Wednesday 10 September 2014

SNACKITY SNACK SNACK- 3 RULES TO HEALTHIER SNACKING

Last week I was chatting to a couple of people about their physical goals and asked them to send me a picture of everything they put in their mouth with the promise that they won't be judged. By the end of the first day I could understand why they were struggling. The major culprits were bad snacking due to lack of planning and ignorance about the calories and nutritional contents of food. One of them had pasta for breakfast and thought because she added broccoli and cauliflower it was healthy!! 


no judgements here cos at least she had breakfast and that is important. I do not believe everyone has to be slim and toned as we all come in different shapes and sizes; in fact most of the women I find beautiful are not the stereotypical skinny models on the covers of magazines.
 I believe in being 'healthy' whatever shape or size because being in good shape helps you get the most out of your body. OK, enough jibber jabber from me, the point of this article is to help you snack well for optimal health.



1. Snack Natural  - Having this rule automatically eliminates processed foods high in sodium, sugar and additives that keep you coming back for more. Even the low calorie options have additives that your body struggles to process. Natural, unprocessed, raw snacks with as little ingredients as possible are full of fibre and nutrients that your body can easily process. Some easy examples are fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables like carrots, celery, courgettes; will find that these are quite filling. What I tend to do is try snacking raw and natural first and wait 30 minutes, if the craving is still there then indulge in moderation.

2. Plan your snacks in advance 
We probably all know the saying about planning to fail if we fail to plan right? The same goes for snacking if you don't have healthy snacks available it is highly likely that you will snack on unhealthy food. I live close to a Tesco and for some reason when I have the munchies and have nothing at home, I hardly go there to buy healthy snack- I always want the salty, sweet or creamy goodness that I am craving at that moment. The excuse I hear the most from people about unhealthy snacking habits are 'I am usually not a snacker' or 'if i buy it I will eat it all'. Quite frankly those reasons are legit but it helps to have some healthy snacks around and ready. I like cashews and pistachios but I know they are quite calorific so I like to make 100cal portion packs so I have some control over how much calories i am consuming which leads me to my next point.


3. Moderation moderation moderation
One of the people I spoke with told me she snacks on 4 apples in one sitting ! While that might sound healthy, one large apple has 116 calories with 23 grams of sugar which is not too bad but when you have 4 you are having 464 calories with 93grams of sugar! Sure the fibre will keep you satisfied but having that much sugar in one sitting will spike insulin levels to oblivion. Too much of a good thing can really be bad and moderations is key when snacking.


When the snack monster attacks or when I get a severe case of the munchies having some rules or guidelines makes a huge difference for me. I have found these rules to be the most helpful. 

I would like to hear from  you, what do you do when you get the munchies when trying to reach your physical goals?

Have a lovely day
Love Nemi xx

1 comment:

  1. I feel like this was written just me! I had no idea there was so much sugar in just one apple. Hot Damn!

    ReplyDelete

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