Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss
The best strategy to lose weight is by eating small ratios frequently. Ideally, you should serve three main meals a day and snacks in-between these meals.
Keep in mind that a “main” meal does not include an oversized ratio: it barely describes the traditional eating schedule – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Another important difference between main meals and snacks is that the former should include all food categories – proteins, carbs, fruit and vegetables -, while the latter may include only one food category.
If you eat whenever you are hungry, you will constantly supply your body with energy, so that your metabolism will constantly function at its maximum capacity. A fast metabolism determines fast digestion, which is one of the main catalysts of weight loss. On the other hand, eating whenever you are hungry does not mean you should eat all the time. Learn to make the difference between eating out of hunger and eating out of boredom or habit.
List of healthy snacks
- Whole grain cereals (instead of processed cereals or cereal bars)
- Fruit (instead of chocolate bars)
- Salad with no dressing
- Raw veggies (instead of fast food)
- Low-fat yogurt (instead of sweet dairy products or fruit yogurt)
- Whole-grain toast (instead of pastry)
- Sunflower or pumpkin seeds (instead of oil popped popcorn or crackers)
- Fresh, homemade fruit juice (instead of sodas)
Remember that healthy snacks must cumulatively meet three conditions:
- to fill you up,
- to be rich in nutrients and
- have few calories.
Try to avoid snacks that are made of more types of foods – such as snack bars or fruit yogurt, as they usually contain more than their basic ingredients, including food additives or salt and spices. While food additives should be avoided during any type of weight loss diet, the latter only increase your appetite. For instance, salt causes sweet cravings.
