Snacks 101: All you need to know about healthy snacking

Don’t skip snacks if you feel hungry or low in energy to avoid weight gain. Because by Just choosing the food that fit into a heart-healthy eating pattern, surely will help you stay fit and healthy over the long haul.

A small healthy snack is able to curb your hunger sensation, so you are not completely starving when you sit down for lunch or dinner meals. That can help you control your meal portion sizes and avoid overeating which is the common cause of weight gain. Also, by having a snack your body will be recharged with enough energy to continue your daily chores which is pretty enough until the upcoming main meal.

 

How to snack in the right timing

Having two to three snacks throughout the day in the gaps between the three main meals “if you had your breakfast at 8 am morning and planning to have your lunch at 3pm., have a snack at 11 pm” same as between lunch and dinner or even after dinner unless you make sure to take each meal every 3 to 4 hours.

For athletes it is preferred to take the snack as pre – workout about 15 – 20 minutes before starting training. And even in endurance sports with long duration, another snack should be taken during training in order to preserve glycogen stores and increase the training performance.

 

Usual snack choices

The ability to make right food choices it’s the key for healthy snack. Relying on high sugar, salt & fat snacks such as salty greasy chips, chocolate, pastries, cakes, cookies, sweets, and salty butter popcorn & ice creams aren’t a great choice for snack even if you eat less throughout the rest of your day. Also, most health-conscious people they think that substituting this junk food with low – fat, low – salt, low – sugar or high protein snacks such as light biscuits, protein bars, keto ice creams, fresh juices, dates cookies make an excellent substitution. However, they might not realize that this food may lack other major healthy nutrient or just contain simple carbohydrates. Those types of snacks usually don’t satisfy your hunger rather it makes your appetite up and cause you to overeat and gain weight. Because easily digested carbs found in refined grains tend to raise your body insulin level, which can leave you hungry again in a few hours.

 

Smarter snack choices

Choose smarter by selecting snacks that contain a combination of healthy proteins, carbs, and fats. for protein go for low – fat greek yoghurt, boiled eggs, low – fat cottage or ricotta or mozzarella cheese, low – fat labneh, tuna, low – fat laban, edamame. Granola, whole – grain toast or tortilla, whole – grain cracker, dates, dried fruits, whole fresh fruit, vegetables sticks, mixed beans, air – popped & lightly seasoned popcorn, corn make a great option for carbohydrate. Where healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil, unsalted nuts, homemade almond or peanut butter, sesame or flaxseed seeds, dark chocolate.

Controlling the portion sizes is another key factor for a healthy snack. Total calories should be between 100 – 200 kcal /snack, not more!

 

Make your own snacks.

1. Greek yoghurt with granola and fruits with drizzle of honey.
2. Whole grain toast with avocado slices and cottage cheese.
3. Three pieces of dark chocolate.
4. Handful of mixed nuts.
5. Avocado guacamole or labneh dip with vegetables sticks.
6. Dates filled with tahini and almond slices.

 

 

Done by:

Dietitian Lana Abusalah

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