Do You Snack Smart? 3 Tips

Do you snack smart?  What are you eating for your snacks and small meals? <== This is SUPER important!

An important part of eating for fat loss is to keep your metabolism strong all day long with small, sensible meals and snacks.  While it sounds simple to eat a little something every 2-3 hours throughout the day, when you choose the wrong food it actually does more damage than good.   Very few people snack right, and this results in frustrating weight gain.

If you’re eating the wrong thing every 2-3 hours then it’s easy to gain weight quickly, rather than the result that you want ==> which is to drop fat and clothes sizes.

I have 3 Smart Snacking Tips for you to keep you on track and burning fat all day long.

Smart Snacking Tip #1: Don’t Snack on Sugar.

Sugar is a huge problem!  Snack on sugar and you WILL gain weight.  So when it comes to snacks, this needs to be the number one nutrient that you check.  Your frequent snacks should contain very little, or zero, added sugars.

WARNING: many ‘health’ foods have massive amounts of added sugars, which will destroy your results.  Items like protein bars, jerky, dried fruit, green juice, and trail mix often have added sugars and preservatives that you need to watch out for and avoid.

Instead of added sugars, your snacks should be a nice blend of protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates.

Smart Snacking Tip #2: Don’t Eat Too Much.

What is the size of your snack?  Its got to be petite in order to stoke our metabolism without adding too many calories.

A sneaky thing about packaged foods is that often it gives the nutritional facts for 2 or even 2.5 servings on a package that you will likely polish off the entire package.

If the servings are more than just one then you’ll need to do some quick math.  Calculate the total calories, sugar, carbs, fat and protein.  Make sure that the numbers line up with your target nutrition sums.

Always be aware of how many servings you are eating in a single sitting.  Do the math if you’re eating more than one serving – be honest with yourself!

Smart Snacking Tip #3: Choose Natural and Homemade.

Sure, packaged snacks are convenient.  But know that you will always see better results by eating whole foods found in nature, or snacks that you’ve made with real food ingredients.  Even the healthiest packaged protein bar from the store is going to contain preservatives and additives that are completely avoided in homemade foods.

A handful of raw nuts, a piece of fruit with fresh nut butter, a hard boiled egg, a homemade fitness muffin, some chicken breast on veggies or chopped flank steak on a salad are all better options than any packaged snack.

Here are a few other healthy snacks to reach for…

• Apple slices with a tablespoon of almond butter
• Turkey slices with a handful of grapes
• 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt with 12 raspberries
• 1 hard boiled egg with celery sticks
• A protein shake made with water, 1 scoop of protein, and 1 scoop of powdered greens

When possible, stick with whole foods found in nature and snacks and meals that you make at home.