What is your Snacking Style?

According to an article in Cooking Light magazine, snacking can help fill in nutritional gaps, boost your intake of fruits and vegetables, and keep your mood and appetite in check.  Just make sure when snacking you go for the fruit bowl instead of the cookie jar. 

Snacking hasn’t always had the best reputation, because most popular snack foods are not the healthiest choices.  We tend to choose these foods because they taste good and are easily accessible.  According to David Katz M.P.H, director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, the danger in snacking is that it can easily add up calories to your day.  It’s important to budget for snacks; shaving off a few calories from your meals to allow one or two 150 calorie snacks per day.  Calorie count and control is the key.  People often overestimate the calories they need for a snack, where a candy bar and soft drink can easily add up to 400 calories–equal to a whole healthy meal!

This concept isn’t new to H3I.  Our program encourages 2 to 3 100 calorie snacks throughout the day called ‘Metabo’ meals.  These Metabo meals consist of fresh fruits and veggies and other healthy snacks.  Metabo meals help keep your metabolism moving and helps keep your appetite at bay between meals. 

A few tips for healthy snacking include pre-packing your snacks so they are easily and readily accessible, snacking when you start to feel hungry, and remember to practice moderation.  Visit the full article to see healthy options for when you are craving something sweet, salty, crunchy or creamy.  Also see what snacks are best for your lagging energy, stressful situations and pre- and post- workout cravings!

Add comment August 17th, 2007