To snack or not to snack?

I know that an area that I find difficult to manage in respect to my diet is snacking,... to snack or not to snack,... when does a snack become a meal?   What constitutes a healthy snack?  I know from the observational clinics I have attended that I am not alone.

Being conscious about the reason you are snacking is important and could influence your choice of snack; is your snacking being driven by your blood sugar roller coaster?  Are you filling a nutritional gap that your main meals aren't giving you?  Are you fuelling for or recovering from exercise?  Is it driven by need, habitual, or have you been persuaded by marketing (11 o'clock Diet Coke break anyone?)  Or are you simply thirsty?

For years, my snacking was unconsciously driven my fluctuating blood sugar levels; typically this would send me running to the work vending machine at 3 o'clock every day.  Even if I wanted to make a good choice at this point, the contents on offer where far from ideal.  I then moved through a phase of avoiding snacking assuming (based on the vending machine  experience) that it was wrong.  But as a novice nutritionalist I am learning that can be a valuable addition to our diets.

I am far from perfect, but here are some guidelines which have made me more mindful about snacking and are helping me make better choices:

1) I am hungry or actually thirsty?  
To often we are misinterpreting the signals from our body and snacking instead of drinking.  So I have a jug of water on my desk at work and a drawer with a selection of herbal and Chinese tea.  Instead of reaching for a snack, I have a drink first.

2) Be prepared (1)
Its an old childhood maximum, but the Scouts/Guides were not wrong; being prepared means that you are going to make better choices.  Preparing crudities and spooning with some huumous into a container, or decanting a selection of nuts and seeds into a small pot to take that into work means you have a good choice to hand. 

3) Be prepared (2)
Don't have time to prepare something at home, or caught short somewhere?  Have a mental list of good snacks and know where you can purchase them (and therefore avoid even surveying the chocolate / crisp array in the corner shop).  My personal choices are Nak'd bars, Bounce protein balls, small containers of unsalted nuts or seeds or a plain (full fat) natural yoghurt.  I know where I can  purchase these or I buy in bulk online and keep a supply at home or in the office.

4) Pairing protein and fibre
I mentioned earlier the blood sugar roller coaster, the typical contents of a vending machine will provide the sugar rush (that includes savoury items like crisps) that fuel this mechanism and are to be avoided.  Choosing snacks with protein and fibre will prevent the sugar rush and be more satiating, as well as providing additional and valuable nutritents.   Some examples are: pear/celery with nut butter, oatcakes or crudities with huumous or tahini, or a hardboiled egg alone or sliced on corn thins.

5) Portion control
A snack is not a meal.  It is something to tide you over.  Be careful of portion size.  Decanting nuts and seeds into a smaller pot means the whole bag will not disappear in a single sitting and have the calorific equivalent of a substantial meal.  Overindulging is particularly easy with dried fruit; think of the dried fruit as the whole fruit would you eat a whole bunch of grapes in a single sitting?  Each raisin is a grape, that once sat on the vine.

6) Know what is a treat and what is habitual.
Someone in the office baked and brought in a cake?  Then have a slice.  Its a treat and should be enjoyed.  Just not every day!  

Good luck and happy snacking!

Bounce Protein Balls
Nak'd Bars