Healthy Snacks Can Help You Lose Weight

Snacking as a means of weight control has pros and cons.  Eating every three to four hours means you don’t feel hungry and your metabolism level is maintained. That’s the good news.  The bad news is that most of us don’t allocate the snacks out of our daily allotment of food but tack it on to full three meals. Traditional snacks have a tendency to have a high salt, sugar and fat content.  You know the ones I mean: those quick and easy snacks you grab from the vending machine.  Those types of snacks aren’t doing your weight loss program or your body any good.

Healthy snacks are mini meals and should include a bit of protein and high fiber carbohydrate.  The protein makes you feel fuller longer.  The fiber in the carbohydrates takes longer to digest, again making you feel fuller.

Some people who snack have a difficult time stopping.  If a half a peanut butter sandwich is the snack, they’ll not only eat the other half, but also an apple and a glass of milk.  Suddenly it’s no longer a snack but lunch.  If that sounds like you, it may be better not to snack but keep your eating confined to three healthy meals.

If you’re going to snack, plan ahead for your healthy snacks and prepackage them in single servings.  Examples of good, healthy snacks would be:  An apple with a tablespoon of almonds.  A nonfat cheese stick and whole grain crackers. Celery sticks spread with peanut butter.  A ½ cup of nonfat cottage cheese with blueberries.

Take the snacks with you to work, or on errands, so you’re not tempted by snacks that aren’t good for you.  Energy bars are convenient for on-the-go snacking, but check the nutritional label; some are high in fat and sugar.

Make sure you count liquids in your snack total.  A cup of black coffee doesn’t add anything to your calorie intake for the day, but a mocha latte certainly does. It’s easy to forget the drinks in your snack total because it’s not “food.”

A tip for successful, healthy snacking is to get rid of all the unhealthy high fat and sugary snacks you have on hand.  If they’re not around, you won’t be tempted.  The least you should do is put those types of snacks where they’re difficult to reach and you can’t see them. If you can’t see it you just might forget it’s there.

If you only snack occasionally make sure you snack on what you really want.  If you’re craving something crunchy and salty, don’t have a cup of yogurt.  The odds are you’ll eat the yogurt but won’t be satisfied and eat something crunchy and salty in addition to the yogurt.

Healthy snacks can be a boost to your weight loss program.  Choose them wisely, but get creative and eat things you like.  Healthy snacks don’t have to be boring!