Steps That You Can Take to Promote Healthy Snacking

Has the question ever entered your mind as to how many meals you should eat in an entire day? If you were to ask this to a health professional, you would most likely be told that you should eat 5 or 6 small meals which should be spaced out over the day. The reasoning behind this is that eating on a more frequent basis will help to control and maintain blood sugar and insulin levels more efficiently. You need stable blood sugar levels in your body for it to function properly. By eating more frequently, you also keep your body from becoming hungry and this helps to prevent you from over eating. It is not necessarily the number of meals that you eat in a given day that better promotes bodily functions, but rather the time between the meals and the type of foods that you eat that determine how well your body is going to work. Here are some tips that should help you.

The first and foremost thing that you must do is to choose the right types of foods that will keep your body in balance and make you feel full. When you eat foods that are high in carbohydrates such as cookies, candy and soda that are rich in sugar, your blood sugar levels will spike and when they crash back down, your body will be left with that hungry feeling and you will want to eat soon again. To avoid this, pick foods that are rich in carbohydrates which have lots of fiber and nutrients Whole foods with bright colors are usually good choices because they contain many carbs and they are also rich in antioxidants which help to keep you healthy. There should also be lean protein and healthy fat included in your meal to help your body feel satisfied.

You also need to eat less while at the same time, eat more often. Allow no more 4 or 5 hours between meals and this way, your body will maintain that full feeling. The reason why health professionals recommend eating 4 or 5 meals a day is that the majority of people get up early in the morning and they stay up late at night. Do not get obsessed with eating exactly 6 meals a day because it is more important that you focus on portion sizes and use your body feeling as a gauge for when you should eat again. This is very important if you are attempting to lose weight because the smaller portions and the carbohydrate intake will stop you from feeling hungry and will help you to stay on track with your weight loss program.

Another thing that you can do to eat healthier is to eat like a kid. This is a great way to create a quick and healthy snack. Remember when we were growing up and our parents were always trying to find ways to make us healthy and tasty snacks that we could take with us? Mine happened to be Fig Newtons with peanut butter on top. Here are a few snack ideas that you can prepare the night before and take with you in the morning to work or wherever you are going.

*Trail mix with fruits and nuts
*Baby carrots with hummus
*Medley of fresh fruits
*High fiber crackers with peanut butter
*Apple slices with string cheese

These snacks are very easy and quick to prepare and best of all, they will help to keep you full and will prevent you from running to that vending machine to grab that donut or that bag of chips. Your body will benefit from healthy snacks by giving you the energy that you need to make it through your day. If you are interested in making a positive change in your daily lifestyle, I challenge you to try this for one week and eat smaller portions of food and eat healthier snacks and you will be amazed on how much better you will feel in just a week.

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