Tag: healthy snacks

Snack Attack

Jun 07, 2013

Making your own healthy snack is a great way to avoid the unhealthy snacks high in saturated fats, sugar and food preservatives or additives. Choosing a healthy snack is a great way for the body to maintain its energy levels in between meals. The key to making healthy snacks is to make them the same day, or no sooner than the night before for optimum freshness.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Probably the easiest healthy snacks are fresh fruits and vegetables. Some fruits and vegetables don’t even need any prep work. Just grab, wash and enjoy. Some may take a little more time and effort to wash and cut them up and place in snack size containers. Try berry mixes (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries) or home-mixed fruit cocktails. In addition, fruits are great by themselves, and do not need any additional dressing. Or you can add some chopped up fruit to another healthy option of your favorite yogurt flavor.

Pre-cut and pre-package your vegetables. Celery sticks, carrots, cucumber, grape tomatoes and peppers make a colorful snack that can easily be taken almost anywhere. Add some protein to your celery by spreading on some natural peanut butter. It’s a great way to get you through the afternoon before dinner.

Vegetables don’t have the “sweet” taste like fruit and many enjoy them with a dressing. Try and make your own dressing to avoid food additives, high calories and other harmful ingredients that are found in store bought dressings. To make your own dressing, you can use ingredients such as nut milk, greek yogurt and fresh herbs and spices.

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are great for making healthy snacks. You can combine them into a trail-mix and package them into single serving sizes for easy grab and go convenience.

Smoothies

Yogurt, some protein powder and your choice of fresh fruit is an easy and delicious way to curb your hunger until your next main meal. There are lots of delicious recipes out there for all kinds of smoothies, you can almost try a different one each day of the year.

Try this easy recipe that that can help with those sweet tooth cravings. Loaded with raisins and nuts, they’ll give you energy to burn.

Peanut Butter Oat Bites

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
  • 1 cup quick oats
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts

Preparation

  1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, honey and vanilla. Stir in Rice Krispies and oats and allow mixture to cool.
  2. Stir in raisins and chocolate chips. Form mixture into 1-inch balls, then roll each ball in chopped peanuts, pressing to coat. Store in refrigerator.

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Healthy Snacks That Help You Lose Weight

Apr 10, 2012

Healthy Snacking for Weight LossSome people might read the title of my blog post here and wonder how snacking in between meals can be a good thing if you’re trying to lose weight. Can healthy snacks between meals really help you LOSE weight?

I say……..YES!  Here’s why:  Eating a small, healthy snack may help you eat LESS at meal time. And, it may also eliminate blood sugar peaks and valleys that can trigger binge eating. Overeating at meal time and binge-eating are  common causes of weight gain. The key to snacking in between meals is to snack smart!

Over-eating causes weight gain
Binging on simple carbs can cause weight gain!

3 Healthy Snack Tips

1-  Make sure the healthy snack contains a source of protein. Eating a little protein will help you feel more full.

2- Eat a snack low in sugar.  This will prevent a spike in blood sugar and subsequent crash in blood sugar later on.

3- Keep the snack small:  150-200 calories for women, 200-300 calories for men.

I like to see a mix of protein and carbohydrate in snacks, and perhaps a little healthy fat.  Healthy snacks should hold you over to the next meal, raise your metabolic rate a little bit (digestion requires calories!), and keep you from having large swings in blood sugar. Studies show that metabolism affects weight loss as it affects how you burn calories.

Here are my suggestions for healthy snacks:

  • Apples slices with almond butter
  • String cheese and almonds
  • Mini carrots and hummus
  • Greek yogurt with fresh fruit
  • Prograde Protein shaken with ice and non-fat almond milk
  • “Ants on a log” (Celery sticks filled with a little natural peanut butter and dotted with a couple of raisins)
  • Prograde Craver (careful!  These healthy snack bars are addictive!!!)
  • Cashews and dried cranberries
  • Lara Bar
  • Tomato and low-fat mozzarella slices drizzled with balsamic vinegarA Healthy Snack of Tomatoes and Cheese

If you’re trying to lose weight, make sure you have healthy snacks on hand at home, at work and in the car.  If you find yourself hungry without something healthy to eat, you ‘re MUCH more likely to make a poor choice.

Set yourself up for weight loss success by planning ahead and snacking smart!

Do you have a favorite healthy snack not listed here?  Please share your favorite snack ideas in the comment section!

 

++++Photo credit

Tomatoes and cheese

Apple image

Image of woman eating

Healthy Snacks For The Car

Sep 15, 2010

Last weekend I led a group of customers from my boot camps in Campbell and San Jose on a tour of a local grocery store.  We talked about how to pick the healthiest options at the store, and how to decipher faulty and misleading advertising on food packaging.

One of the attendees, Massimo, who attends my fitness boot camp in the Cambrian area of San Jose, asked what to do when he finds himself in the car a lot during the day going from one meeting to the next.  The temptation to go grab some fast food can get the best of us.

The solution is to plan ahead and put some healthy food items in your car so that the fast food restaurants aren’t such a temptation.  If you can stay hydrated, dampen your hunger and keep your blood sugar steady, you’re less likely to fall victim to a greasy, salty fast food meal.

So, thank you, Massimo, for giving me a great idea for a blog post!

Here are some ideas for healthy “car” food (and most of them only take one hand to eat, so you can keep the other hand on the wheel!)

• A ziplock bag of nuts (pre-measured  so that you don’t overdo it!)

• A ziplock bag of dried fruit

•  A ziplock bag of  sliced apples

•  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread

• Several skewers of fresh fruit chunks (you can eat them off the skewer with one hand without getting your hands sticky!)

• Prograde Cravers (the healthiest snack bar on the planet!)

• String cheese

• Zip lock bag of little shredded wheat biscuits

On warm days when I’m going to be in the car a lot, I put my food in a small cooler with an ice pack in it, and make sure to pack a couple of water bottles as well.  Snacking can tide you over until you can get home for a real meal, but you can also get a “real meal” by combining several of the snacks I’ve listed above.

Not only will healthy car snacking help you maintain a healthier body, it will also help you keep a few extra dollars in your wallet.  Regular fast food meals (or sugar laden venti coffee drinks!) put a dent in your wallet and flab on your waistline.

With just a little pre-planning and packing, you can get through a day of numerous car trips without having to resort to hitting the drive through.

If you’re a frequent car snacker, leave a post and list your favorite healthy snacks!

Committed to your success,

Becky