Smart Snacking

Did you know that February was “National Snack Food Month”? That’s right, someone dedicated an entire month out of the year to snacking… and they may be on to something. Contrary to popular belief, incorporating snacks into our day between meals can help us improve our overall health and wellbeing. The key is to be smart about how we snack!

Benefits of Smart Snacking

1) Improved mood & energy levels
Eating something every 3-4 hours, even if it’s something small, can help you maintain stable blood sugar levels for more sustained energy throughout the day. Having a small snack between meals can also help stabilize you mood, as large fluctuations in blood sugar are often the culprit behind mood swings!

2) Fill in nutritional gaps
Incorporating nutrient-dense snacks into your diet is a great way to get some more of those nutrients that may be lacking in your meals. Snacking provides extra opportunities to ensure you are getting adequate amounts of all nutrients every day.

  

3) Regulate cravings & appetite

Snacking between meals can help us avoid those major dips in blood sugar levels that lead to extreme hunger and intense cravings. We’re much more likely to over-eat or choose energy-dense foods that are high in fat, sodium, and added sugars when we’re “hangry.” Keeping our hunger under control by fueling our body with nutritious snacks can not only help us be more receptive to our body’s internal hunger and fullness cues so we can stop eating before we’re miserably full, but it can also empower us to make intuitive choices for an overall healthier, more balanced diet.

Smart Snacking Tips

Hopefully by now you see how snacking can be a great thing for our health—but we have to be smart about it! Follow these “smart snacking” tips to help you reap all of the benefits of snacking without overdoing it:

1) Only snack when you’re hungry

It can be all too tempting to reach for a tasty snack to mindlessly munch on when you’re bored or stressed, even if you’re not actually hungry. The next time you reach for that granola bar or bag of Doritos's, check in with your body first and ask yourself, “Am I really hungry, or am I just bored?”

2) Plan ahead

Always keep a couple of healthy snacks on hand so that you’re prepared no matter when the hunger starts to creep in! Plan ahead and pack 2-3 different ready-to-eat snack options in your backpack, car, or wherever you will have convenient access throughout the day.

  

3) Make it balanced

The key to maximizing the amount of satisfaction you can get from a snack is making sure it includes more than one of the three basic food groups: carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Incorporating protein and fats into your snacks together with carbohydrates will help keep you fuller and more energized for longer! Try these easy, satisfying combinations:

·         Carb + protein: whole grain crackers + canned tuna; apple + cheese stick

·         Carb + fat: banana + peanut butter; whole wheat toast + avocado

·         Fat + protein: beef jerky + low-fat cheese

·         Fat + protein + carb: dairy products! (yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, etc.)

4) Everything in moderation

In order to snack smartly, it’s important to pay attention to serving size. We want to choose snacks that are substantial enough to ward off hunger and cravings until our next meal, but not so substantial that we are over-stuffed afterwards. How do we do this? Two words: portion control! Check the serving size on the package before eating, or eat slowly so you are better able to recognize when you’ve had enough. You can also use the following chart as a general guide for appropriate serving sizes: