Your stomach is growling but lunch is hours away. You’re eyeing up the chocolate cake on the counter, but know that you’ll feel guilty if you indulge. If you think your best option is to avoid the snack altogether and wait for lunch, think again…

A wide variety of snacks can fit into a healthy lifestyle, so you don’t need to avoid snacks. Rather, you need to know why and how snacks fit into a healthy diet and discover creative, healthy ways to satisfy your hunger. You may feel guilty about snacking, but snacks aren’t bad for you. In fact mini meals between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner and even just before bed time can be extremely beneficial. Here’s why:

• Binge control: Eating several healthy snacks a day keeps you from over eating at meal times so you actually consume fewer total calories for the day.
• Extra energy and nutrients: Snacks are a great way to boost energy and up your nutrient intake.
• Brain power: Regular snacks help you concentrate better because your brain needs a steady supply of glucose (energy) to function optimally.
• Snacking satisfaction: Research shows that eating several small meals a day encourages weight loss. Ideally you should not leave more than three hours between meals and snacks. This is because regular meals and snacks help keep your blood sugar levels stable and your metabolism (fat burning) high.

When choosing snacks you do, however, need to choose wisely. If you snack on chocolate and crisps this won’t do you, or your waistline, any good. The snacks you choose do need to be nutritious and good for you so select foods that can satisfy your hunger, supply your body with energy, keep your blood sugar levels stable and provide important nutrients. And make sure you choose a wide variety of foods to ensure that you get all the necessary nutrients, and to make your snacks more interesting. Here are some of your best snack picks:

• Whole grains: Whole-grain snacks are rich in complex carbohydrates and fibre, which give you immediate energy that has some staying power. Look for items such as oat cakes, rye crackers and rice cakes.
• Fruits and vegetables: Eating fruits and vegetables provides a feeling of fullness with no fat and only a small amount of calories. They also provide vitamins, minerals, calcium, fibre and other nutrients.
• Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds (and legumes) are a good source of protein, which helps keep you feeling fuller longer. The fat in nuts and seeds is unsaturated fat, a healthy kind of fat.

Useful ‘Recipes’:

The healthy snack ideas below minimise fat and calories and maximise whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The first three will satisfy cravings for something sweet and the other three cravings for salty or savoury food.

1. A tablespoon of dried fruits: These are low in fat and have a low glycemic index, which means they’re absorbed slowly from the stomach into the bloodstream and make you feel full longer. Dried fruits are also high in energy boosting iron and fibre.
2. Berry mix: In a large bowl, mix blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries. This is a very healthy fruit snack. It’s low in fat and contains a lot of vitamins and bioflavinoids that can boost weight loss.
3. Fruit smoothies: A low fat energy boosting snack bursting with nutrients that tastes delicious.
4. Two handfuls of raw vegetables: Dip carrots, celery, peppers, mushrooms or courgettes in one tablespoon of houmous or salsa. Veggies are a healthy treat because they are high in antioxidants; the naturally occurring compounds that help protect the body from disease.
5. A cup of low-fat hearty vegetable, lentil or pumpkin soup: The vegetables provide powerful antioxidant energy boosting benefits and the soup will fill you up for hours.
6. Cold beans: They have little fat but heaps of key nutrients, including the B vitamin folic acid, copper, zinc, magnesium and potassium. They are also a great source of protein (usually found in higher fat foods), fibre and complex carbs that can stabilise blood sugars, keep hunger at bay and keep your weight down.

And Finally …

Most of us associate treats with sweets, cakes and chocolate. It’s time to break that association. Not only are these so called ‘treats’ laden with saturated fat, sugar and calories, in the long run they will end up making you feel worse. If you eat healthy treats not only are they good for you – there is no guilt trip.

Remember too that treats don’t always have to involve food. Why not treat yourself to an aromatherapy massage, a long soak in the bath, a new hairstyle, a night out with friends, a trip to the cinema or anything that doesn’t involve food but makes you feel really pampered.

Lifting weights makes your bones – not just your muscles – stronger. But don’t just take my word for it – here’s the research to prove it:

In one study, people with lots of muscle and little fat had higher bone density than those who had little muscle and lots of fat, despite the fact that the latter group weighed more (Clinical Exercise Physiology, May 2000).

In the past, it was believed that the heavier you were, the stronger your bones, but this study shows that it’s not just how much you weigh, but what type of weight you’re carrying. Muscles are better predictors of bone mineral content or density than fat mass or weight according to researchers involved in the study.

The study suggests that changes in muscle mass result in changes in bone that are three times greater than similar changes in fat. That means that if you gain a pound of muscle, you’ll increase bone strength three times more than if you gain a pound of fat.

But the reverse is also true: if you lose a pound of muscle, you’ll decrease bone strength three times more than if you lose a pound of fat. By lifting weights, you can prevent some of the loss of muscle that often occurs as you get older or when you’re trying to lose weight. If weight training isn’t for you there are plenty of other ways to build your muscle strength, for example doing gentle exercises at home – press ups, squats and sit ups, spring cleaning the house or carrying your shopping home.

1. Chop up some carrots, peppers and/or cucumber and keep it in the fridge for when you feel hungry. If you have some hummous dip your crudités in it!
2. Always have a store cupboard full of tinned vegetables and fruit such as chopped tomatoes, baked beans (sugar free), peaches and grapefruit. Buy tinned fruit in its own fruit juice as this is a better choice than the ones in syrup.
3. If you like dried fruit keep raisins, prunes and apricots in your kitchen. You can also use them to stuff an eating apple and bake in the oven.
4. If you are in a rush and have to resort to a ready meal, add some steamed vegetables or salad to the meal to balance it out. Try to have a piece of fresh fruit for dessert.
5. Quick food needn’t be unhealthy food; stir-fries are an excellent way to increase the amount of vegetables you eat.
6. Try making a list of meal ideas and a shopping list for the week, keeping in mind which days you’ll have time to cook from scratch and which days you may want something easier to assemble. You will be amazed how much easier it is to achieve your five-a-day as you’ve planned in advance your week’s fruit and vegetable intake.
7. Use pulses. One portion of your five-a-day can come from pulses such as lentils, baked beans or peas. You can buy organic frozen peas and also organic tinned kidney beans.
8. Got some fruit lying around? Make a smoothie! Bananas are an excellent base for a smoothie, but any fruit will do. Add organic soya, rice or oat milk and use a blender to whiz it all up. A 12 ounce glass of banana and apple smoothie equals two servings of fruit – an easy and delicious way to add produce to your diet.
9. Have you ever had bored children at home wanting to do something in the school holidays? Why not get them involved in the kitchen, ask them to help you with something fun like baking a fruit cake or making a dessert such as a fruit crumble. Eating the end product together is great fun.
10. Choose meals that are packed with veggies and desserts that are fruit based. Craving soup for dinner? Choose a chunky vegetable stew. Is pasta on the menu tonight? Remember that tomato-based spaghetti sauce counts as a vegetable. Having pizza for lunch? Buy one with added mushrooms, green peppers and onions; then add your own broccoli when you get home. Craving something sweet for dessert? A baked apple with honey is delicious. Unsweetened organic live yoghurt mixed with fruit (or a spoonful of pure fruit jam – no sugar) is a sweet, creamy, satisfying, nutritious and light alternative to sugary, fatty cakes and desserts that will weigh you down.