Dieting doesn't mean starvation, but it does mean choosing the right foods
One of the most important, but overlooked fundamentals of weight loss is healthy snacking; I want to emphasize the word healthy.
Eating balanced snacks between meals will keep you satisfied and prevent you from eating larger portions during your three main meals of the day. Eating every two to three hours helps control your blood sugar and eliminates energy crashes, mood swings and food binges. If your blood sugar is too high or too low, your body will suffer in one way or another. Controlling your blood sugar will help control your appetite, which will help control your weight.
Healthy snacking also gives you the perfect opportunity to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Almost all the clients we've seen were lacking fruits and especially vegetables when they came to us for the first time. Natural foods like citrus and greens are loaded with nutrients that our bodies thrive on - too many to list!
These nutrients cannot be replicated with a multivitamin or supplement. Increasing these types of foods increases your calorie-to-nutrient ratio. Most of the common processed foods today offer just the opposite - very low nutrient content and high calories. We're aiming for natural foods with higher nutrients and lower calories.
A balanced snack not only consists of nutritious foods, but it also needs to include all three macronutrients - protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
A balance of these three nutrients ensures that the body is getting a balanced supply of calories. Too many carbs and not enough protein and fat in your snack will spike your blood sugar temporarily, only to give you a huge crash as your blood sugar drops, resulting in low energy and a craving for more sugar. So even though a banana is healthy, you'll want to pair it with a protein/fat food, such as a hard-boiled egg, to balance out your snack.
So what should you eat? Check out these snacks designed to help you lose weight while giving your body what it needs to function at its best.
• 1 apple and 1 tablespoon natural almond butter
• Protein smoothie - 1 scoop whey or egg protein, 1 cup frozen fruit, 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter, 8 ounces of water.
• 1 hard-boiled egg and one-half cup blueberries.
• 2 celery sticks and 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
• Greek yogurt and one-half cup raspberries.
• 1 ounce almonds and 2 ounces grapes.
• One-half cup cottage cheese with a sliced peach.
• Joshua Steckler and Mark Trapp are co-owners of Push Fitness, a personal training studio in Schaumburg specializing in weight loss, muscle toning and nutrition. Contact them at PushFitnessTraining.com.