Most diets (low carb, low fat, paleo, etc) have flexibilities that are essential for long term success.  It is amazing when you find a food that allows you to satisfy your cravings but doesn't require you to go off diet.  I have been pretty low carb (~50g/day) recently and thought I would share some of the foods that have allowed me to maintain my sanity.

1. Pork Rinds - If you can get over the fact of where they came from (pigs are disgusting animals) then these things are amazing.  I like the Mike-Sells brand which are smoked and not fried--300 calories or so per bag with a decent amount of protein and no carbs.  They aren't perfect as they are pretty calorically dense, so the most I ever ate was 1 or 2 bags a day.  But those salty/crunchy cravings were the absolute hardest for me.  Barbeque and Buffalo Wing are my favorite flavors.

2. Pickles -  Another food I like to use when I had a craving for salty/crunchy.  The big advantage of these is how few calories they have.  1 spear has 1 gram of carbs, so you can basically eat to your heart's content.  I only eat a few at a time so I don't even bother counting the calories in them at all.

3. Homemade Protein Bar - 1 serving Naturally More Peanut Butter, 1 Serving Chocolate Metabolic Drive Protein, a touch of almond milk (just enough to get the mix to conglomerate).  This really helps satisfy the other type of craving I get which is the sweet candy bar type craving.  It may be that my taste buds have adjusted, but this bar tastes like a Reese's peanut butter cup to me.  It is low carb and moderate fat and protein which it seems is impossible to get from commercial bars (most of which are loaded with sugar alcohols that I don't prefer).  Again like the pork rinds, these are calorically dense but they are also surprisingly satisfying.

4. Cinnagreen Tea - I actually just made the name up, but I kinda like the sound of it!  For this I pour a quart of boiling water over 4 green tea bags and 5-6 cinnamon sticks.  After 2-3 minutes I remove the tea bags but leave in the cinnamon sticks.  Let it cool to room temperature and dilute to taste.  This stuff tastes fantastic and requires no sweetener whatsoever.  Cinnamon sticks in jars from WalMart were like 6 bucks for 12 sticks or something ridiculous like that.  I tried using powdered cinnamon, but the fiber makes the drink coagulate into a nasty brown goop which is impossible to filter.  I finally found bulk cinnamon sticks available from a local healthfood store for extremely cheap.  I think 12 sticks are on the order of like 50 cents!  The best part is that both cinnamon and green tea have health and weight loss benefits like improving insulin sensitivity, adaptogenic activity, and increasing metabolic rate.

5. Slaw Salad - I have hated cole slaw ever since I was a little kid.  I just couldn't stand the amount of mayonnaise gobbed into it.  Well little did I know that cole slaw actually just refers to shredded cabbage, and it has a brother called broccoli slaw.  Topped with some homemade italian dressing, this became a staple of my diet.  It is high in fiber; and cabbage and broccoli are probably two of the healthiest green vegetables on the planet.  It doesn't hurt that they can also help lower the impact of environmental estrogens--don't quote me, but I think they both contain the indole, DIM.  I choose to make my own dressing because every single commercial dressing that I've seen contains vegetable/soy oil.  They are also more expensive and less tasty than homemade dressing.  I just buy the Good Seasons packets and it is extremely simple and cheap.  My favorite is to use apple cider vinegar and a mix of olive and enova oil (which I have only recently started testing out in my diet).

Do you have any foods like this?