Healthy Snacking

Snacking helps us when we are hungry but aren’t hungry enough for an actual meal or we are in between meals. It can be a great way to incorporate some food that you typically would’t just add to a meal, such as fresh fruit. We all know that fruit is a much BETTER/HEALTHIER option to snack on than a bag of chips or Oreos.

The thing that you may not know is that fruit still has calories. You can snack away on a bag of grapes, and you’ll be eating something healthy. However, just like with all food, if you eat too much, you’ll be eating a lot of calories. Although if you are choosing between that 250 calorie Snicker’s bar and eating a bag of grapes – choose the bag of grapes! There are lots of vitamins in the bag of grapes that you aren’t getting from a candy bar.

You probably have heard to “increase your fruit and vegetable intake daily” at some point in your life.
Snacking on some raw carrots while your sitting at work and needing something to eat because you are used to snacking is a good way to cure those cravings while still getting to eat something. It’s also low in calories and has wonderful vitamins and minerals.

Celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers are great options to snack on during the day. You should include these as snacks every day because they are high in fiber and high in water content, which ultimately helps keep you full.

Note: When I say eat carrots and celery, this does NOT mean eat some carrots with your ranch dressing. Ditch the dressing and eat them plain.

The most important aspect of snacking if you aren’t choosing fruits or vegetables as your snack is pre-packaged snacks. These snacks can make or break a healthy eating pattern!

This concept goes for all the snacks out there. This is really important for when you are first starting to look at your calories and portioning out food. Once you know what a serving is supposed to look like, buy the big bag and put it in Ziploc bags and you have homemade pre-packaged snacks. This stops you from overeating. You’ll still get other snacks throughout the day so don’t overdo it on one snack!

You want these snacks at around 100 calories per snack. That doesn’t mean that you can eat a lot of these kinds of snacks. Calories add up quickly without us even realizing it. If you eat four – 100 calorie snacks, then you’d be replacing your meal with snacks that more than likely hasn’t even filled you up.

Other examples of snacks that would be good for you would be the cups of yogurt, which is a good source of protein, plus they come in delicious flavors.

Nuts, while good for you, are huge calorie packets. You can only eat a small handful of these before you start to eat a lot of calories.

If you have to have a candy bar occasionally, did you know they now sell chocolate candy bars in 100 calorie servings? This would be a better option than that normal 250 calorie Snicker’s bar I talked about at the beginning of this article.

Picture that big bag of chips sitting in your pantry. Can you stop at just one serving – which is typically 12-15 chips? If not, you should be buying the bags that are already packaged. If you’re going to choose chips, baked chips are the better option because they have less grease and less calories.

Popcorn is another snack that is good for you – but not the movie theater popcorn. I’m talking air-popped popcorn with seasonings. You can eat a lot of these for little calories.

It’s really that simple and easy to get your snacks in without overdoing it!