The Best Snacks That Help You Loose Weight And Keep You Healthy

What are the best snacks that help us lose weight AND keep it off?

This is an important topic because I’ve noticed many of us sabotage our diets because of a few bad snacks.

Snacking is very important for when trying to loose weight or even maintain your current weight. Our bodies need fuel every 3-4 hours in order to keep our systems running at peek performance.

When we don’t eat for long periods of time our body will react to that by slowing everything down to make sure that it doesn’t burn too much, and in turn this causes damage to certain systems that require fuel 100% of the time, e.g. our brains.

We need fuel to keep our bodies in the fuel/calorie burning state, but the kind of fuel/calories that you give it are just as important as the fueling itself.

I’m going to cover some of the top snacks that will make sure your providing your body with the right fuel to keep all systems firing at an optimal rate, and also snacks that will satisfy those cravings for something delicious.

A few tips to keep in mind while you are snacking:
1. Don’t snack distracted
Turn off the TV and the smartphone and enjoy every bit of your snack

2. Always pack a snack
This way when that craving strikes, you are prepared with a way better option then hitting the drive through or vending machine.
3. Try for 200 calories or less 
When you go much higher than 200 calories we start to over snack and that really adds to our total caloric intake for the day.
4. Go for protein plus fiber
These items will make sure your providing the enough fuel to keep you going until the next meal.
5. Always have an afternoon snack
Studies show that when we snack in the afternoon we are better able to reign in our portion sizes at dinner time, helping us to reduce our over all calories.

So I’m going to go in order from what I believe might be the least satisfying to the most satisfying. Because portions have a lot of do with whether or not we are satisfied with the food item we just ate.

So to start things off, 1oz/27 almond’s with 1oz/ small ¼ cup of dried cranberries. As you can see the portion size for this snack is pretty small. But here’s the kicker, this “small” snack packs 252 calories, 4.5 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. This is the highest calorie count snack on the list and also the smallest. So while nuts have some great attributes for snacking like fiber, protein and healthy fats, they are still a high calorie item. So make sure you always measure out your nuts, otherwise you could easily be eating a meals worth of calories just in the palm of your hand.

The next snack item one cup of Edamame. Now you should always get the kind that is still in their pods because it will require more work. Just a tiny bit of extra effort will turn into feeling more satisfied with the snack because it takes you longer to eat so your brain will get the signal of satisfied long before you’re finished. Now these little babies clock in at 200 calories, 8 grams of fiber and 17 grams of protein. With all that fiber and protein you will be really fueling your body and not be looking for the next food item as soon as you’re done.

The next snack on my list is a bowl of 0% fat Greek yogurt with mixed with ½ tbsp. of honey and 1 cup of raspberries. This snack is one of my favorite go-to snacks because it’s very high in protein, fiber, and has that sweetness that I’m always looking for around midday. Also the Vitamin C in the raspberries helps increase your body’s fat burning abilities, a double win for this one. This snack comes in at 193 calories, 8 grams of fiber, and 18 grams of protein. A super great way to make sure you are getting enough protein to fuel and build stronger muscles.

Now this next snack has a lot of people nervous about one aspect of the food item, and that is the fat. Remember fat does not make you fat. I know this is what we have been told for the past three decades, but there are studies after studies that continue to debunk this terrible advice that we were given. With that being said this snack item is ½ avocado filled with 1oz 1/8 of a cup of 2% cottage cheese. This snack is a great go-to snack when you are looking for something that is very rich and creamy. Because of the creaminess of the avocado mixed with the cottage cheese, it’s just heavenly and extremely satisfying because of the heart-healthy fats. This snack comes in at 189 calorie’s, 7 grams of fiber, and 5.5 grams of protein.

This next snack many people think that it can only be eaten as a breakfast meal, but as you will see it’s a great snack. This snack is ½ cup of dry oatmeal mixed with ½ cup of blueberries. The oatmeal is great at helping regulate and slow the digestive process, therefore helping keep our blood sugars low and not causing that terrible sugar crash later in the afternoon. This snack has 200 calories, 7 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein.

This next snack in another one of my favorites: an apple with 1 tbsp. of peanut butter. I love this snack because of the crunch and sweetness that you get from the apple, and then the salty and savory taste you get from the peanut butter. It’s a great combination of flavors and textures. Because of the healthy fats in the peanut butter it will help keep your energy levels up for much longer than just having an apple alone. This snack is 211 calories, 6.5 grams of fiber and 3.5 grams of protein

And last but not least is our last snack, one whole cucumber and ½ cup of cherry tomatoes, with 3 tbsp. of hummus. As you can see this is by far the largest quantity of food compared to all the rest. This guy will take you a good 30 minutes or more to eat and has the lowest amount of calories. The hummus really is the cherry on top of this snack. It provided proteins, fats, and fiber so that we are satisfied and provides the right fuel for our bodies. This snack clocks in at only 175 calories, 3 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein.

After going through this list you can see a few common themes with all the snacks. They all have good fiber, protein, and healthy fats. These three things together insure that we are not only eating foods that will keep our metabolism up and running but are also very satisfying which is key. If you don’t enjoy your snacks, then you will be looking for the next snack much, much sooner. So make sure your snack is something you enjoy. Also when we snack we are better able to control our portion sizes at the next meal because we are not so ravenously hungry we forget about our ultimate goal, to get healthy.

So enjoy your snacks and your body will too.