Keep Snacks fresh and low in sugar otherwise you’ll get a quick ‘lift’ followed by a dive into a letheragic wave. That goes for drinks too! Caffeine, milk chocolate, muffins, cakes, any ‘white’ carbs without the fibre and anything else with a high sugar content may give you the pick me up you think you need but only in the short term and it’s a very short term! What will happen is that an hour or so later you will feel sleepy and struggle to concentrate. Choose snacks that will give you a natural energy rather than a ‘buzz’ that lasts to see you through to the next meal. My Top Ten snacks are…
- Pear with 1 tbsp of natural yoghurt
- Apple, 1 cup or 1 whole
- Handful of unsalted almonds/brazil nuts (five or half cup) and freshly squeezed juice.
- Rice cakes (2 medium size) with one tablespoon of hummus
- Pot of Natural Yoghurt, 1 cup
- Homemade Museli Bar
- Half Melon and handful of nuts, ½ cup
- Handful of berries – blueberries, strawberries, 1 cup
- Carrot Sticks, 1 cup with 2 tablespoons of hummus
- Green and Black’s 70% or more coca solids – 2 squares (closer to chocolates original state, better quality and you eat less
Some popular “healthy” grab and go snacks may be doing more harm than good..
Ones to avoid and why:
Granola Bars/Special K (or similar) cereal bars
Claim: A great snack made from whole grain oats.
Fact: Nearly 50% of the carbohyrdrates come from sugar, usually in form of high corn syrup and contain less than 1g of fibre, so the content of oats is actually quite small!
Pretzels (often offered on the airplane!)
Claim: “A light snack made from wheat”
Fact: High is salt (often as sodium on the label) and get digested very fast by the body,so you’ll crave more and more of them. You digest them nearly as fast as sugar. Contain no vitamins or nutrients.
Trail Mix
Claim: Nuts and other healthy treats all mixed together
Fact: can often contain sweet pieces with hydrogenated vegetable oils and food colouring dyes. A small handful can contain nearly 200 calories.
Fruit Yoghurt
Claim: Yogurt is healthy part of your diet
Fact: In fruit yogurts up to 50-75% of the calories come from sugar, even with the low-fat varieties. Some contain high fructose corn syrup and poor quality fruit. Go for Natural Yogurt, organic and add your own natural fruit.
Energy Drinks
Claim: Gives you an energy boost!
Fact: Contain high caffeine content for the pick me up (avoid red bull unless you want to buzz for 2 days then crash for a further 4) and a hidden source of sugar – sometimes 8 teaspoons in some brands. Go for green Teas, Herbal of fruit teas instead.
