Snacking is one of the most divisive habits in the world of nutrition.
Some say it is essential for maintaining a high metabolism and healthy blood sugar level. Others claim it’s the most harmful habit you can engage in if you’re trying to lose weight.
Here’s the truth…
Snacking itself has little to no impact on weight loss.
The problem comes from the types of food we choose to snack on and not the actual habit of snacking itself. There’s a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to the best snacks for weight loss, and that’s why most of us are seriously messing up.
A lot of popular snacks are not only jam-packed with calories but also do a terrible job of satisfying your hunger. This typically leads to excess snacking throughout the day, and/or failing to compensate for these extra calories in your next meal.
Either way, you end up consuming more daily calories than necessary.
It’s not an easy habit to avoid, especially when many of the worst snacks for weight loss are marketed as healthy ‘guilt-free’ options.
Snacking is widely believed to be better than allowing yourself to become ravenously hungry, as this can affect your performance in most physical and mental tasks. Often, it leads to your overeating during mealtimes too.
The vast majority of people are malnourished. That is to say that they eat too much of the wrong stuff and not enough of the good stuff.
Then, we put them on a calorie restriction diet. now we put them in a calorie restriction program. So they eat even fewer nutrients.
That’s never going to work.
— Eric Edmeades, Author of Mindvalley’s WildFit program
So, your best solution is to learn more about what healthy snacks to buy and consume throughout the day.
The guide below reveals what to look for when shopping for snack foods, as well as a dozen of our favorite snacks to buy and eat.
There is plenty of ‘low fat’ or ‘diet’ versions of our favorite snacks on the market, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a healthy alternative, nor an intelligent decision to support your weight loss plan.
Often, removing the fat from our favorite snacks also removes the taste. To make up for this, the food producers tend to replace it with unhealthy additives, including sugars, flours, and salts.
Many times, this sends the calories rocketing as high as the ‘full fat’ product.
If you’re trying to achieve significant weight loss there are some key components of the best snacks you can graze on throughout the day.
This list of ingredients will help you to mastermind your own healthy snacks.
Protein reduces appetite and boosts metabolism. Protein also aids the production of appetite-reducing hormones, such as cholecystokinin, peptide YY and Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Because fibers take longer to digest, compared to most sugars and starches, they help you to feel more full after eating. The slow speed of digestion helps fibers to pass through your body without spiking to dangerous levels.
This compound suppresses appetite, lowers blood sugar and boosts metabolism. Apple cider vinegar contains an especially large dosage of acetic acid, so it’s a great ingredient to add to fruit smoothies.
This compound helps the liver convert excess fat into energy. It’s most commonly found in green tea.
Make sure to get plenty of these healthy nutrients into your body, while avoiding unhelpful compounds such as sugar, saturated fats, and dairy products.
Milk and dairy products have no place in the human digestive system. Your health will be dramatically improved by eliminating dairy products from your diet.
— Eric Edmeades, Author of Mindvalley’s WildFit program
Ok, so we’ve talked about some ingredients you’ll need to keep a lookout for when you want to shop for healthy store bought snacks, but what about making them?
Making food can be a drag, especially when you expect things to be quick and you end up cooking for hours.
So we curated a list of easy DIY snack recipes that are a breeze to make and deliver a ton of health benefits, keep you full for longer, and spurring on your weight loss.
Here are a dozen of the best snacks that are easy to make and help you feel full while spurring on your weight loss.
Why it’s good for you:
Sweet potatoes are packed with Vitamin A and Vitamin C which are great immunity boosters. Plus, you can expect to consume around four grams of protein per potato.
Cinnamon is a tasty and relatively guilt-free seasoning you can add to a number of snacks, instead of sugars or salt. It goes great with paprika in this recipe.
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Bananas are great examples of a low-calorie fruit, which give a noticeable energy spike without the crash hours later.
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Coconuts are very filling and fantastic for boosting metabolism. Meanwhile, almonds, dates and chia seeds are great low-calorie, metabolism-boosting snacks.
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Avocado is packed with healthy fats, and is famed for its ability to lower cholesterol and keep hunger at bay.
Consider using cucumber, carrot or other vegetables to dip into your finished product.
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A hearty and filling meaty soup. You should be able to create several soups with one batch of bones.
As well as stimulating weight loss, this meal is known to strengthen your immune system, aid digestive issues and reduce joint pain.
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Wraps are a popular afternoon snack, but the breads used are packed with carbs and can derail your weight loss diet. This nutritious vegetable wrap contains no carbs, so you can enjoy it without the guilt.
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Celery is a negative-calorie vegetable. Your body uses up more calories to digest it than you’ll gain by eating it. Meanwhile, almond butter is packed with fiber and protein.
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A sweet snack with barely any calories. Apples are mostly made of fibers and water, and this is what makes them so filling.
Mix in the appetite-suppressing and metabolism-boosting qualities of cinnamon and you’ve got a delicious healthy snack.
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Another deliciously filling smoothie harnessing the benefits of sweet potatoes, ginger, chia seeds and almond butter.
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A 2019 YouGov poll found these to be the top 10 food and snack brands in the United States.
The majority of these brands specialize in chocolate snacks. These snacks may deliver a brief jolt of energy as you attempt to make it to your next meal, but this is usually followed by an energy crash within a couple of hours.
Research suggests that sugary snacks also tend to make you feel hungrier in the long run.
If you substitute these popular brands for the healthy alternatives above, you’ll not only lose weight, you’ll also benefit from feeling fuller and more energetic for longer periods.
When you’re really well nourished your body has a tremendous capacity for cleansing itself of toxins and when you’re really well nourished, your body doesn’t crave a lot of non-functional food anymore.
— Eric Edmeades, Author of Mindvalley’s WildFit program
If you want to be healthy and build healthy snacking habits you’ll need to become more health-conscious and mindful about the food you eat on a day to day basis.
Author of Mindvalley’s WildFit program, Eric Edmeades wrote a great article about why we eat and what drives our hunger. It’s a recommended good starter read for you to learn about mindful eating and the three human hungers that drive your food choices.
If you’re aiming to lose weight, the best snacks that you should be going for are those which are low in sugar and low in calories, yet packed with protein and healthy nutrients.
Provided your choice of snack meets his criteria, you can enjoy your favorite snacks without feeling guilty.
Got a suggestion for a go-to healthy snack? Tell us and share it in the comment section below.
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