The Oaks at Ojai (California)
Snacks! The word is heavy with guilty thoughts of late-night fudge sundaes or bags of potato chips. This is especially in light of the percentage of obese adults and overweight teens.
People love to snack and many nutritionists believe that many small meals a day, snack size meals, keep blood sugar higher than three large meals. Snacking has gotten a "bad rap" for a long time, but there's really good news here. Take a moment to snack away on the info in this column. It could help you to energize and trim down. Yes, snacking is good.
Snack attacks happen, but typically when we've forgotten to eat healthy meals or we've over indulged in sugary fatty treats, like donuts, pastries and cakes. It seems there is a tiny voice in our brain that whispers, "You've already blown your diet, go ahead and eat a dozen more chocolate chips cookies."
Fighting off a snack attack takes a plan. These ideas will get you thinking of what's healthy for our fit body and what you might want to change. Remember small, significant changes work best. Planning to lose 40 lbs by next Tuesday at 4 PM won't work and the temptation could be dangerous for your body.
- Plan healthy meals and start with breakfast. Don't skimp on breakfast, especially because you'll be ripe for sugary treats come 10 AM when your energy level really dips. Have oatmeal, whole grain toast or some type of low-fat protein for breakfast. And yes, your teenagers are right, pizza can be a balanced meal, especially when green peppers and tomatoes are added to the toppings.
- Eat a mid-morning snack of fruit or vegetables. I like carrots and apples, yes together. They supply a good measure of my day's fiber, gives me something satisfying to munch, and to be truthful, they're clean to eat while I'm sitting and working at the computer.
- Give your body fuel at lunch. Forgo burgers and fries, or even salad buffet lunches that require you to pour on heavy, fatty dressings. These choices are okay once a week, but a steady diet will load you down and make getting back to work after lunch break a chore. You can "brown bag" good lunches with salads, yogurt, fruits, vegetables, and soup when the weather turns cooler. Studies have shown that eating soup satisfies hunger in calorie conscious people, but doesn't weight them down. People who regularly have soup three or four times a week weigh less than non-soup eating counterparts. With that news you might want to serve soup for dinner more often.
- Hit the vegetables and fruits in the afternoon. If you're really dragging, have an energy bar. But before you buy and eat just any energy bar, check the ingredients. Some are more like candy bars than something nutritious.
- Make dinner relaxing and healthy. Start with an appetizer of vegetables and a low-fat yogurt dip then focus on vegetables, protein and "good" carbohydrates. Carbohydrates in the form of cheesy package pasta and potatoes do not add as much nutrition to your body as a baked potato or steamed brown rice.
- Drink plenty of water. Next time you feel a snack attack heading your way or even in the middle of a full-blown one, have a tall cold glass of water, wait five minutes and then make your snack decision. You may find that you'll pass on that snack or eat less than you would without a drink of water. Thirst is sometimes mistaken for hunger.
- Keep healthy snacks around the house and office. Dried fruit can satisfy you rather than a candy bar. A juice or soymilk smoothie can take the place of a milk shake. Sparkling waters with a squeeze of lime are far better for the body than a soda. If your family is hooked on chips, frozen desserts and anything filled with sugar, slowly introduce healthy snacking or you could have a mutiny. Healthy snacking isn't dull but you'll have to be a bit creative. Lead by example and you may not even have to say a word about healthy snacking.
- Write 'em down. Yes, keep a list of the snacks you eat, the good for the body ones and the others. And since this journal is for your eyes only, write how you felt after you ate the snack. It might look like: Two Twinkies, yummy going down, but I felt them instantly latch on to my tummy. Or it could look like: A banana never tasted this sweet before I stopped having candy bars after dinner.
Be very nice to yourself and your family if you're working on choosing healthy snacks. Vegetable chips, homemade baked tortilla chips, veggies and low-fat dips and sugar free gelatin desserts are all good choices.
It takes a plan to avoid a high calorie, low nutrition snack attack, but it's worth it to stay fit for life.
http://www.oaksspa.com%20/
(800)753-6257
info@oaksspa.com
