Great snacks can are the hardest to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for. What's something you can have that is healthy, not too filling, easy to grab, and not too much work to prepare?
But first, it’s important to consider why you’re snacking in the first place. Are you actually hungry? Are you bored? Is it out of habit? Is it a craving? There are many reasons for snacking, but we should only really be snacking when hungry.
If you’re actually hungry, then the first thing to do is evaluate the meal you had before. Did you have a toast for breakfast and need a snack a few hours later? If this is the case, then you need to change your breakfast for something that contains protein and healthy fat, such as an omelette with avocado, and avoid the refined sugar or flour from the toast.
If you have digestive difficulties, snacking can be a stressor to the digestive tract as eating frequently will keep your body working to digest food more often, without getting much of a break.
If you need a snack though, make sure it’s healthy and doesn’t cause a blood sugar rollercoaster (spike followed by a crash).
An ideal snack should:
Be low in sugar
Contain protein
Contain a healthy fat
Contain fibre
Not contain artificial colouring or preservatives
Be tasty!
Snack ideas
1/2 cup of grapes or fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries) with 1 small handful of nuts, and a few dark chocolate chips for fun!
Small apple with a small handful of nuts or nut butter.
Seaweed snacks (Nori sheets).
Dip and crackers - use Mary’s crackers, rice crackers or rice cakes with:
Hummus
Black bean dip
Guacamole or avocado
Almond butter, Sunflower butter or Cashew butter
Veggies (carrots, cucumbers, celery sticks, etc.) & dip (see above suggestions)
1 or 2 boiled eggs
Roasted chickpeas
All natural (sugar free) beef jerky
Turkey patty/sausage
Smoothie (must contain protein - either protein powder, nut butter or nuts/seeds)
Golden milk (Turmeric latte)
Chia pudding