Healthy snacks include those that have significant vitamins, are low in fat, added sugars, and sodium. Examples of healthy snacks include: Fruits, nuts and seeds
Resisting the urge to reach for a burger, candy, or potato chips when you’re hit with a snack attack can make a big difference in your health — regardless of your age.
“Nutrition really is the key to a healthy lifestyle and a healthy life. It goes a long way toward lowering the risk for heart disease and improving overall health. Eat small meals every three to five hours and that they resist the urge to overeat.
“The easy part is the frequent meals; the hard part is keeping them small. We are used to big meals. “If you can match your intake with your output, you’ll be better off with your weight-control goals.”
Eating small, frequent snacks keeps your metabolism revved up and helps normalize blood sugar. Hunger can throw your body into famine mode, which slows metabolism and makes it easier to pack on the pounds.
Foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, and legumes are satisfying and are packed with the nutrients, fiber, and protein your body needs, and they guard against sugar highs and lows, so you are less likely to succumb to your sweet tooth — or whatever your dietary Achilles’ heel may be.
“I tell people to think about food as fuel,”
Such nutrient-poor, sugary snacks as candy bars are like fuel that runs hot and flames out. They give you a quick jolt of energy that is followed by a crash that can leave you hungry, cranky, sleepy, and unable to concentrate.
Healthy snacks are more like slow-burning fuel that helps you keep going all day. Having several snacks a day helps banish that post meal sleepiness that comes from consuming too many calories at one sitting. If you include protein in your snack, you’ll derive an extra mental boost — protein food like soya, peanut, millets contain an amino acid that increases the production of neurotransmitters that regulate concentration and alertness.
Many of us naturally reach for carbohydrates when we’re feeling down because they help lift our mood by boosting the brain chemical serotonin. While processed foods like plain bagels and cookies give a quick high, it’s followed by a sharp low. Good-for-you fruit sugars, honey, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, and many vegetables lift mood and battle fatigue without the roller-coaster effect.
Omega-3 fatty acids are another good nutrient to include in snacks, for your heart as well as your head. Flax seeds, watermelon seeds, walnuts and some other foods contain omega-3s, which helps to fight with high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as depression and anxiety. The effects of omega-3s are also being studied as they relate to a number of other health conditions, including joint diseases, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Eat your fruits and eat your veggies, stay in shape and have less wedgies!
