Healthy Living: Nutritious snacks make for a healthy habit
Healthy snacking may actually be the key to preventing overeating, one expert says. YNN's Kafi Drexel filed the following report.
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Snacking doesn't have to be a bad habit. It can actually be one of the healthiest.
“So often we think of negative because we think of a vending machine with candy with high sugar, things that are fried, chips and things like that which aren't going to be good for us,” says registered dietician Sharon Richter. “The other is we get concerned about ‘if I consume more calories, it means I'm going to be putting on weight.’ We often don't understand that snacking benefits us because we don't go to our next meal hungry.”
There are a few key things to focus on when it comes to planning snacks. Make sure the sugar content isn't too high and that there’s plenty of fiber and protein.
“The fiber is important when you’re snacking because it’s going to help keep you full and help keep cholesterol levels down,” says Richter. “The protein also because it does help keep you full and also for repairing muscles. So also after you exercise, too, having a snack that has some protein in it is important.”
Richter, who also serves as a spokesperson for KIND Healthy Snacks, says aiming for more nuts, whole grains, and colorful fruits and vegetables is a great way to get those nutrients in.
She also has a way to avoid going overboard come snack time.
“The American Dietetic Association talked about also, they did studies where they gave people full-sized candy or smaller portions of it. When you have smaller portions, that's what you eat,” says Richter. “So I love these little snack bags. So I just put in a bunch of veggies.”
Richter says a good snack should not only leave you feeling less hungry but also curb your appetite to keep you from overeating later on.
“A study came out in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics that looked at two snacks a day consisting of a bar that contained nuts and fruit in it, like the KIND bars, and it did show that people's appetite didn't increase at meals,” says Richter.
So before that next big meal, consider having a snack first.