Carma's Cookery

One of the biggest problems I hear about from many households is their inability to avoid snacks. Many believe that in an ideal world we would never snack — and stick to our three meals a day. However, things are never that simple — and for many people, a little snack can help them get through a long day. In fact, for some, between-meal snacks are actually what they need to eat for their health! With this in mind, I thought I would go through a few ways you can snack in a healthier way. Let’s get started with some of the basics you need to know.

Snack more often

The first thing to say is that snacks aren’t inherently bad in themselves. However, the problems begin with the type of snacks you eat, and the amount of food you eat during your meals. In days gone by, when food was a lot less available, humans would snack all the time. In fact, that’s all they ever did; rarely having the luxuries of three-course dinners. So, there is an argument that if you snack all the time, you will help feed your body with the right nutrients, and burn off some calories as you go. If, of course, you always choose the healthier options. (And are exercising!)

Snack healthier

When most of us think about snacks, what springs to mind? In most cases, it’s candy bars, sweets, cakes, and delicious stuff that does little to our nutrition intake but adds a lot of weight. So, if you are going to take snacks between meals, make sure you are always (or at least most of the time) choosing the healthy option. There are some wonderful ideas out there — check out these sugar free recipes for some inspiration. Or, you could just go down the route of taking some fruit, raw veggies, or nuts into work. They will help keep you healthy and stop you from having so many sugar-crashes in the afternoon.

Better planning

If you aren’t planning your snacks and meals in advance, you are going to suffer from more temptation. Sketch out your meal plans for the week, buy your ingredients, and do a little cooking, chopping, and slicing. You can store plenty of healthy snacks in the fridge, and grab them as and when you need them. Not only will you avoid unhealthy foods, but you can also use your snacks to fill in any nutritional gaps from your meals.

Eat a better breakfast

Have you seen the astonishing amount of sugar in cereals these days? Even the ones that you think are healthy tend to have enormous piles of the stuff in there. Your best bet is some simple porridge oats, without any sugar at all. Your body will digest it slowly, meaning you should last until lunchtime without getting hunger pangs. And, of course, it gives you a lovely warm glow for many hours.

Keep a calorie diary

This could change your life in so many ways, so why not give it a go? If you keep track of your calorie intake, it won’t be long until you identify where your problem areas are. Let’s say you are eating healthy meals, but every other day you eat a large cream cake during your afternoon break. It’s going to add anything up to 500 calories to your daily intake. That’s almost a third of a small person’s recommended allowance! But, you won’t know until you have the evidence in front of you.

I hope this has helped you get some ideas for healthier snacking. We all do it, of course — but how you do it is more important than how often. Let me know if you have any great recipes to share!

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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

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