In the 21 days to Intentional Health Challenge, our next challenge is for all age groups…..the Healthy Snacks Challenge. Do you have at least one snack a day? If you are a non-snacker than today is your day off from challenges!
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When it comes to eating grain free snacks we want nutritious and tasty. Check out the The Best 8 Grain Free Healthy Snacks for healthy options.
We do live in a culture that tends to look at snacking around mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and early evening. I do not believe that we’ve “always” had set snack times. It’s interesting to learn about the pros and cons of snacking.
What is a snack? “a small amount of food eaten between a meal.”
The Healthy Snacks Challenge Approach
- Benefits of Snacking & Negative effects of Snacking
- Keys to healthy snacking.
- Challenge: Create a list of 10 healthy snacks you would enjoy.
Do you like to snack?? Frequently or between every meal? I’m snacking as I write this post! It keeps my energy levels up and my brain engaged. As I was doing research for this challenge, I do see that the negative effects of snacking definitely has merit.
Negative Effects of Snacking
Grab & Go. Grabbing pre-package foods that require no planning and are at our fingertips.
Exceed healthy caloric intake. It causes us to eat more calories than we can burn in one day, leading to unwanted weight gain.
Snacking between meals can often lead to “all day grazing”. I know people that eat their way through their day, never stopping to eat a full nutritious meal.
Increased tooth decay. Our teeth never get a break with constant food particles left behind to build tartar.
Waste of time. Interesting view by people that eat a substantial meal high in protein and fiber. They do not have any hunger pains throughout their day, and see snacking as a waste of time.
Sugary snacks. Snacks that contain more than 2-3 grams of sugar are going to cause our body to crave more sugar. Unfortunately this includes fruit, especially fruit high in sugar like dehydrated pineapple, papaya, bananas and apples. “Fruit that is highest and lowest in sugar”.
Pre-packaged snacks. Most of the pre-packaged snacks on the market are lacking in whole food ingredients, contain little if any nutrition, high in sodium, calories and sugar. These types of snacks only make you hungrier in the long run.
After reading that list, “snacks” would definitely have a bad reputation. Fortunately for all of us, we can look at the many benefits of snacking as well.
Benefits of Snacking
Added energy between meals. Keep up our caloric intake to sustain us between meals.
Even blood sugar/insulin levels. Snacking can allow our bodies to not have dips in our blood sugar.
Tendency to not overeat. You’ll not have a “starved” feeling at meal time, meaning you’ll have correct portion sizes. Small snacks help us to not overeat.
Opportunity to eat more fruit. Fruit is actually best eaten between meals and earlier on in the day. (Note, fruit doesn’t make a good choice before bed due to it’s sugar content.)
Boosts our intake of vegetables. It can be difficult to get in 3-4 servings of vegetables a day. When we eat vegetables as a snack, we give our bodies that added nutrition.
Allows for a mini-break during the day to recharge. Stopping to take in a snack is both mentally and physically beneficial.
Gives immune system a boost. Many foods are beneficial when we’re trying to prevent illness, so providing our body those extra nutrients is wonderful!
Keys to Excellent Snacking
- Chose wholesome food with no refined sugars/flours, no artificial colors or flavors, and no preservatives.
- Moderation. Remember a snack “is a small portion of food” eaten between meals.
- By consuming protein during your main meal times, you’ll be more sated throughout your day and only chose small snacks.
- The best snack times are 2-3 hours after breakfast and lunch. If you chose a bedtime snack, you want to allow at least 2 hours after dinner but not eat 2 hours before bedtime. Health Dangers of Eating Late at Night by Dr. Mercola.
- Plan ahead. Purposely purchase food that would be a healthy snack. I like to order online through Thrive Market.
Poor Examples of Snacks
- Soda
- Chips
- Ice Cream
- Traditionally sweetened yogurt
- Power bars
- Processed granola bars (made with refined sugar, corn, and flours)
- Sugar cereals
- Candy
- Chocolate Bars (made with refined sugar and low cacao content)
- Pre-packaged snack cakes and doughnuts
- Movie theater or microwave popcorn
- Pre-packaged “fruit” snacks
Healthy Choices for Snacks
- Fruit: grapefruit, kiwi, raspberries, blueberries, peaches and apricots.
- Homemade Granola Gluten Free Maple Granola and High Energy Cacao Granola.
- Green tea and Herbal teas
- Nut butters and apples (Chose nut butters with no added sugars)
- Nut butters and celery
- Veggie slices served with hummus
- Blackberries with Vanilla Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt
- Plantain Chips and salsa.
- Hard boiled eggs.
- Epic Soft Jerky Bites.
- Frozen banana cocoa “ice cream”
- Homemade applesauce or organic unsweetened applesauce
- Granola Bars made with whole ingredients. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Trail Bar Recipe
- Grain free (Fitjoy) Pretzel Twists
- Roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds
- Grain free sea salt crackers served with goat’s cheese or diary free Diaya cheese slices.
- Homemade energy balls. Peanut Butter Cacao Energy Balls Recipe
- Small fruit and veggie smoothie
- Grain Free blueberry muffins.
Healthy Snacks Challenge
What are the reasons you chose to snack?
I like snacking for the energy boost and that is keeps my blood sugar from taking a dip. It’s hard to pick out my favorite snacks as I have so many! I could narrow it down to sunbutter on celery, Epic Salmon soft bites jerky, Quinn gluten free pretzels and berries on homemade granola.
Challenge: Create a list of at least 10 snacks that you would like to enjoy this week.
Share your challenge one of 4 ways; by commenting below, commenting on my Facebook page, Instagram page or email me your acceptance. Use #accept21dayhealthchallenge on your social media comments.
Improving our health together,