Top Tips To Snack Healthy

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  Snacking is bad for you but a fact of a busy life. Right?
  
  The answer depends on how you snack and what you snack on.
  
  So, it’s probably no surprise that snacking on your favourite chocolate bar or a giant smoothie instead of lunch isn’t doing your body, or your waistline, any good.
  
  The experts say that snacking is fine as part of everyday life if you snack healthily and you count your snacks so that you don’t eat more than you need.
  
  The problem with snack foods is that they are meant to be convenient when you are in a hurry and there’s not enough time for a meal. Think of the crisp packets, energy drinks and chocolate bars that call from the shelf at every petrol station. Those crisps, drinks and chocolates don’t fill you up with the good stuff (vitamins and minerals) but with the sugars that give you a boost of energy and leave you crashed out a short while later.
  
  The good news is that quick food doesn’t have to be bad. A slice of toast and peanut butter makes an excellent snack, as does a hard-boiled egg, a piece of fruit, some hummus and vegetable sticks, a handful of nuts or a slice of great cheese.
  
  Even better news for those who want to lose weight, research shows that eating three meals or six snacks per day makes no difference to how much weight you can lose, if you stick to your calorie guidelines.
  
  

  Easy Swaps to make your snacks work for you…

  
  Savoury over sweet – think wholegrain toast, not croissants, think homemade popcorn not chocolate, think a pot of yoghurt rather than a sweetened smoothie, think an americano and a slice of bread not an iced coffee drink
  
  Fresh over processed – think an apple, banana or carrot, a pot of natural yoghurt a handful of nuts instead of a packet of crackers, energy bar or that tub of ice cream.
  
  Eat whole rather than mushed – think a whole apple not apple juice – your gut will thank you for the fibre.
  
  Eat rather than drink your snacks – your body doesn’t think the 500 calorie milkshake you just drank was food and you are still feeling hungry!
  
  Count those snack calories – if you have had a few snacks then that counts as a meal, so you don’t need to add in the 3 square meals.
  
  Oh, and watch the hidden sugars – they are lurking everywhere…even in that ‘healthy’ granola bar or that energy drink.