I can eat carrots till I'm orange in the face, but I never feel full. I seem to need meat or fat for that.

I never feel fully 'satisfied' with the carrots, but I do feel physically full after eating them. It's a far better alternative to the candy, nuts, yogurts, fruits and oatmeal bars that we have at my work for snacks, which are extremely calorie dense and don't really make me feel full physically.

As a tweak to my general food lifestyle, it's far easier to maintain than a diet or cooking for myself consistently.

> the candy, nuts, yogurts, fruits and oatmeal bars that we have at my work for snacks, which are extremely calorie dense and don't really make me feel full physically.

With the exception of candies, those are nog bad options per se. The problem with all those options is the way they are packaged: Companies put a lot of salt (in nuts) or sugars (yogurts, oatmeal bars) to 'enhance' the flavour. Unfortunately there seem to be very few options (and usually more expensive) for 'ready made' health-ish food, but it can be made.

There are many healthy options in my list of snacks, but they are all extremely calorie dense and not satiating. For example, a small bowl worth (100g) of almonds is almost 600 calories, which is 1/3rd of my daily calorie allotment to lose weight! The same amount in carrots is around 40 calories, and makes me feel more full in some ways than the nuts because of the fiber.

The palm sized Fage yogurts packages are almost 300 calories, and wouldn't fill me up. The Fage yogurts have no real additives to them. 300 calories of carrots is a stomach straining 730g. The oatmeal bars are 150 calories each and might as well be air. 1 M&M is 9 calories alone! 5 M&Ms exceed my small bowl of carrots! I can go on and on about how insidious the snacks are at my work.

Try adding hummus, if you are into that sort of thing. I thought the same thing, but found that I felt great after eating veggies and hummus. Fresh fruit like Fuji apples, oranges, and red grapes are great instead of sweets or soda. And I've found coconut water to be the best beverage all around. I still like my meat, soda, and banana splits too, but as in everything, moderation is key.

A lot of hummus recipes are high fat, high carb calorie bombs.

What?!? Source please. It appears somewhat high in fat, but no saturated fat, nor is it high in carbs. Some fats like olive oil are actually good. Not to mention, I'm talking about adding it to fresh vegetables, not eating a whole tub of it by itself.

Great idea, or adding mayonnaise !