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I get the 3pm munchies despite eating a solid breakfast every morning (2 eggs in some format, usually scrambled), a mid morning snack (lately an apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter), lunch (today was stuffed green pepper and small salad). At 3 pm I ate a whole bunch of potato chips and now feel sick.

What are some healthy 3pm snacks that won't make me feel guilty, will get me through til dinner at 6-7pm, and AREN'T eggs since I eat them in the morning? I'm looking for higher protein, lower carb.

Nuts

String cheese sticks.

I do string cheese or meat and cheese typically. I don't usually snack at work, but today I was starving so I grabbed some sliced Italian hard salami and some sliced gouda to snack on. It was just much, just a few pieces, but it was so yummy.

Hummus and raw veggies.

I would also say that you need a more serious lunch with some protein, healthy fat + veg (not sure what your stuffed pepper contained). Nuts are your friend if you can tolerate them. I keep a stash in the office in case there is no way that I am getting away before 6:30.

I keep seaweed snacks and things like canned kippered herring and smoked oysters at my desk (luckily my co-workers don't complain). If I'm not hunger enough to eat that, then I'm probably bored, not hungry. And no harm if I eat the seaweed out of boredom. I've stopped keeping nuts at my desk because it's too easy to inhale hundreds of calories. I tend not to overeat raw almonds as much as say, roasted, salted mixed nuts. A cup of tea can also be good for staving off hunger or boredom disguised as hunger.

Green pepper was stuffed with beef, rice, and tomatoes. Today I won't be home til 6:30, dinner won't be til 7. I brought a snack pack of almonds and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese for the 3pm munchies.

Often a sandwich or salad, which, when I was working, I saved from my lunch because I knew I was going to get hungry mid afternoon. Don't know if the mid afternoon snacking was just habit or true hunger, but I still eat mid morning and mid afternoon.

I usually kept cookies in the freezer at work too, because when I think I'm hungry I can't think about anything else so I got more done if I just found something to eat so I could get back to work. Potato chips however, don't make me sick, and were available in the vending machines, so they were always an option if I couldn't put my hands on anything else. I think they go almost as well with coffee as cookies do.

I don't think of chips as all that unhealthy though, because it seems like potatoes and oil are a lot healthier than say, chocolate chip cookies. Back when I was eating a lot more cookies I did try to keep oatmeal ones made with nuts and oil available, because it seemed like they'd be healthier than the buttery chocolate chips ones.

Are you sure you aren't thirsty rather than hungry?

I drink water all day. Not thirsty.

protein and health fat (1-2 TBS) at each meal will keep the hunger pains away. My guess, you're not getting enough healthy fat, coconut oil, olive oil, avacado, nuts etc. Try making your salad at lunch a bit larger with added healthy fat and protein.

Protein should be palm size, 1/2 inch thick but you must have fat with it to keep hunger away. You will lose wt eating healthy fats.

IMHO - I think what your eating is a lot of food before 3pm, that may be why you get hungry at 3.

What time do you eat breakfast? Maybe add some spinach and cheese to your eggs for more fiber and protein and then you could skip your early snack (apple & peanut butter). The natural sugar in the apple could be causing you to get hungry - even tho theres lots of fiber in the apple.

At lunch - the stuffed pepper sounds yummy - but the rice could have made you hungry by 3 .

I usually have oatmeal with some Chia seeds for breakfast - then a big lunch - no dinner - but a very unhealthy snack (ice cream or cookies) at 9 or so when I get home from the barn. Sometimes, I'll eat 1/2 my lunch - then save the rest for my dinner.

A healthy low carb snack to me doesn't exist! LOL...I think the more I eat during the day - the hungrier I am later in the day. Or if I start my day with sugar - I'm starved all day. On the week-ends I usually have my coffee, then by 10 am , I have a couple of glasses of Bloody Mary mix (no vodka in it) then only eat dinner.

I'd guess hummus on veggies would be a good snack. Lots of protein....

I eat breakfast between 7 and 8 am, then my snack around 10 (today it's Siggi's whole milk yogurt--YUM--5 g fat and 10 g protein), lunch between 11:30 and 12:30. Yesterday I had my cheese around 3 and was not hungry even after doing 1.5 hours of yoga (sweat dripping on the floor) and getting home at 6:30. I find that eating more protein helps ward off the munchies.

Hayburner wrote:IMHO - I think what your eating is a lot of food before 3pm, that may be why you get hungry at 3.

What time do you eat breakfast? Maybe add some spinach and cheese to your eggs for more fiber and protein and then you could skip your early snack (apple & peanut butter). The natural sugar in the apple could be causing you to get hungry - even tho theres lots of fiber in the apple.

At lunch - the stuffed pepper sounds yummy - but the rice could have made you hungry by 3 .

I usually have oatmeal with some Chia seeds for breakfast - then a big lunch - no dinner - but a very unhealthy snack (ice cream or cookies) at 9 or so when I get home from the barn. Sometimes, I'll eat 1/2 my lunch - then save the rest for my dinner.

A healthy low carb snack to me doesn't exist! LOL...I think the more I eat during the day - the hungrier I am later in the day. Or if I start my day with sugar - I'm starved all day. On the week-ends I usually have my coffee, then by 10 am , I have a couple of glasses of Bloody Mary mix (no vodka in it) then only eat dinner.

I'd guess hummus on veggies would be a good snack. Lots of protein....

Yep, I think it takes some experimentation, and your body adapts to different schedules as well. Sometimes I'll just do a bulletproof coffee with an egg blended in (sounds weird, tastes like a latte), and then not eat any solid food until about 1 pm, have a solid lunch, then I'm not hungry until dinner. Or on weekends, just eat a big breakfast at 10 or 11, maybe a Lara Bar or handful of nuts around 2 if I've been doing physical work, then eat dinner around 7. It is freeing only eating two formal meals a day. Today it's almost 10 and I've had coffee with a small amount of butter, and will have my yogurt in a bit. If I eat earlier in the morning, I'm going to be just as hungry, and end up eating more total for the day. It might seem counter-intuitive, but see how you feel skipping your breakfast and then eating more in the 11-2 lunch window, and then not eating any snacks before dinner.

Apropos of NOT YOUR SITUATION, I make a huge cole slaw salad with only about 1/3rd the dressing one would normally use (or with just olive oil dressing). I eat that whenever I'm "hungry" which, for me and my activities, usually means bored. If I don't want to eat cole slaw, then I'm not really hungry, I'm just being habitual.

Straightforward - Many week-ends if I'm out the door, like 10 am and running errands, I don't eat till 3 or so and that meal is my breakfast, lunch and dinner all rolled into one.

I like eating this way....I don't even get headache's - though now and then I get a bit shaky! LOL Then I know, it's time to eat..

Now if I had a SO - I doubt they'd let me get away with this...no wonder I like being single! LOL

Hayburner wrote:I like eating this way....I don't even get headache's - though now and then I get a bit shaky! LOL Then I know, it's time to eat..

I get shaky sometimes about an hour after I've had a coffee with milk and sugar, two pieces of toast with butter and ham salad, and walked for about 10 minutes. Not sure what's going on, but probably the coffee and sugar, because some mornings I get shaky and others I don't even though I eat pretty much the same thing every morning.

Now if I had a SO - I doubt they'd let me get away with this...no wonder I like being single! LOL

Just pick someone who is fine with coexisting without having to do every single thing together all the time.

Like others have stated, I would add more protein. Can you add some liquid egg whites in at breakfast. Cook the eggs in coconut oil as well. I used to compete (bodybuilding) and I was known (still am actually) to walk around with a Ziploc bag of about 4-6 oz of grilled chicken or steak bites and snack on them in the afternoon. Call me weird, lol, but it worked!

Can you eat Quest bars? Or a protein bar of any type. They help as well.

Another vote for protein. I don't regularly snack in the afternoon, but if I'm hungry when I get home (usually 4-4.30 pm), a chunk of cheese or salami/ham/leftover cooked chicken (etc) usually does the trick until dinner. Especially if I'm heading out to ride or trim a horse or something, where I know I will be expending energy.

My "normal" food day consists of one piece of grain toast with peanut butter, a small handful of nuts and/or piece of fruit around 10am, a lunch of leftover dinner (usually meat with a starch like rice, potatoes, pasta and veges - about half as much as I'd eat for dinner), maybe a snack around 4pm ish, then dinner around 6-7pm.