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Snack Attack
Help! I eat healthy meals…but when it comes to snacks, I’m tempted by all the wrong foods.
Patricia Groziak, M.S., R.D., knows how challenging it is to choose healthy foods at snack time, when we’re often at the mercy of what’s on hand. Take as much time to plan your snacks as you do to plan your meals, and the benefits can be enormous — in fact, healthy snacking can actually be a good way to eat well while helping you manage your weight, says Groziak, who is a registered dietitian and senior manager, Medical Marketing for Slim•Fast®. Here Groziak answers common questions about how to snack healthily.
Q: I’ve bought a lot of fat-free snack foods — cookies and chips — for my mid-afternoon “hungry time” at the office. But they just don’t seem to fill me up.
A: Snacking can be a good habit. It not only gives you a chance to fill in your nutrition “gaps” between meals, but also helps keep your appetite in control. Try foods with some satiety value — those that will give you a feeling of fullness. Choose foods that contain fiber and protein; ideally, they’ll have vitamins and minerals too. Those 100-calorie packs of cookies and crackers might provide portion control, but they don’t necessarily offer the right balance of nutrients to help stave off hunger and help control your appetite.
Eating something — anything — can help with hunger a little. But the question is for how long. You may get some immediate gratification only to get another craving an hour later. So it’s not so much that foods aren’t satisfying, it’s that some are more satisfying than others, with fewer calories. For a sensible snack, try a piece of reduced-fat cheese and four whole-wheat crackers; a handful of almonds; or half an apple with two teaspoons of peanut butter.
Q: When I stick to healthy snacks — hello, rice cakes! — instead of the sweets I crave, I feel so unsatisfied.
A: You’re right: If you don’t enjoy the food, it’s not worth eating. Plan your snacks around foods you really like. How about a handful of almonds? Or even a bowl of high-fiber cereal and low-fat milk, or a cup of reduced-fat yogurt? Try making a yogurt parfait with reduced-fat or fat-free yogurt and fruit. And microwave popcorn comes in minibags that are 94% fat-free and only 100 calories per bag (six cups)! If you don’t always have fresh fruit available, try the single-serving, portion-control fruit cups in light syrup or, better yet, in their own juice.
Having nutrition bars on hand, such as Slim•Fast® Snack Bars, is a great option too. You get the benefit of built-in portion control, and in the case of Slim•Fast®, you have great taste and indulgent flavors. Snack bars that taste like a candy bar, for instance, with fewer calories — around 120 —and 15 vitamins and minerals, offer a more nutritious alternative to junk food.
Q. I tend to be good all day, but I keep eating after dinner even though — I admit it — I’m not hungry.
A. After-dinner snacks? Well, that can result in what’s known as mindless eating. Watching television is one activity that can trigger eating more than you plan. You can more easily eat your way through a whole bag of chips or an entire carton of ice cream if you are distracted. One of the ways to practice mindful eating: Don’t eat and watch TV at the same time.
Also, try preportioned snacks: Instead of buying the value-size gallon of ice cream, buy preportioned Fudgsicle® Fudge bars instead — only about 50 calories per serving. There are 100-calorie frozen treats as well, if it’s too tempting to portion out only a half-cup of low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt. Or, to avoid a snack attack altogether, don’t keep your “trigger foods” in the house.
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