Snacking In Between The Meals - Tips For Smart Snacking

Snacking refers to the consumption of food in between two meals. People eat snacks because of a number of reasons but the two most common reasons are given below.

Sometimes, the meals you consume may not be wholesome and filling. As such, in order to avoid feeling hungry, you may tend to nibble on snacks.

You may be in the habit of untimely eating that may cause a craving for food at odd timings.

It is not a great idea to eat in between meals as the traditional snacks include foods that are high in fats and calories and as such, these snacks adversely affect your health. But if you are hungry between your meals, you may resort to healthy or smart snacking. Snacks that you choose must be healthy so as to avert the side effects of regular snacks.

Tips For Choosing Snacks Effectively

The choice of snacks should be such that you don’t take in a lot of calories.

Also, the snacks should be rich in nutrients to benefit the body.
The food items that may be consumed as snacks include grains, vegetables and fruits, milk, and meat.
The cereals that may be consumed as snacks include ready-to-eat whole grain cereals, crackers, cereals bars, bread sticks, bagels, graham crackers, and tortillas.
You may include vegetables that are rich in folate, other vitamins like Vitamin A and C, and fiber. You may eat vegetables either as raw vegetables, vegetable juice, or soup. The vegetables which are best recommended to be consumed as snacks are carrot, broccoli, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
Fruits are also rich in nutrients like vitamins and also minerals and they are devoid of excessive calories. Also, there are certain fruits that are negative in calories and as such, help you reduce weight.
These negative calorie fruits include mangoes, pineapples, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, apples, tangerines, papayas, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, and citrus fruits like orange and grapefruit.
Milk and milk products are good snacks as these foods are rich in calcium and regulate the skeletal system of the body. You must keep in mind that dairy products are rich in fat and as such, you should choose low cream and low fat milk and milk products.
You may also eat meat in minimal quantities so as to supplement your body with protein. You can eat eggs, tuna and chicken as snacks.You can also eat nuts and peanut butter as snacks.

Submitted on August 21, 2009