The Complete Guide To Healthy Snacks

In an era of unprecedented food processing, it has never been so easy to pick junk-laden fried foods and sugar when your hunger pangs and cravings take over. Your hands instinctively reach out for snacks like chips, chivdas, fried chana, fried peanuts, samosa, vada pav, cakes, pastries, biscuits, chocolates, and whatnot.

The Complete Guide To Healthy Snacks

The flip side is that these foods are high in fat and sugar. And, these nutrient robbers are just calorie bombs. Initially, due to the high sugar and glycaemic index, they give you a pleasure rush, but that is a temporary fix. Want to know something worse? These fried, sweet, and processed foods make you crave them even more, and you end up adding inches to your waistline. You also end up worsening your health condition and work performance. For the same reasons and also due to the number of fad diets that have popped up, Indian snacks have developed a bad reputation.

The way out of this vicious cycle is to move to a diet that satiates the cravings and provides nutrients too. From maintaining your blood sugar to satiety levels before your next meal, the importance of healthy snacks cannot be more emphasized. Healthy snacking between meals not only helps keep your hunger at bay but also prevents you from overeating. When it comes to choosing healthy snacks of Indian origin, there are many wholesome options and are also packed with nutritive benefits.

Also Read: Ten Hacks To Start Eating Healthier Now!

Importance Of Snacks In Our Daily Diet:

Improve Focus, Energy Levels And Reduce Stress And Boost Overall Performance

Studies have demonstrated that in addition to a healthy diet, reasonable and nutritive snacking helps provide a boost in energy levels and keeps our performance levels optimal.

Curbs Hunger Pangs And Reduces Craving

Every 3-5 hours after we have eaten, the blood sugar levels tend to fall. Consuming small yet frequent snacks not only revs up the metabolism but normalizes blood sugar levels as well. Hunger throws the body into famine mode; slowing down metabolism, which will only increase your weight.
Healthy Snacks that contain lots of nutrition give you a feeling of satisfaction for long. They also keep you from giving in to your sweet tooth temptation or caffeine addiction.

Aids In Weight Loss And Helps Maintain Optimal Body Weight.

Choosing healthy snacks helps you avoid extreme hunger. Waiting for the last minute to grab something to eat usually makes you opt for something that is very unhealthy! Nutritionists recommend that eating smaller meals throughout the day, at 3-hour intervals will prevent the urge to binge eat. This is especially recommended during active times.
Healthy Snacking will stop you from reaching for a couple of samosas or a chocolate bar from the vending machine.

Keeps Emotionally Stable and Balances The Mood.

Food should be seen as fuel. The type of food that we eat has a huge impact on how we feel. Some foods will give you a rush of energy and crash very quickly while others will give you a slow and consistent source to help you feel alert and happy. Refined carbs foods like potato chips, candy bars, sugary drinks, etc. provide a rush of hot fuel. While they do provide a jolt of energy, it is quickly followed by a painful crash which can leave you feeling irritable, hungry, and unable to focus. Healthy snacks provide slow-burning fuel keeping you energetic for the entire day. You won’t experience dips in moods or alertness. In fact, you will likely feel and look like a happier person.

Also Read: Three Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight

Healthy Snacks- What Should You Look For?

As a part of healthy eating, consider the following rules when choosing healthy snacks:

Avoid products with high sugar or sodium content.
Select foods with low fat and sugar, but high fiber.
Nuts and Dry-Fruits in small serving sizes are a healthy option. They are nutritive but also calorie-dense.
Whole-grain snacks, vegetables, and fruits, as well as low-fat dairy products, make the best snacks.
Limit drinks with added sugar, especially soft drinks, and colas. Natural and fresh fruit juices offer the best nutrition. Tetra pack juices contain too much sugar and don’t offer much nutrition.
Foods with added corn syrup/sugar should be avoided.
Pair complex carbs and proteins together to keep satiety levels high. This will keep you feeling full for a long time. Examples include cottage cheese/paneer Kathi roll, peanut and sprouts salad, fresh fruit, and yogurt, etc.

Here is a list of healthy snacks that will not only satisfy your untimely hunger pangs but will also keep you full for a longer time. Also, they will not be adding those unnecessary calories to your body. So, without making you wait any further, here is the list. The snacks have been categorized entirely from the point of view of their preparation.

The Complete Guide To Healthy Snacks

Points To Consider:

In general, follow the rules stated above.

Control the portions.

Google the recipes and choose one that you find best.

There are a hundred different ways to prepare the same snack, be wise, and choose the healthiest one.

Go easy on the spices and all of these dishes become child-friendly.

Check out the links at the bottom of the article for recipes and other such information.

Also Read: All About Intermittent Fasting

The No-Preparation Gang-

(Snacks You Don’t Need To Prepare)

Nuts/Dry Fruits-trail mix, peanuts, roasted chana