Snack More & Weigh Less

I’m going to get right to it.  Snacking can have a bad wrap.  But it’s so freaking important and does such amazing things for your body, if done right.  When I snack correctly between meals, I am at my lowest weight, my stomach flattens out, and I am energized all day.  When I don’t, I get brain fog, grumpy, super low energy, blood sugar drops, and it takes WAY too long to recover.

Some of the benefits of healthy snacking include:

• Helps you reach your daily nutrient targets
• Balances blood sugar
• Helps to curb your appetite so you don’t overeat at your next meal
• Under eating actually slows down your metabolism, making it easy to gain weight and hard to lose it
• Helps to keep muscle mass
• Helps with constipation and to keep you regular
• Keeps you from feeling sluggish
• Keeps you from having brain fog
• Provides extra nutrients your body needs

When you wait too long to eat your blood sugar can drop, making you feel shaky, tired, & irritable.  Your body will get an intense craving for energy/carbs/sugar, and you’ll need it FAST.  You know that feeling of “just give me food and I’ll be okay in 10 minutes…”  And then we shovel processed foods (chips, bread, candy) into our mouth like it’s an Olympic event.  It’s a race to get your blood sugar back up and to feel human again.  Snacking right, prevents that!

You can use snacking to LOSE weight.  Snacking can boost your metabolism because your body is using energy to break down foods more often.  The key is to make sure you’re snacking on the right foods.  Snacks should mostly be nutrient dense.  Jam packed with vitamins and minerals and not overly processed.  Try to keep your snacks in the 100-200 calories range.  Fruit and veggie snacks will be less in calories, while nuts & cheese will be higher in calories.  Both are nutrient dense, with vitamins our bodies need.  I normally snack on more fruits than veggies because I know I’ll be getting most of my vegetable servings with my meals.

When planning out snacks do a mental checklist of what to include:

• 2-3 fruits
• 1-2 veggies
• Protein
• Healthy fats
• 1 serving whole grains

So maybe some of your snacks look like this:

• Banana & peanut butter
• Apples & sliced cheese
• Yogurt & berries or granola
• Boiled egg with a little mustard
• Cucumbers & hummus
• Carrots & Tzatziki dip
• Beets & feta 
• Nuts & cheese
• Avocado w/ salt & pepper
• Tuna & Wheat Thin crackers
• Air popped popcorn

For a list of snacks with nutritional breakdowns, check out this healthy snack guide.

Use snacking to your advantage, to reach your health goals and to keep your brain sharp!  We’ve got one body, let's keep it strong so we can live long and full lives.  We got this!

~ Kitchen Floozy

When it’s good to be QUICK & EASY