Snacks....

I eat whatever I want pretty much, considering prednisone is the only time when people actually tell me that I'm not crazy skinny. Raw fruits and veggies never did anyone any harm so I would say yes it's safe.

Really hard to be low-cal and low-residue.
How about deviled eggs. Rice pudding. Carrot muffins (I do gluten-free). Tuna salad.

Can you take a walk or exercise instead of snacking? Distract yourself.

Okay- any recommendations on fruits? Are they better choices? I'm thinking grapes to start. Or berries?
I guess it's going to just be a trial and error, but I'm scared lol!!

I can't do grapes or any berry. The skin on the grapes and the seeds in berries does me in. I eat bananas and pears. Peeled of course.

I bought rice cakes today and so far I have been okay with those.
Bummer about the citrus and berries :-( two of my favs!
I also got a huge butternut squash I will roast in the morning and add a little butter and cinnamon to, that's probably safer and I can work on it all day tomorrow.

Plums, kind of out of season now though. Purple fruits and veges are said to have anti-inflammatory properties. That's my excuse for the huge amount of plums I eat when they are in season - and they have never given me any problems.

Just posted this on another thread here:

I like smoked salmon, peanut butter with pretzels, hard boiled eggs, or mixed nuts. The reason for these choices is high protein content satisfies the appetite. These items are also fairly low residue (low fiber) and easy to digest. I've been having trouble keeping on weight this year, so I'm trying to max out the protein intake every day.

Another good choice is anything made out of rice. Rice is easy to digest. It's not as high in protein though. I like cream of rice, but I have anything from rice krispy treats to rice noodles to rice chex. Home made sushi rolls are a nice change of pace and filling. You can find different kinds of rice crackers in the bulk section at Winco. That's a nice way to buy a small amount of different things, so you can switch your snacks around for variety.

I just got out of the hospital from a flare. While in there they basically gave me rice and meat and told me to eat as much as possible.

Instead of fruit, I use fruit juice with no sugar added and no pulp (fiber). You get all of the vitamins without the irritating fiber. I like the "honest kids" organic juice from Costco.

For the munchies, sometimes I have skittles and drink water to fill my tummy and hydrate, but I like the rice cakes idea too!

Thanks for your reply zoolander- I eat a lot of what you have mentioned, rice, Rice Krispies, sushi rolls, etc.
My problem is the snack type stuff...some thing easy to eat that isn't insanely high in calories. I annihilated a couple bags of chex mix and was like crap! I can't do this every couple of days I'm going to be 300lbs! Lol...
Cinnamon I believe has some antinflammatory properties as well, so it's a bummer it bothers you. I had it on French toast last night, and in a sweet potato the other day and it seemed to be okay!

I honestly haven't tried any cooked fruit- I will start there like you suggest. Cooked veggies and I get a long well- so I have been eating tons of those. I eat chicken, Ground hamburger, ground turkey, and fish as protein sources and done well- I'm not a big but butter fan and unfortunately they aren't really that high in protein they are more of a fat source. 200 cals 2tablespoons and 7grams protein- for 200cals of chicken or turkey you get almost 45g protein.
It's kind of like saying oatmeal is a protein source- you get the same amount of protein for around 200cals, maybe a little more!

I had read nuts and nut butters were not good though- so a least I know I can cook with them now! I will try that too.
I have some recipes for protein muffins and things like that with almond flour! Maybe I will try those!

Thanks for that reminder Judy. I've been pretty good at monitoring that, I lost about 22lbs with my flare. I've gained 2-3 of those pounds back....but, my appetite keeps increasing, mostly because I feel better in combo with the prednisone, so I know with how I'm eating now I will add those 22lbs back in no time if I can't get the calorie intake under control!
The water I'm not *as* worried about, as I know once I'm off the prednisone it will go away- excess fat from too much eating isn't as simple!
My cheeks are slightly more puffy, but other than that I'm not retaining horribly -yet-...
I still have weeks of weaning to go and a colonoscopy next week....

OMG! How do you manage not to consume the whole thing of Nutella!? Lol

I gotta check out these pop chips!

I almost forgot! Roasted chick peas! This might help big time! Hopefully the fiber doesn't bother me...but they are cooked, so we might be safe!!