Snack Your Way to Swimsuit Season

BY: Tara DelloIacono Thies

Sitting at my desk one afternoon, I was eating my usual peanut butter and sliced apple snack when I heard a co-worker gasp, “ What are you eating? Not peanut butter!” She was surprised that 1, I was eating between meals and 2, I was eating a high-fat food.

There seems to be a myth that snacking is unhealthy—especially with magazines “warning” us about the “dreaded” swimsuit season.

Snacking’s reputation may have cropped out of our mother’s hand slapping from the cookie jar or screams from the other room as we open the refrigerator, “Don’t you spoil your appetite for dinner.” We were afraid to get our hand caught in the cookie jar because we knew we weren’t supposed to eat between meals.

Go Ahead—Snack!

Snacking is a part of healthy diet and something you should give yourself permission to do when you feel hungry, especially mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Healthy snacking is part of a balanced meal plan. Eating smaller portions of food spread out through the day supplies the body with a constant source of energy and helps you to feel more awake. Snacking also reduces hunger and helps reduce mealtime portions.

Common snack foods, such as potato chips and cookies, have been (correctly) deemed less healthy—they’re high in fat and calories. However, there are many healthy snacks to be considered. The # 1 healthy snack is fruit. Apples, oranges, bananas and berries are pre-packed in their own skins and ready to eat “as is.”

For a snack to have more staying power, choose foods that also contain protein and fiber, such as seeds and nuts. Snacking on foods such as cheese, pretzels, fruits and yogurt can also help us reach our daily requirements of important nutrients such as calcium, fiber, and B vitamins.

Time to Snack

Have you ever noticed that despite a great big breakfast you’re still hungry by mid-morning? It’s normal—your body has put the food away in storage or used it, and your blood sugar is a little low. Mid-morning is a great time for a piece of fruit and some protein to stimulate your system and curb hunger until lunchtime.

Healthy mid-morning snacks to try:

• Apple slices and peanut butter
• Low-fat yogurt with 1/2 cup high fiber cereal
• LUNA bar
• Hard-boiled egg with a slice of toast
• Soy sausage links and half of a bagel

The same holds true for mid-afternoon. If you eat lunch at noon it is fair to say that you may be hungry before dinnertime. Many people feel afternoon fatigue around three o’clock-what better time is there to give your body a stretch break and some brain food (carbohydrate—the fuel for working muscles and the brain). A mid-afternoon snack can give you energy for a post-work workout and decrease your urge to raid the refrigerator the minute you walk in the door.

Healthy mid-afternoon snacks to try:

• String cheese and crackers
• Hand full of almonds and low fat yogurt
• LUNA bar
• Chocolate chip rice cake with peanut butter

Feed Food Cravings

Snacking can also help to curb food cravings. The best “medicine” for food cravings is to feed the craving and indulge once in a while. After all, don’t we usually crave the things we think we shouldn’t eat? Unless you have a food allergy or follow special diet for medical condition there is no reason to completely cut foods of your diet.

• Have a hankering for some chocolate? Split a rich chocolate bar with a few friends.
• Want to delight in the creamy tart in the case at the deli? Get a piece and split it with co-workers as Friday afternoon treat.
• Enjoy 1/2 cup if ice cream with one chocolate chip cookie if that is what you want this afternoon.

By feeding a craving and practicing moderation you may find the urge to “overindulge” less often. Tomorrow you can go back to the apple and peanut butter.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

While snacking is important to a well-balanced diet, it’s not an excuse to go overboard. Snacking is the optimal time to practice moderation. Too many calories and too much fat packed into your daily snack can leave you feeling stuffed, tired. Overtime, you may see the result of excess body weight and higher cholesterol. Your snack should leave you feeling satisfied, not full.

This summer don’t worry about getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar; enjoy the cookie-but just one, because you don’t want to ruin your dinner appetite completely.