HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS!

If there's one area of any healthy eating plan that can easily get off track it's the snacks you may eat during the day and especially at night after dinner. It can often seem easier to start the day with a healthy breakfast, grab a light lunch and eat a simple dinner but it's the little things that you don't even think about that can add up to an unhealthy intake of fats, sugars and salt in your daily diet.

Snacking itself is not an issue. It can actually be a good thing to have a small snack to regulate your blood sugar levels, keep you mentally alert, increase your energy and keep your metabolism humming along nicely. When choosing your snacks try thinking of it as a way of topping up your dietary gaps as opposed to an opportunity to treat yourself. It's all in the mindset and changing the way you think about things.

Here's a list you may like to keep on hand. It might be a good idea to keep this list on your fridge and save one to your phone when grocery shopping so you make sure you have the necessary items on hand.

HEALTHY SNACKS

My healthy yoghurt recipe CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE
Banana and agave smoothie (or mango is great this time of year)
Rice crackers and low fat dip (dip recipe coming soon)
Low salt, original flavour corn chips and guacamole dip (dip recipe coming soon)
Low salt peanut butter on rice or corn cakes
Homemade fruit & nut mix (raw almonds, walnuts, cranberries, dates, dried organic apricots)
A handful of grapes or strawberries
A couple of my choc goodness balls CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE
1 Sushi roll (choose salmon, tuna, BBQ chicken, avocado, crab as healthier options)
Piece of banana bread CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE
Freshly squeezed juice (my favourite: apples, ginger, lemon & handful baby spinach)
A few melon slices

As you can see from above most of these snacks are quick to prepare, high in nutrients, low in salt and bad fats. Including 3 of these snacks into each day for your morning tea, afternoon tea and dessert you will find your body has less of those energy 'dips' throughout the day and you'll be looking great and feeling great in no time.

Instead of falling into the fast food drive-through trap when feeling snackish try either planning ahead and taking a piece of fruit and a small container of the fruit & nut mix with you or avoiding the drive-through and picking up something healthier from the service station (most sell yoghurt tubs, fruit salad) or stopping to grab a sushi roll (which most food courts have on offer these days).