Fizzy water. When you feel like a snack, drink some carbonated water. I found a lot of time I wanted water and flavor more than the food.

And high fiber/bran stuff fills you up. Get stuff made of whole grains like popcorn, whole wheat (or real corn) tortillas, fruits with peels on, and the like.

Blueberries freeze really well, spread em on a baking sheet so they stay separate before you bag them. Muffins are pretty easy to bake at home and with a little practice you can make a whole wheat muffin with sunflower seeds fucking tasty.

The pain in the ass is that healthy ingredients go bad much faster. Whole wheat flour goes stale in a hurry compared to AP flour.

One thing that worked for me was fasting. It is far easier for me to skip a meal than to eat in moderation. I figure I want to eat a 2000 calorie meal every time i sit down, maybe that’s a sign I should only do it once a day, very much ymmv on that one, but I lost 50# in a year just … eating until I was full, but only once a day.

As a nice side bonus, your bathroom schedule also becomes very predictable, which is handy for scheduling,

Sometimes I just go to town on an entire container of cherry tomatoes

Im right here with you, I’ve recently been replacing all the candy snacks I have with various rustic snacks. I’ll have like, 6 cheese curds and salami slices, 3 dates instead of my peanut butter cups, I 've been really into Japanese style peanuts, peacans just on their own.

When it comes to quick and not unhealthy meals, I found out I can make cheese rice in my rice cooker. Follow the usual rice cooker instructions, just add a cup of shredded cheddar, a tbsp of butter, garlic, salt, pepper, and if you want it extra rich replace 1/3 of the water with milk.

If you’re air frying any veg, I highly suggest mixing your seasoning in a little oil and vinegar, then tossing the veg in it. That half assed vinegarette feels really fancy and if helps get an even coating of seasoning. Balsamic brings sweetness, all the others bring sour. You can even make it in bulk, put it in the fridge, and if keeps basically forever.

If you do ramen a lot, toss some frozen veg mix in with it while it’s boiling, then replace half the packet with a splash of soy sauce, and some garlic. It’s less and somehow so much more.

Recently I’ve gotten into “soy meat” it’s dried, crumbled, tofu that’s a really popular meat substitute in Mexico. Pound of beef equivalent for 97¢ at the local Hispanic grocery. Since it’s dried and functionally flavorless, you can mix you up a slurry of spices and the stuff will sponge it all up. Toss it in a pan and it comes out the exact same texture as ground beef, but you can make it taste like everything from plain beef to Italian sausage, maple cured bacon, even smoked pepperoni. I’ve taken to adding it to chilli, sloppy joes, pasta, not only because it halves the cost of meat, but because it can add such an amazing depth of flavor and it seems to naturally correct acidity.

Hope some of this helps. I personally fell for the idea that eating right had to be miserable for so long and now it’s like, why is this not the standard? This is so fucking good!

Sometimes for a late night snack I’ll do a tube of silken tofu with soy sauce and chili oil. Very few calories, a few grams of protein, and it feels kind of nice and refreshing out of the fridge. Basically works with any seasoning too

This is probably my #1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispbread Either plain or with low calorie butter

Good suggestions for snacks but I think a lot of people missed the “when I want to shove something in my face as a force of habit.” You really want to get the lowest calorie thing possible, ideal would be lettuce and celery since those are basically nothing but still give you something to eat. Next would probably be apple slices, berries have surprisingly low sugar, egg white is basically pure protein but a full egg is fine too. Sprouts can be good if you grow them right. I sometimes just slowly eat a spoonful of peanut butter over like an hour but…

I would also recommend having random drinks you can go between, like tea soymilk coffee, even diet soda. Just avoid anything with sugar or fat. Things like nuts are healthy but not a great constant snack food because they do have a lot of fat, so that should be an intentional thing rather than something to reach for.

Just handy slices of raw vegetables like carrots tomatoes or pepper with a bit of spice.

some type of bean salad with a bunch of veggies, tomatoes and a vinegar dressing, maybe some cheese? make a giant bowl that lasts a week and gets better each day. just leave it in the fridge and grab a small bowl as a snack when you’re hungry. also works great as a quick meal/side

Peanuts are apparently healthy, just not the salt that comes with them. I also really like peanut butter.

I used to straight up eat flaxseed with a spoon, and I felt better, until it made me sick.

Popcorn, minimally salted

I like popcorn. I can make a bunch with like 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of finely ground salt. Look up “popcorn” by Bryan David Gilbert. I don’t usually use the lao gan ma, but it’s nice if you want to. Also I prefer a flat-bottom pot to the wok.

A few suggestions based on whether you need more calories. If you are trying to gain weight:

Triscuit crackers and hummus

Nuts, whichever you like.

Whole fat Greek yogurt with honey or savory with olives and crackers (again, Triscuit if you need calories)

If you need to reduce calories:

Apple & a few slices of good cheddar

An avocado

Boiled egg

Popcorn made at home

NONfat Greek yogurt with fruit and/or a little honey.

A walk. Sometimes you are bored not hungry.

Nuts, fruit, steamed veggies (with or without seasoning), popcorn, GOOD beef jerky, yogurt.
Highly recommend you read Ultra-Processed People. I found that learning about what’s in the normal unhealthy snacks sort of makes you not want to eat them at all, which will make eating healthy snacks so much easier. Just my experience though.

Are peanuts considered healthy?

Chickpeas, either out of the can or roasted

In shell peanuts

Bananas

Cheese and cold cuts from the deli

Yogurt

Everything in moderation of course

Hummus. There is some degree of effort involved, where you have to put 5 or so ingredients in a blender and blend them. Use crackers, pita, tortilla, veggies, etc. to deliver hummus to your mouth.