Move it Monday.
Davina
11 Comments
Snacks.
Here is another tip I got in an email from Joann.
Healthy snacking between meals can be a good habit if you choose the right foods. So here are some tips to help:
• Snacks can curb your appetite so you don’t overeat later
• Healthy snacks give you added nutrients that you might miss in your meals
• Snacks can supply you with enough energy for your daily activities
• Preparing snacks in advance will help you make healthy choices when you feel hungry
• Wash and cut fruits and vegetables and pack them into small snack-sized plastic bags
• Easily grab a healthy portioned snack by pre-packing individual servings of crackers, pretzels, cereal, popcorn, nuts, and seeds
Try to choose whole, natural foods instead of processed snacks. Select a variety from the main food groups, and watch your portion sizes!
Snacks have been one of the things that I think have helped me alot over the last 4-5 months. It keeps your metabolism up to have your body not go into famine mode when it gets hungry. Instead it keeps processing instead of shutting down. Two of my favorite snacks are:
1. Triscuits and medium cheddar cheese sliced super thin.
2. Fresh strawberries and vanilla yogurt. Yum.
What are some of your favorite healthy snacks? Tell us in the comments.
To win this month:
February Contest:
Post help, advice, recipes, exercises...anything that helps you to stay motivated to make the changes that you need to make to have a more healthy lifestyle...put them in the comments each week. I'll pick the top ten comments/help and you will all get to vote on your fave. If you haven't particpated yet, it's not too late. Decide to make a change for yourself and give into a healthier lifestyle. Click here to see details about the contest for the whole year.
The winner will get:
Your favorite magazine subscription and $75 to your favorite shop. You want to have things around you that give you positive feelings and reminders about the awesome choices that you are making...so I want to help!
healthy. LIFE.
Reader Comments (11)
My nutritional goal has been to try to get my calories to come in the following percentages: fat 30%, carb 30%, and protein 40%. Sounds pretty sensible, however, I have found it really hard to get enough protein (in comparison to carbs). I use a free online calorie counter (complete with a little pie chart tracking my percentages) www.fitday.com
Using this tool, I am working at making my snacks higher in protein or rather lower in carbs to balance out my day's intake. It has forced me to become creative than my typical carbs only snack....These are my current faves:
Fage Yogurt (Trader Joe's) with blackberries
Trader Joe Handmade Whole Wheat tortilla wrap with tuna(packed in water) and mozarrella
Apple slices and peanut butter
Special K water packets (complete with protein and fiber!!!!)
I also like apples and peanut butter (but watch what kind of peanut butter, natural is best, some have boatloads of sugar!!)
hummus and tortilla chips or pita
red grapes and raw almonds...have to have one of each in every bite...seriously TRY IT!! SOOOO good!!!
People think I'm crazy when I say this, but snacking helps me lose weight every time! When I eat throughout the day, my metabolism kicks it up a notch, I am not tempted to gorge myself at every meal, and I never feel hungry! The problem is that I get so busy (as I am sure most of you do) and I get glued to my computer or I'm on the road and I get lazy about what I eat. So planning your meals and snacks is a huge key to success!
If you're craving sweets, try:
1 cup of berries with 1 tbsp. whipped topping
(100 calories)
If you're craving something cheesy, try:
A snack-size grilled cheese: Melt a 1-oz. slice of cheese on half an English muffin
(180 calories)
If you're craving something salty, try:
A handful of pretzels dipped in Dijon or honey mustard
(about 80 calories)
only thing I couldn't find was what to do if you're craving chocolate! ;)
I have found some creative ways to get more nutrients into my meals...
1) the smoothie, not just any smoothie...I call it the Christmas smoothie with SPARKLES! Adjust as you like, but this is my recipe. Plain goatmilk yogurt, frozen strawberries, a banana, and a big wad of spinich, water down with plain almond milk. The "sparkles" are flecks of red and green in the smoothie. :)
2) This one is the tropical version. I use frozen fruit in place of ice. Plain goat milk yogurt, frozen tropical fruit mix from Trader Joe's, lowfat coconut milk from TJs, banana. Yummy.
NOW a good tip is to replace the banana with an avocado. It gives the same creamy texture and adds nutrients. Also a scoop of flax meal is a great boost.
I came up with these to try and get some nutrients into my picky eater son. It worked for a few days because I put it in a lidded cup with a straw and paid him a dollar to drink it. After that, no. But my four year old son will drink any of it and asks if I put "leaves" in his drink. :)
Another good tip is when making tuna salad to use hummus instead of mayo. It gives it moisture, flavor and nutrients. Also TJ's has a Wasabe Mayo that is tasty but I don't know about how "diet" it is!
We've loved having grapes around here lately ... and carrots! I could eat carrots all day long!
I am so glad I come here! I am not a good snacker at all, I have tried to eat more lately and I know it helps me but I have a long way to go! Pretty much what I have been doing is buying the big box of Yoplait light yogurt(100 calories, 0 fat) from Costco and grabbing one of those when I need something but don't have time to think about it too much. I am excited to try some of the ideas above!
Ooo...I love all of these snack ideas!
Eating a little bit through out the day is totally a great way to lose weight. I totally agree with you Gwendolyn.
Hummus instead of mayo? I totally need a mayo substitute...bad! I LOVE mayo. It's probably the reason I'm stuck right now!
Pretzels dipped in mustard. Red grapes and raw almonds. That sounds good!
What are Special K water packets?
Wheat Thins and Cottage Cheese or Peaches and Cottage Cheese. I love Cottage Cheese and could dip just about anything in it. Another way to cut calories is to use Cottage Cheese instead of Mayonnaise or Sour Cream for your ranch dip... (mix the ranch dip packet with Cottage Cheese) :)
I love this post because I am always looking for great ways to eat healthy and to get in shape. So all of these tips are really helpful. A couple things that I have found helpful for me when I have a craving to snack is to snack on good health food. And the easy way for me to do that is to just keep the junk food out of the house all together. That way there is no junk to be found to snack on. I am a fruit freak and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fruit!! It is a great satisfying snack to me. I also love to munch on crackers or pretzels. I also don't buy soda for our house - just water and juice. I have also found that buying things that are just better for you. For example whole wheat or grain breads, crackers, eggo's - you can find a lot of things with whole wheat and grains now. Also cutting back on mayo and things like that. Try the light kind - is there really that big of a difference? Snacking is my weakness but if I have the healthy snacks around I feel like I can't go wrong :)
the Special K water packets are flavored water packets that promise to take the edge off of hunger and give you 5g of protein and 5g of fiber!!! I like the iced tea flavor with lots of ice! But they are an easy way to get my water in along with increasing my protein and fiber intake!