Eat Well Wednesday: Snacking habits

Posted on 25 March, 2015

I’ve helped lots of people with their nutrition over the years. And a common theme has emerged amongst them…

Snacking is a problem.

Someone should have told Snacking that with great power comes great responsibility because it has the power to either make or break your diet. Getting your snacking habits right is a vital part of achieving your health and/or fitness goals.

So why do we snack?

Hunger would be the most obvious answer, however, there are many other reasons why you reach for food in-between meals and hunger’s got nothing to do with it.

Your boyfriend was a douche.

Your best friend baked.

Your boss was unbearable all day.

Your two-year-old drew all over your walls with permanent marker.

The TV was on and that’s what you do.

You always have something to eat with your evening cup of tea.

Your dog peed all over your brand new plush rug.

You finally handed in an assignment.

The eccentric lady in your office cooked and you felt rude to say no.

You’re premenstrual and you needed to placate the luteal monster (actually if you do need to do this then here is a really good recipe – homemade peanut butter cups – use responsibly).

You get the picture!

You can’t over eat the fruit! So eat up!

Boredom eating, emotional eating, procrastination eating, I-should-be-cleaning-the-house eating (this is me) are all things we struggle with from time to time. They can lead us to developing snacking habits that aren’t so great.

Now, don’t get me wrong, a little bit of sugar or processed food is totally fine but when it sneaks into your daily life and starts to be a significant proportion of your diet, it’s time to take stock and look at making some changes.

What to do if snacking is a problem

You need to figure out why you’re snacking.

Is it psychological?

If so, you need to make a plan to help you deal with the scenarios above that doesn’t involve food or at least poor food choices. Taking note of your thought process, your self-talk and the way that you process stress will help you discover solutions for improving your eating habits from that perspective.

The Healthy Eating Hub has practitioners that can help you with these kind of issues. We know how challenging this can be and offer non-judgmental real life advice.

Nuts are a nutritious and healthy snack.

Is it hunger? 

If so, then you’ve got two options:

Option 1

Eat more good quality food at your main meals. You’re hungry because you haven’t eaten enough. This is especially true for the afternoon slump. Often craving sugar or carbohydrate in the afternoons is because you probably haven’t eaten properly or enough throughout the day. Here are some tips:

• up your vegetable or salad portion—in fact go nuts. You can’t really overeat whole, fresh vegetables (well you can but you’d have to be pretty crazy, like the bok choy lady – seriously, Google it).
• have 2 tins of tuna instead of 1
• add chick peas or other legume to your salad.
• up the amount of chicken breast in your sandwich
• have 1 cup of brown rice instead of ½ cup.

Option 2

Plan some healthy, satisfying snacks to help you get through the day. Then you won’t resort to the not-so-healthy options at the service station when you’re filing up your car with petrol (we’ve all been there!) Here are some ideas:

• Yoghurt – Choose one that’s got a low amount of added sugar. Less than 12g of sugar per 100g of yoghurt is a good cut off. High fat or low fat is a much of a muchness. Just go with your preference. A natural yoghurt with live cultures and minimal added sugar will offer beneficial bacteria, protein, calcium, magnesium, B vitamins and more. I prefer a yoghurt with a short ingredients list—check labels.
• Nuts – Rich in fibre and high in nutrition these are fabulous to snack on. Eat them mindfully and one at a time. Don’t’ rush eating them. Give your body a chance to savour and enjoy them. A handful of raw or dry-roasted nuts is a great little afternoon pick-me-up.
• Seeds – These are quite nibblely (I’m deciding that’s a word) and more-ish. Think pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and linseeds. They offer healthy fats, minerals, fibre and more. Why not make up a little trail mix of seeds and nuts! The Muesli Bar, a fab local business, can do this for you!
• High fibre baked goods (sweet or savoury) – Definitely get your bake on! Use high fibre ingredients like wholemeal flour, legumes, nuts and seeds. Keep added sugar to a minimum or use fresh or dried fruit to sweeten.
• Vegetable sticks – If you snacked on one carrot and a handful of snow peas you’d consume two of your five serves of vegetables for the day. Try cucumber, capsicum and sugar snap peas as other yummy vegetables to snack on raw.
• Legumes – Chick Nuts and Fava Nuts – get on them. They’re high fibre, low sodium, low sugar and just delicious. I love snacking on these. So do my kids.
• Hummus – It’s so delicious I could kiss whoever invented it. I love it on rice crackers, toast or with carrots, celery and other raw vegetables.
• High fibre muesli bars – Muesli bars can often contain lots of sugar so be a food label nazi and pick the one with the least sugar and the most fibre. I like this one by Goodness Superfoods.
• Fruit – You seriously can’t go wrong with whole, fresh fruit. Bananas, apples, pears, oranges, berries, kiwi fruit, melon…the options are endless.

If you’re still feeling lost about snacking and would like some professional help, Harriet Walker dietitian and personal trainer, will be running a cooking workshop at The Healthy Eating Hub on healthy snacking next Thursday 2 April.

For the cost of a consultation you get: one hour with Harriet cooking five different snack recipes plus you’ll also leave armed with a beautiful box of fresh produce, (pictured below).

Then you can head home and have all the fresh ingredients to cook the recipes yourself at home.

If you use the code, HERCAN, you can receive a $20 discount off your ticket.

The essentials
What: Healthy Snacks Cooking Workshop
When: 7pm to 8pm Thursday 2 April
Where: The Healthy Eating Hub, 170 Flemington Road, Harrison
How much: $140 per person
Register online at www.thehealthyeatinghub.com.au