maven&meddler

Normally, I don’t approve of snacking between meals. I mean, really, if your a normal, reasonably healthy person and you can’t get through three to four hours without feeding yourself …. get real. Snacking is usually a symptom of:

1- Being bored or thirsty.

2- Not having eaten a proper meal, such as a healthy breakfast or sat down and mindfully eaten your lunch or dinner. Scarfing faux food on the fly is one reason you’ll be driven to snacking on unhealthy, unsatisfying choices.

Snacking mindlessly, on unhealthy faux-foods, is where it really goes off the tracks and into the dietary ditch. So, why not arm yourself with the right snacks, if you’re snacking inclined?

Simple peanut butter and saltines aren’t that bad, when kept in moderation. They’re way better than the packaged, and artificial ingredient laden faux nut butter and crackers out of a vending machine and cheaper.

A zip-lok of whole grain ( and read the ingredients label to verify that) crackers, with some baby carrots, a few nuts and a slice of low-fat cheese works great.

Having whole, fresh fruit around can curb unhealthy snacking, too. If you aren’t quite hungry enough to enjoy a nice apple, then you’re not really hungry. Get up and move around, breath, and go get some water. Initiate a conversation, or a different activity. Anything except sit there and feed.

Avoid vending machine faux foods and food lookalikes like the plague. Also avoid anything with refined carbohydrates such as refined white flour and refined sugars - no matter what they’re called. A sugar is a sugar is a sugar. This imitation food simply spikes your blood sugar and sets up a desire for more of same.

Don’t be tricked by labels. ‘Natural’, ‘all natural’, ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’ is meaningless. There are no current regulations to stop the advertising con-artists here. Read the ingredients list carefully.

What’s a 100 calorie snack?

• 1 cup sliced bananas and fresh raspberries
• 2 cups of carrots
• 3 1/2 cups air-popped popcorn
• 5 melba toast crackers, rye or pumpernickel
• 2 tablespoons of peanuts
• 2 domino-sized slices of low-fat Colby or cheddar cheese
• 1 fat-free chocolate pudding cup

Be a skeptic about claims of low-fat. That almost always means they’ve upped the sugar or sodium to compensate.

Whole grain pita with hummus a a good alternative - but watch portion size creep! Add a piece of fruit and you should be set.

Be oh so choosey… picky, picky. Become a royal pain the neck about what you can eat and wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Become a food snob. Make rules, and then follow them. Gee, the only candy you could sully your delicate tastebuds with is the ultra-premium, expensive stuff. Fast food burgers? Yikes! They have that factory farmed meat that is so often tained by e.coli. That limits your choices and opportunities to go off the reservation!

A glass of skim or 1% milk, soy milk or buttermilk will satify you longer than a similarly sized soda. The protein keeps you feeling full.

Don’t be gulled by sugar-free soda. The artificial sweeteners contribute to metabolic disorder and keep the brain thinking “Sweet! Gotta have it!”

Don’t rely on fruit juices. They’re simply liquid sugar.

Don’t drink your snack. Tossing back a smoothie is too fast to give your stomach and brain time to communicate that sense of fullness, and they don’t give you the same satisfaction that chewing does.

Snacks that can stand in for a small meal:

• Toast one-half of a whole-wheat English muffin. Top with one slice Canadian bacon, a tomato slice and one slice low-fat American cheese. Microwave until the cheese melts.
• Spread 1 tablespoon part-skim ricotta cheese over one-half of a small cinnamon-raisin bagel. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired and top with a thinly sliced apple.
• Top a small baked potato with 2 tablespoons fat-free plain yogurt and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning.
• Layer a 6-inch soft corn or flour tortilla with 2 tablespoons shredded low-fat cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese. Microwave until the cheese melts. Slice into bite-sized pie shapes. Dip into some salsa if desired.
• Mix 1/4 cup cold leftover chicken or convenience-type chunk chicken with sliced seedless grapes, 1/2 tablespoon sunflower seeds, 1 tablespoon plain low-fat yogurt or fat-free mayonnaise and a dash of curry powder. Stuff into half of a whole-wheat pita pocket.
• And there’s always that standby: A bowl of truly whole-grain, low sugar cereal with skim or 1% milk or soy, and some berries.

Make your grain choices whole grains. And, don’t rely on bogus front of the package claims. The first ingredient on the back of the package list is a whole grain or it’s not a whole grain product. And, when sugar is the second ingredient, toss it back.

Bags of trail mix can be healthy - in small quantities. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep your hand out of a big bag of it. This can be a diet buster if you’re not careful.

At the end of it all, however, you should train yourself to become - for the most part - snack free. The French really disapprove of snacking and have the lower weights to prove it. The focus their calories on great meals, and really enjoy them to the hilt.

When you’ve done that, you just don’t need snacking.