The Cookie Diet is actually a dieting aid created by Dr. Sanford Siegal.  For more than 30 years, he has given his patients a special type of cookie that not only suppresses appetite, but will lower your chances of cheating on your diet. 

For those that are on a wide variety of diets, the Cookie Diet can help by eating specially developed cookies to suppress your appetite.  These cookies come in a few varieties including:

Chocolate
Oatmeal Raisin
Blueberry
Coconut
Banana

Many dieters find the taste of the cookie satisfying- while not the best tasting cookie in the world, these dieting aids are more than edible for those looking to suppress their appetite.  It should be noted that these cookies can be some of the most expensive cookies you’ll ever purchased.  Prices generally are around $50 to $60 for 42 cookies (a week’s supply).  However, for those having problems sticking to their diet, a few cookies can be more than helpful.

Pros of the Cookie Diet

The cookies appear to satisfy the dieters need to cheat.  This helps people stick with their diets a bit longer.

Cons of the Cookie Diet

It should be noted that the Cookie Diet is not a diet plan in and of itself.  It merely is a dieting aid which helps dieters stay on their specific diet by suppressing appetite and giving dieters a better alternative to snack.  The one major downside of this aid is that the cookies are considered to be expensive which can cost more than $200 per month if you eat 6 per day.  As always, when starting any diet, consult with your physician first.

Besides caloric intake, snacks are usually full of salt, sugar, high fat and other additives that are not usually helpful in a normal diet. One of the ways that you can lose weight and ensure you are avoiding many potentially harmful additives is with healthy snacking.

Foods Great for Healthy Snacking

If you love to snack, you will be happy to know that you don’t have to rely on chips, candy bars or soda to fill your needs. There are plenty of healthy foods that you can consume to create a healthy snacking habit. Some of them include:

Fruits and Vegetables

Apples, oranges, bananas, carrot sticks, celery sticks, etc. These foods are not only good for your body, but extremely portable so that you can easily put them in a bag and take them to work the game or consume them when you do leisure activities.

Cereals & Nuts
Granola bars, trail mix, nut mixes, dried fruit with nuts, etc are also a great snack that is not only healthy, but fun to eat. Substitute these snack when you watch TV and you will probably not even notice the difference.

Delicious Concoctions
If you love snacks such as sundaes, cakes and other sweet items, here are a list of healthy snacking ideas perfect for any sweet tooth. Fruit Smoothies- a health snack made with low fat milk or yogurt with fresh fruits added Yogurt Parfait- creates a delicious sundae using yogurt, fresh fruit and granola or nuts.

Healthy snacking is extremely easy to do and because you are cutting down on calories, salt and lots of unnecessary processed sugar, you will receive a healthy kick of energy as well.

For more information on healthy snacking please visit: Fruit Nutrition Facts

What are Energy Bars made from?

While there are many energy bars on the market, most are made using complex and simple carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are sugar that can give a person energy. A complex carbohydrate can take time to break down in your system and can be useful for stamina. If you need a short spurt of energy, simple carbohydrates can be burned by your body simply, easily and in a short period of time.

While carbohydrates make up a substantial amount of an energy bar other types of nutrients can also be found in them including: protein (usually made from whey, soy or casein) and fiber. In fact, many energy bars are now adding fiber to make their energy bars more satisfying. Fiber can also help when an individual needs energy not in one short spike, but over a long period of time due to the fact that it takes a relatively long period of time for the body to breakdown carbs within fiber.

Choosing the Right Energy Bar

While energy bars are packaged to look similar to candy bars, they usually include extensive nutritional information. Definitely look at the nutritional info on the packaging to determine if a specific energy bar is right for you. Some of the more popular energy bars on the market include brands such as Power Bar, Balance Bar and Clif Bar. It should also be noted that energy bars are pretty simple to make on your own and if you don’t find an energy bar that fits your specific requirements or would like to save money then making your own energy bar is simple to do.

Fruit Smoothies

Fruit smoothies not only taste good, but they are good for you. Whether you are looking to lose a few pounds or maintain a set weight a fruit smoothie can be a great breakfast treat. Some of the ingredients that can be included in a fruit smoothie are:

• Milk (low fat, soy, etc)
• Yoghurt
• strawberries, black berries, blueberries
• Banana, pineapple, apple, orange, grapefruit
• Granola, muesli
• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, etc)

Using a blender, pour in about 1/2 cup of milk or yogurt, add fresh fruits of your choice, then add nuts granola, etc. Mix on medium for a minute or two and then whip it for a frothier blend.

Fruit smoothies are the perfect drink for a snack or breakfast. They are great for children as well as adults and are easy to make and transport- making them perfect to bring to work.

Protein Diet Shakes

For those looking to increase their intake of protein or if you are on a special diet that requires a higher protein intake, a great way to receive this nutrient is with a protein diet shake. Protein diet shakes are incredibly easy to make, they usually require some protein powder, a liquid such as milk or water and a blender.

Since all diets and diet products are different, check the instructions for making your protein diet shake. Usually, you will need to add a few spoonfuls of protein powder to a liquid such as milk and then simply blend. While some protein drinks are made for consumption once a day, others can require consumption rates of 2 to 3 times per day.