Easy & Filling Healthy Snacks!

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Do you find yourself losing energy by the late afternoon? Or that you sometimes feel hungry between meals? If you’re not snacking, that might be why!

Snacking is absolutely a part of a healthy and consistent diet. When you go too long without eating, your blood sugar drops. You’ll feel tired, cranky, and ravenous, meaning it’ll be more likely that you’ll overeat at your next meal. If losing weight is on your agenda, keeping your body constantly fueled is a great way to help you feel in control when you’re hungry.

Snacks, just like meals, should be balanced. This means pair your carbs with protein and/or healthy fat, and always keep fiber in mind. Protein, fat, and fiber help your digestive system process carbohydrates more slowly, which keeps you full for longer AND gives you longer lasting energy.

Some of my go-to snacks are:

Apple with 1 tbsp nut butter

Carrot sticks/any sliced veggies with hummus

High-fiber bread with mashed avocado and Everything But the Bagel seasoning

Greek yogurt with almonds and berries

Mary’s Gone Crackers or Simple Mills crackers with hummus or guacamole

Salmon/tuna salad with cucumbers

The snack possibilities are endless! If you have the time you can amplify your snack by making something like apple nachos (pictured above). This is one of my favorites when I’m feeling a little more hungry than just an apple with nut butter:

1 apple, sliced

1 tbsp natural almond butter, drizzled over the sliced apples

Small handful chopped walnuts

Top with any seeds you like! (hemp, chia, flax)

With this snack you get added omega-3s from the walnuts, fiber and protein from the almond butter, and extra fiber and protein from the seeds.

If snacking isn’t something you do regularly, add it to your agenda. It helps get you out of the habit of restricting, gives you an energy boost on a busy day, and prevents you from feeling ravenous at your next meal. Prep sliced veggies or buy pre-sliced at the beginning of the week, buy single-serve hummus packs, whatever you need to make snacking easier and more accessible for you.

What is your go-to balanced snack?

Abigail Rapaport
Abigail Rapaport, MS, RD, is a practicing dietitian & food and nutrition consultant who provides nutrition counseling and healthy lifestyle services to her clients.
www.abigailnutrition.com
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