Once upon a time three meals a day was considered the foundation stone of healthy eating and snacking in between was strictly forbidden if you were watching your weight. But the very latest research tells us a very different story and snacking in between meals isn’t condemned anymore; in fact it’s highly recommended. Obviously snacking on a whole bar of chocolate and a family pack of crisps when you feel that mid afternoon slump isn’t going to do you any good at all but a few strategically timed, balanced snacks can help you get more nutrients, stop food cravings, increase your energy and even keep wrinkles away.

As far as weight loss is concerned the nutritional tide is really turning in favour of snacking between meals. This is because we now know that hanging on until lunch or supper puts your body into starvation mode. Your metabolism slows right down and encourages your body to hold onto fat stores and hinders attempts at weight loss. If, however, you make sure you eat every two or three hours your body doesn’t feel under threat from starvation and doesn’t cling to fat in the same way.

It’s not just your waistline that benefits from regular snacking, however, your brain does too. This is because your brain relies on a steady supply of energy in the form of glucose from the food you eat. If you skip meals or go for long periods as you would with a three meal a day diet plan your blood sugar levels start to fluctuate so your brain doesn’t get that steady supply. The result: you feel tired, forgetful and grumpy.

In addition, studies also show that fluctuating blood sugars can encourage the release of the stress hormones – adrenaline and cortisol – which can not only contribute to the likelihood of weight gain, particularly around the middle, but can also aggravate the symptoms of the menopause, such as hot flushes, mood swings, insomnia and memory loss and increase pre-menstrual symptoms.

Finally, skipping meals or not eating often enough can make you deficient in nutrients that affect how you age. This is because snacks are a convenient and quick way to add more nutrients into your diet. For example, a handful of nuts and seeds, something you may be unlikely to add to a main meal, is bursting with skin friendly antioxidant vitamin E and essential fatty acids. Snacking also allows you to increase your intake of unprocessed, raw foods like fresh fruit and vegetables, which often shed nutrients during the cooking process, especially the antioxidant, anti-ageing vitamin C.

How, what and when?

To reap all the benefits of snacking you need to make sure you eat something small, like an oatcake or some nuts and seeds, every three or so hours. For example, after breakfast you should aim for a mid morning snack at around 11 am and then after lunch you should aim for a mid afternoon snack at around 4 pm and then after supper you could also have a very light snack just before bedtime, if you wake up in the middle of the night, so that everything adds up to three meals a day with two to three snacks in between.

This regular intake of calories and nutrients beats hunger pangs and mood swings because your blood sugar levels stay even and this sends a message to your brain that your body is not under stress and that it can keep revving your metabolism up and use your old fat stores for energy instead of clinging onto it.

Do make sure you pay attention to portion sizes though. Snacking is great for weight loss but not if you end up eating more than you normally do. If you add in snacks you do need to adjust your meal size accordingly. To do this, eat the amount of food you usually do, but spread it over five to six smaller meals and snacks instead.

Your snacks could be something like a handful of nuts and raisins, a small piece of fruit like a banana or an apple, or an oat cake spread with hummous. Remember, your meals should fit on a regular sized dinner plate and should not be piled high and your snacks should fit easily into the palm of your hand.

Your snack prescription:

The snack suggestions below can help if you want to:

• Fight Fatigue: One of the most common symptoms of blood sugar imbalance is fatigue. Eating little and often will help keep your blood sugar and your energy levels steady. Don’t forget to add some protein to your snacks though as protein slows down the rate at which your stomach empties and helps keep your blood sugar levels on an even keel. Try an organic natural yogurt with a palmful of berries and a table spoon of mixed nuts and seeds; a boiled egg with a slice of wholemeal bread or hummous with crudités.
• Lower high cholesterol: A study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that eating a few ounces of oats a day could lower cholesterol by 16 per cent in three months so snack on a couple of oat cakes or a small bowl of porridge made from organic soya or rice milk.
• Beat Insomnia: Low blood sugar could be one of the reasons why you find it hard to get to sleep or wake up regularly in the night so try to have a snack at least 40 minutes before you go to bed. Aim for foods high in tryptophan, an amino acid that encourages sleep. Good sources are oats, peanuts and sunflower seeds so try a small bowl of oat porridge, a slice of wholemeal toast with peanut butter or a handful of sunflower seeds with a cup of camomile tea.
• Beat Memory loss/poor concentration: Study after study has confirmed the beneficial effect of omega 3 rich oily fish, like tuna, mackerel or salmon and nuts and seeds on brain function. To stay alert for longer aim for a few pieces of oily fish or a selection of sunflower, sesame or linseeds for your mid morning or mid afternoon snack when your concentration is most likely to be at its lowest ebb.
• Beat Mood swings: Snacking on low GI complex carbo-hydrates that release a steady supply of glucose to your brain is a great way to keep your blood sugar levels and your mood stable so try some mixed bean salad or a delicious bowl of comforting oat porridge with a spoon of honey or maple syrup for sweetness.
• Protect yourself against osteoporosis: To keep your bones healthy you need a steady supply of calcium, antioxidants and vitamins; so try a handful of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries and top them with a few tablespoons of organic natural yogurt and a teaspoon of ground linseeds (flaxseeds) to give your bones and joints a boost.
• Lose weight: One of the best ways to shift weight is to boost your nutrient intake so your food is digested more efficiently and to keep your blood sugar levels stable because weight gain is often a symptom of blood sugar imbalances. Snacking is the perfect way to achieve both these objectives, especially if you snack on negative calorie foods like broccoli, carrots, courgettes and celery. These foods are negative calorie foods because they use up more calories in digestion than they provide. To make them more interesting dip them into hummous or guacamole.
• Fight wrinkles: The secret of healthy skin is essential fat which keeps it hydrated and keeps wrinkles and dry skin at bay. To keep your skin glowing, try snacking on four or five olives or whole almonds (both rich in essential fats) with a piece of fruit.
• Beat symptoms of menopause: Foods rich in calming phytoestrogens will help balance your hormones and by so doing ease menopause related symptoms such as hot flushes, poor concentration and bloating. You could snack on a tablespoon of flaxseeds (linseeds) a day with some anti-ageing berries. Remember you don’t always have to eat soya; other legumes, such as chickpeas and lentils, are good sources of phytoestrogens too.

Most people know that we should be eating more fruit and vegetables. But most of us aren’t eating enough and we should be eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

Fruit and vegetables are brimming with fibre, plus a whole range of vitamins and minerals, and because they’re low in calories, they make an important and healthy addition to any diet. Scientific studies have shown that people who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables have a lower risk of getting illnesses, such as heart disease and some cancers.

For this reason, health authorities recommend that you eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day – and it doesn’t matter whether they’re fresh, tinned, frozen, cooked, juiced or dried. If you buy tinned fruit or vegetables make sure that no sugar or artificial sweeteners have been added and buy organic where possible. Remember that potatoes don’t count because they’re a starchy food.

How much is a portion?

• One piece of medium-sized fruit – eg, an apple, peach, banana or orange
• One slice of large fruit, such as melon, mango or pineapple
• One handful of grapes or two handfuls of cherries or berry fruits
• One tablespoon of dried fruit
• A glass (roughly 100ml) of fruit or vegetable juice
• A small tin (roughly 200g) of fruit
• A side salad
• A serving (roughly 100g) of vegetables – eg, peas, boiled carrots or stir-fried broccoli
• The vegetables served in a portion of vegetable curry, lasagne, stir-fry or casserole

Fruit and vegetables should make up about a third of the food you eat each day, even more if you can manage it. And it’s also important to eat a variety. Five-a-day is a good, achievable target. If you count your portions each day it might help you to increase the amount you eat. And if you still find this hard to get your head around here are some tips on how to get your daily quota without too much preparation:

Juice
A glass of fruit or vegetable juice counts as one serving. However, as the juice doesn’t contain the pulp of the actual fruit, you can only count this once, no matter how many glasses of juice you consume.

Fruit with Cereal
If you have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, add a chopped banana or some strawberries for a fruity twist – there’s another one.

Sip on Soup
Here’s a healthy and cheap option for lunch. Make a big pot of homemade vegetable soup at the beginning of the week. Keep it in the fridge and dip in for lunch every day. Pack it full of any veggies you’ve got in the kitchen, as well as beans.

Cans Count
Fresh is obviously healthier but canned vegetables count as a portion so dig out those organic tinned beans and add some chickpeas or kidney beans to a salad, or throw a handful of diced carrots into a casserole. Frozen vegetables are also acceptable so there’s no excuse if there’s nothing fresh in the fridge.

Fruit Snacks
Carry a couple of pieces of fruit in your bag for a snack during the day. Use it as an excuse to try fruit you wouldn’t normally choose.

Salad Starter
Get into the habit of making yourself a side salad to eat with dinner. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just some leaves and sliced cucumber.

Stick to these tips and you should have no problem getting your five a day. Hopefully you’ll feel the benefits, especially through the colder months when everyone around you will be coughing and sneezing.

Q: What is the healthiest oil to
cook with?

– Rebecca, Sheffield

A: Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats – the kind that help reduce “unhealthy” LDL cholesterol and boost “healthy” HDL cholesterol. And new research suggests that virgin (and extra-virgin) olive oils – those produced purely by mechanically pressing the oil from olives, with no chemical processing – have an edge: antioxidants called polyphenols. Naturally found in olives (in red wine and green tea too), polyphenols mop up free radicals before they can oxidize LDL (oxidation makes LDL even more damaging to arteries).

In a three-week study of 200 men published recently in Annals of Internal Medicine, those who consumed just under two tablespoons a day of high-polyphenol virgin olive oil in place of other dietary fats registered larger increases in “good” HDL cholesterol and fewer markers of oxidative stress than men who consumed the same amount of “ordinary” olive oil, which had a very low polyphenol content. Chemical refining processes remove some polyphenols from “ordinary” olive oils (often labeled as “pure” in the U.S.) and other cooking oils, say researchers at the Municipal Institute for Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain.

Virgin olive oil doesn’t just taste better than plain old “olive oil,” it’s better for you too. Buy organic virgin olive oil where possible.