Healthy Snacking

Another e-mail in the unending quest for health and fitness. That’s right I said “unending” because fitness and health is a journey, never a destination. I don’t believe that you ever reach that state of nirvana in fitness or health. But it’s the pursuit that we must follow and obey.

Today I want to talk about the ever popular but most misunderstood topic of SNACKING!!!

Everybody snacks or do we? Should we? When? What?

If you’ve started skipping meals or snacks because you’re struggling with your weight, please reconsider. You might be better off opting for that right snack.

Here is what I recommend: Eating a healthy snack or meal every 3-4 hours during the day. Snacking helps stabilize your blood sugar and energy while it lowers your risk of overeating or binge eating during your next meal.

But alas there is a caveat to the last statement. Eating the wrong snack will not stabilize your blood sugar, actually it may have the opposite effect and cause your system to vacillate between high and then low blood sugar levels and continue on this path until you can’t stop eating. The key to snacking is to snack on protein laden foods or low glycemic carbs.

Portions of meat, chicken, fish or tofu no bigger than a deck of cards.

Fist size helping of whole wheat pasta, brown rice, or yams.

½ plateful of green veggies with every meal will prevent your pancreas from triggering a surge of insulin.

Always combine a protein with a low glycemic carb.

Snacks that are good sources of protein:

½ cup low fat cottage cheese or plain low-fat Greek yogurt

½ cup egg whites

1 cup (8oz) skim milk or 1% milk, low sugar soy milk.

1-2 oz string cheese or other low fat cheeses e.g. Jarlsburg Lite, Alpine Lace, part skim mozzarella

1-2 tbsp of all natural peanut butter ( like the one we sell at Roberts)

Handful of raw nuts, almonds walnuts

Snacks that are good sources of carbs:

1-2 slices whole grain toast, pita bread, ( look for at least 3grms fiber, 3 grms protein per serving)

1 serving high fiber cereal (Kashi, Fiber One, All Bran)

½ cup of fresh fruit, berries contain the most fiber and anti-oxidants (check glycemic chart for fruit: watermelon very high glycemic value stay away!

Celery with peanut butter or low fat cheese

Soy beans in the pod (edamame) are a great snack and taste great

Well, snack away people. I don’t want you to starve to lose weight, I want you to eat to lose weight…….Robert