Your stomach is growling but lunch is hours away. You’re eyeing up the chocolate cake on the counter, but know that you’ll feel guilty if you indulge. If you think your best option is to avoid the snack altogether and wait for lunch, think again…

A wide variety of snacks can fit into a healthy lifestyle, so you don’t need to avoid snacks. Rather, you need to know why and how snacks fit into a healthy diet and discover creative, healthy ways to satisfy your hunger. You may feel guilty about snacking, but snacks aren’t bad for you. In fact mini meals between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner and even just before bed time can be extremely beneficial. Here’s why:

• Binge control: Eating several healthy snacks a day keeps you from over eating at meal times so you actually consume fewer total calories for the day.
• Extra energy and nutrients: Snacks are a great way to boost energy and up your nutrient intake.
• Brain power: Regular snacks help you concentrate better because your brain needs a steady supply of glucose (energy) to function optimally.
• Snacking satisfaction: Research shows that eating several small meals a day encourages weight loss. Ideally you should not leave more than three hours between meals and snacks. This is because regular meals and snacks help keep your blood sugar levels stable and your metabolism (fat burning) high.

When choosing snacks you do, however, need to choose wisely. If you snack on chocolate and crisps this won’t do you, or your waistline, any good. The snacks you choose do need to be nutritious and good for you so select foods that can satisfy your hunger, supply your body with energy, keep your blood sugar levels stable and provide important nutrients. And make sure you choose a wide variety of foods to ensure that you get all the necessary nutrients, and to make your snacks more interesting. Here are some of your best snack picks:

• Whole grains: Whole-grain snacks are rich in complex carbohydrates and fibre, which give you immediate energy that has some staying power. Look for items such as oat cakes, rye crackers and rice cakes.
• Fruits and vegetables: Eating fruits and vegetables provides a feeling of fullness with no fat and only a small amount of calories. They also provide vitamins, minerals, calcium, fibre and other nutrients.
• Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds (and legumes) are a good source of protein, which helps keep you feeling fuller longer. The fat in nuts and seeds is unsaturated fat, a healthy kind of fat.

Useful ‘Recipes’:

The healthy snack ideas below minimise fat and calories and maximise whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The first three will satisfy cravings for something sweet and the other three cravings for salty or savoury food.

1. A tablespoon of dried fruits: These are low in fat and have a low glycemic index, which means they’re absorbed slowly from the stomach into the bloodstream and make you feel full longer. Dried fruits are also high in energy boosting iron and fibre.
2. Berry mix: In a large bowl, mix blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries. This is a very healthy fruit snack. It’s low in fat and contains a lot of vitamins and bioflavinoids that can boost weight loss.
3. Fruit smoothies: A low fat energy boosting snack bursting with nutrients that tastes delicious.
4. Two handfuls of raw vegetables: Dip carrots, celery, peppers, mushrooms or courgettes in one tablespoon of houmous or salsa. Veggies are a healthy treat because they are high in antioxidants; the naturally occurring compounds that help protect the body from disease.
5. A cup of low-fat hearty vegetable, lentil or pumpkin soup: The vegetables provide powerful antioxidant energy boosting benefits and the soup will fill you up for hours.
6. Cold beans: They have little fat but heaps of key nutrients, including the B vitamin folic acid, copper, zinc, magnesium and potassium. They are also a great source of protein (usually found in higher fat foods), fibre and complex carbs that can stabilise blood sugars, keep hunger at bay and keep your weight down.

And Finally …

Most of us associate treats with sweets, cakes and chocolate. It’s time to break that association. Not only are these so called ‘treats’ laden with saturated fat, sugar and calories, in the long run they will end up making you feel worse. If you eat healthy treats not only are they good for you — there is no guilt trip.

Remember too that treats don’t always have to involve food. Why not treat yourself to an aromatherapy massage, a long soak in the bath, a new hairstyle, a night out with friends, a trip to the cinema or anything that doesn’t involve food but makes you feel really pampered.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 11:40 am and is filed under General Health, Nutrition & Healthy Eating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.