- I could pick fruit or veggies if I wanted to be really healthy. BUT, the only way this whole weightloss thing is going to work is if I don't hate everything I eat, so I'm just going to use them as rewards for the work I'm putting in here and there :) Just knowing what a proper serving is and what that serving holds calorie-wise will really help me stay on track and make better decisions!

Later (tomorrow, maybe), I'll make another post with some really healthy snacks/recipes I've tried recently. Stay tuned!