Healthy Snacking
Have you ever thought that what you eat in between meals
could be your downfall? Those couple of bickies, that small block of
chocolate or the kids little packets of chips could be creating those
extra bulges or rolls around your waist? It may not be the meals that
are causing the problems but instead all the little snacks consumed
throughout the day that may have caused your weight gain over the years.
I wonder are you hungry when you snack or is it out of habit, possible
boredom, loneliness or are you feeding an emotion.
Some people eat like a rabbit during the day and then become ravenous in
the evening, bingeing on high fat snacks. Such patterns can cause
difficulty in controlling your weight. Snacking itself is not a problem,
if anything it can help keep your insulin levels even but you need to
be aware that all those bits and pieces can really add up. The best way
is to plan your snacks into your day and make time to shop for the right
type of snacks so you can embrace snacking as part of your weight loss
journey, instead of hindering it.
Having healthy choices in the fridge/cupboard will help avoiding eating
things that you really don't want.
Here are a few snacking tips:
- Biscuits, cakes, doughnuts, pastry, ice-cream, chocolate and chips
have very little nutritional value, are very high in fat and kilojoules.
They can also be too tempted when feeling hungry or upset.
- If you crave sugar, this could be a sign that your body may need
protein, not a Mars Bar. Instead of grabbing chocolate, why not have a
slice of low fat cheese on a rice cracker or Ryvita, and add some slices
of tomato or Vegemite for variety.
- Have a healthy breakfast each day and avoid the morning munchies.
Having breakfast will also kick start your metabolism for the day.
- Drink lots of water and stay hydrated. This in turn will stop you
being confused with the signs of being hungry vs dehydration.
- For a sweet snack, have raisin toast or a high fibre cereal with skim
milk - both are ideal for the afternoon or evening munchies. Diet
yoghurt, low fat custards and diet jellies are good sweet snacks as well
and the best snack of all is fresh fruit.
- Pretzels, rice crackers, roasted chip peas, nuts, low fat popcorn,
celery and carrots are healthy snacks that have a bit of a crunch to
them.
- Make a skim milk fruit milkshake, a great way to fill that empty tummy.
View All Tips
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