Snacking Right – Weight Loss Edition

30 Jan Snacking Right – Weight Loss Edition

Doc encourages patients to avoid large meals until dinner, so those making efforts to lose weight should remember: Snacks are important!  They increase our metabolism throughout the day and keep us from overeating during main meals. Your snack decisions have a major impact on the scale. Losing weight is all about consuming less while choosing to eat the right foods, which is why we have compiled a list of our favorite snacks that won’t burden your buns.

We all have a variety of cravings, so it is important to be prepared when our inner snack monster demands a tasty. We have a food and snack list you’ll receive at your appointment, but we’ve also created an additional list for you to experiment with.  The list below ranges from sweet treats to salty and spicy.

Sweet Treats

Doc doesn’t recommend weight-loss patients to eat breakfast.  However, if you get to a place where you’re maintaining weight and want to re-introduce options in your routine, we have recommendations. We all love a good morning pastry, however that trend can quickly make our jeans hate us. Instead of starting your morning with a sugar loaded cream cheese pastry or cereal, swap it for whole wheat toast with apple butter.  1 tablespoon of apple butter is only 29 calories.  Be sure to keep your helping small.  It’s easy to over-slather.  A Greek yogurt berry bowl can really cheer up a Monday morning with its vivacious colors and creamy, antioxidant rich goodness. Keeping your yogurt frozen with help you burn more calories. Your gut will smile and so will you.

Yogurt Tip:Avoid yogurt with add-ons.  Some brands will add sugary soaked fruit and even candy.  Reading labels will help you choose wisely.

If you love a mid-day sweet crunchy, try cutting up fresh apples with apple butter. Fresh, chopped watermelon with Tajín spice is one of our favorites for a sweet and spicy combo. You can’t ever go wrong with a cup of fresh mixed berries either. If you love to finish up lunch with a sweet reward, check out Larabar Kid cookies, they are one of the best “clean” cookies out there.  Just be sure to account for the calories and watch your sugar intake.  The recommended amount of sugar for an adult woman is less than 25 grams per day and 35 grams or less for adult men.

Food dehydrators can be helpful if you enjoy prepping snacks. Dehydrators are great for making kale crisps or jerky.  They can take a boring veggie and turn it into a textured delight!  If dehydrators are out of the question for you, then make sure you source dehydrated snacks labeled as non-sorbate, as potassium sorbate is bad for your gut and intestines.  Although loaded with fiber and antioxidants, be cautious of dehydrated fruit.  While it can be a nice, quick route, the process takes typically healthy fresh fruit and makes it higher in sugar and calories.

Salty Snacks

If you love a light potato chip, then you will love Kale Crisps, which you can make right at home with a little sea salt and olive oil.

Check out the recipe here: http://leitesculinaria.com/85391/recipes-kale-chips.html?utm_campaign=yummly&utm_medium=yummly&utm_source=yummly

For on the go snacks that require little to no prep we recommend stopping by your local grocery store and picking up:

• Lesser Evil Organic Popcorn: This popcorn uses high quality oils and organic kernels to keep you ship shape during movie time.
• Parm Chips: A delicious parmesan chip that is lactose-intolerant friendly.
• Wholly Guacamole & Blue Corn Chips: Wholly guacamole is great because it has no strange preservatives and pairs perfectly with Blue Corn Chips that offer more calcium, iron, niacin, and protein than other tortilla chips.
• Organic String Cheese: By far the best option for string cheese snacks because they are miles ahead of other cheese in protein and nutrition thanks to pasture fed cows.
• Nuts: SALT YOUR OWN NUTS! Buying nuts that have no secondary ingredients allow you to control that amount of salt you wish to intake and lets you add your own favorite seasoning. Pre-flavored nuts= nuts + strange additive chemicals, not great for any gut.

With any of these options, read the Nutrition Facts label and pay extra attention to the serving size and how many servings there are per container.  The calories listed account for only one serving, typically.  Make sure you don’t overeat multiple servings.  Example: Parm Chips.  A Serving Size is 12 crisps.  Each bag usually contains 3 servings per bag.  If you eat the entire bag, you’ve just consumed 300 calories.

Spicy Nibbles

If you grew up in the modern age, then you have probably snacked on a version of Hot Cheetos, and while we all love a good spicy crunchie, those things are unbelievably bad for your weight loss goals. Addictive and bad. Here’s a few better options to curb that spicy appeal.

• Carrots and Spicy Hummus: A super quick fix that you can pick up on the go or prep at home.
• Spicy Homemade Salsa: Who doesn’t love fresh salsa?

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17034/spicy-salsa/

• Corn flats, black beans, tomato, avocado, and your choice of hot sauce: This one can even replace your traditional Taco Tuesday feast!
• Spicy Roasted Chickpeas: So easy to make and so easy to snack!

www.chowhound.com/recipes/spicy-oven-roasted-chickpeas-30368

• Spicy Veggie Bean Chili: A new take on a warm classic. www.theglowingfridge.com/spicy-veggie-bean-chili/
• Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers: Oh, so terrific and Paleo-friendly. This recipe replaces cream cheese with soaked cashews!  Avoid cream cheese and find great substitutes like the ones mentioned here: realeverything.com/guest-post-bacon-wrapped-jalepeno-poppers-healthy-foodie/

When it comes to snacks, remember that any food consumed in excess of your daily need is going to affect your weight so it’s important to be picky about the ingredients your snacks are made with. Finding alternatives to your favorite guilty pleasures is important, but so is portion control. Measure out how much you will allow yourself to snack, because too much of a delicious thing can really set you back.

Pro Tip: Keeping healthy snacks visible and available will help you reach for them more often. So set that chocolate behind your favorite healthy snack and feel a little less tempted by it. Out of sight, out of tummy.