Friday Favorites

It's time for Friday Favorites, and I'm excited about this post because I love healthy snacks! I really enjoy experimenting with different combinations of things, like sweet and salty. Keeping things new and interesting can help to fight off those cravings that we all experience at times, and it's important to have a game plan for your snacking! But before I get ahead of myself, let me give you my current Top Ten Snacks (in no particular order):

-1 serving/handful of raw nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, sesame seeds, any kind of nuts)

-carrots with 2 tbsp hummus

-2 stalks of celery with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter

- 1/2 C. plain yogurt with either fresh fruit, a sprinkle of granola, or some honey mixed in (I also recently experimented with mixing a tbsp of Nutella into some plain yogurt and it tasted like chocolate pudding to me, but was much healthier!)

-A Kashi granola bar or Larabar (I prefer the Larabars because they use whole ingredients and have no sugar or preservatives added to them. If you haven't tried one, you just have to! The downside is, they are more expensive (over $1 per bar) and I can only eat half of one because they are too many calories for my "snack budget". But I absolutely love them!)

- 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese

-2 or 3 plain (or salted) rice cakes

-a piece of fruit (apple, grapes, banana, peach, anything!) with a few nuts

-one string cheese

-8 oz. almond milk with a Wasa cracker

Most people are often surprised when they hear that snacking actually aids in weight loss, but that's simply because we so often abuse snacking and treat it more like a meal. I mean, that's what I used to do! I would "snack" until I was full, on things like crackers, (which are loaded with salt, MSG, and preservatives so that our body craves more than we need) granola bars and fruit snacks (can you say, "sugar"?) and anything else I could find in the pantry.

But snacking should be different, whether we want to lose weight or just continue being healthy. Eating a healthy snack will rev up your metabolism and keep your hunger in check. It's better to eat a small snack and a balanced dinner, then to skip the snack and eat a large dinner! Why? Because you will *almost always* consume more calories at dinner when you are "starving", you'll more easily give into temptations and cravings when your blood sugar is unbalanced, (from not stabilizing it with a snack) and eating a large meal at night doesn't allow for any time for burn off those extra calories before heading to bed.

Here are some things you should watch out for when snacking :
1. Portion size - read the label! It's very easy to ingest more calories than you think, especially with crackers, pretzels, etc. If you think the serving size is unreasonably small, that might be a hint that you've been "over snacking" in the past. :-)
2. Pick something with protein. Do you want to feel satisfied and not sluggish after snacking? Then eat something with a good amount of protein in it (i.e. nuts, lowfat cheese or yogurt).
3. Eat your veggies and fruits! They are low in calories and high in fiber - which is a winning snack combo, and I would suggest pairing them with something like peanut (or almond) butter or hummus which will add some protein to the mix and keep you satisfied till dinner.

And finally, what should we do about cravings? We all have them, and sometimes it's REALLY HARD to resist them. (Don't even get me started on chocolate...) In order to curb those cravings, we have to realize why we get them in the first place.
Food cravings mean that our body has it's signals mixed up. We usually get cravings when we're tired or blue, when we have low levels of blood sugar and/or serotonin and the body is telling us that we need a "pick me up". Then our emotions kick in, and we begin to crave something that will make us feel good (which usually isn't something healthy!) like a high-carb or high-sugar snack. Real hunger can wait...cravings cannot. Our bodies may, in fact, be hungry and need food. But we certainly don't need a candy bar or bag of chips! That will only make us feel worse after we've eaten it, and with no fiber or protein, it doesn't satisfy at all.

So, how should we fight those cravings? First, just wait. If it's an emotional or psycological craving, it will go away. Drink a glass of water. Pray and surrender your emotions to the Lord. Get busy doing something that will take your mind off of it. Go for a walk and get some exercise. Make sure you're eating every 3 to 4 hours to keep your blood sugar levels stable. And most importantly, get it out of your sight! Don't hang around where you can see exactly what you want to indulge in, because you're just setting yourself up for failure.

And finally, please comment and share with us a few of your favorite healthy snacks! There are so many more than the few that I just listed here and I would appreciate some new ideas.

Happy Snacking!
Bekah