Snacking is something that all of us do, some of us mindfully and others not so much. I’ve heard several people say “I’m always eating good food, so I don’t know why I’m still not losing weight.” I can confidently say that with about 95% of these cases, it all comes down to their snacking habits. I have those people log literally every little thing they eat over the course of the day, and after 2 or 3 days they can see just how many calories they’ve been consuming with their snacks. This is the case with most people and is why snacking is sometimes something that we need to keep more of an eye on more so than our actual meals.
Eat Protein-Rich Snacks
One of the best types of snacks that we can eat are ones that are rich in protein. One of the reasons being that this will help us meet our protein requirements for the day and help support muscle recovery and growth. But the other reason being that snacks that are high in protein will help keep us fuller for longer. Most of us tend to reach for snacks that are high in sugar. While this snacks might taste great and give you an instant energy boost, they will ultimately make you crash and then leave you feeling even more hungry than you were beforehand. So try and go for snacks like protein bars, yogurt, and nuts instead of chips, cookies, and sweets.
Don’t Keep Packaged Snacks Handy
I know not keeping pre packaged snacks handy is something that can be hard for some people depending on what their daily schedule is like, so this is one that has a little bit of wiggle room. However, really what I want you to get across from this one is to try and keep out packaged items like chips, cookies, candy, and cereals. You want to try and make these items as inconvenient as possible for you to get. Ideally, it should be to where if you want to eat one of those items you will have to actually drive to the store to get some. I mean who would really want to go out of their way to go to the grocery store to buy a bag of chips? Some packaged snacks that you could keep around the house or your office are nuts, rice cakes, and protein/granola bars.
Don’t Buy Value Packs
While value packs can come in handy for certain food items that we eat often, we want to try and stay away from buying value packs when it comes to snacks. The reasoning for this is because we buy these thinking that in buying the value pack it will last us over a long span of time. Our thinking when we are buying it is that it will last us a long time and will allow us to have that snack handy when we are craving it. Unfortunately, that’s not what usually happens. What usually ends up happening is that we now know that we have this snack handy and tend to crave it more, and therefore end up reaching for it more. Before you know it, this value pack that you thought was going to last you a year only ended up lasting you a couple of months. So if there is a snack that you are wanting, try and only buy one at a time instead of buying them in bulk.
Make Your Own Snacks
Snacks are something that doesn’t take a lot of time and effort into making them. You can easily make snacks that fit what foods you do actually like, and what fits into your macros. One easy way to do this is to dedicate a small space in your fridge for healthy snacks. This will make it easy for you to grab something that is healthy and will also help you make a healthy choice if you are running short on time. Foods that are good to keep as quick snacks in your fridge include things like fruit and yogurt. Some good options for snacks that you can keep in the pantry or in your desk ready to go include homemade trail mixes, homemade granola bars or protein bars, and rice cakes.
Control the Quantity and Quality
When it comes to snacking, it’s not something that we should feel bad about. Snacking is something that can actually be used to benefit us and can help us keep our metabolism up and running in between meals. When we start to eat too much food, that’s when snacking becomes a bad thing. That’s why choosing the proper quantity for our needs is important when it comes to snacking. An easy way for us to do this is by pre portioning our snacks before we eat them, or making sure we are being mindful when snacking and not just eating just because. Also, making sure we choose quality foods when we snack instead of just grabbing the first thing we see will also help ensure that our snacks are benefiting us.
Snack Mindfully
I know I’ve mentioned a few times that we need to snack mindfully, but what does that really mean? This means that we need to actually pay attention when we are snacking. Most of the time a lot of us tend to watch TV or sit on our phones while we are snacking and don’t think twice about how much or how long we have actually been eating. This can lead to us being a bottomless pit and just eating food just because we can, and not because we are actually hungry. Another thing that we can do to help us snack more mindfully is to put our snack out onto a plate or bowl, just like we would with a meal. This will help make our snacks more like our meals in a way that it allows us to be more aware of the amount that we are actually eating in one sitting. This also helps keep us from just sitting there eating out of a bag or box and not realizing how much food we have actually eaten.
Snacking doesn’t have to be something that is bad and should be looked down upon, it’s just something that we need to become more aware of. It’s one of those things that can sneak up on you and throw your diet off track without you realizing it. So next time you go and grab a snack, make sure you think about the amount of food that you are consuming.
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