Can you snack? - the10principles

  • How to avoid one of the biggest barriers between you and a healthy weight
  • When can you snack?
  • What can you snack on and still maintain a healthy weight?

Learn how to snack and lose weight.

Kelly Clark

To snack or not to snack, that is the question.

We’re flooded with diet information. All the rules around how to lose weight can be confusing. When I was trying to reach a healthy weight I always wondered “Can you snack?”

This post shares my approach to snacking. It helped me reach a healthy weight and maintain it for the last 18 years.

Can you snack?

A reader named Eve recently left a question at the end of my post about eating balanced meals.

In short she wanted to know: “Can you snack”?

Here’s what Eve wrote:

Kelly,
I love your thoughts and ideas. They are really clicking with me. Especially on not focusing on perfection and setting small goals and making good choices in the moment. Sometimes I feel like if I don’t have this grand diet plan I can’t succeed. Thank you for sharing in this blog.

I have a question for you about snacking.

In your article on grazing and this article it sounds like you do 3 square meals a day without snacking but I seem to remember reading somewhere else that you eat apples for snacks.

I want to begin creating a routine for my body that is healthy but the opinions on snacking out there are vastly different. I’ve always been a fan of snacking but then again who isn’t? 😉
Thanks!

Can you snack? The real question behind this question:

On Eve’s way to asking Can you snack? she touches on the real and bigger issue; one that posed a giant barrier between me and a healthy weight. What is this huge hurdle that affects so many of us? Eve calls it: The Grand Diet Plan.

I love this term. Grand Diet Plan even sounds unattainable. At the same time it captures the good intentions behind this unrealistic weight loss method. While “grand” is meant to describe an eating plan that’s long-term, making rules around what, where, when and how much you can eat just isn’t practical. The only thing certain in life is change. The Grand Diet Plan sets so many of us up to fail because we can’t eat according to a program that was made a week ago or even this morning. Life just isn’t like that.

The only thing that is constant is change.
– Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher

Opportunities come up out of the blue. Whether you decide to see a movie last minute with friends or get caught in a board meeting that runs late, you need to be flexible. It’s important to be able to make meal and snack decisions in any situation and feel good about them. And it’s important to eat when you’re hungry. The Grand Diet Plan doesn’t permit you to do that.

Can you snack? Answer:

Thanks for your question and feedback Eve.

I was also stuck on the Grand Diet Plan. In hindsight, writing down what I’d eat for a period of time and keeping it in my pocket was a security blanket. The belief that following this plan would mean I’d reach a healthy weight, made me feel good. It made me feel less anxious. However, I didn’t lose weight until I accepted that having a Grand Diet Plan is self-defeating.

can you snack - what is the healthy choice - the10principlesI was so determined to prove I had the willpower to stick to a Grand Diet Plan that I couldn’t let this idea go until things got so bad it became more important for me to be healthy than thin. Ironically I lost weight when “What is the healthy choice?” became the filter for every decision I make.

Things don’t have to get bad before they get good. Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. Rather than focus on the Grand Diet Plan, start focusing on one meal at a time and making slightly healthier choices. Start at your next meal!

can you snack - knowledge is power - the10principles

What have meals got to do with snacking?:

Snacking cannot be discussed in isolation. The energy and nutrients you require from a snack is directly related to the choices you make at breakfast, lunch and dinner. So before answering: Can you snack? We must first discuss meals.

Over the last 18 years that I’ve been a healthy weight I’ve eaten 3 balanced meals made mostly of whole foods. Then I’m getting lots of energy and a variety of nutrients 3 times a day from lasting sources; food found in it’s most natural state keeps you full longer than processed food. Think back to my blog post on Steel Cut Oats vs. Quick Oats.

can you snack oats - the10principles

can you snack - balanced meals - the10principlesWhen I’ve met my body’s needs I feel satisfied, rather than preoccupied by hunger. The result? I can focus on life between meals. However, if I’m hungry between meals, I will eat a roughly balanced snack made of whole foods. In other words:

I eat 3 meals a day and if I’m hungry between meals I’ll eat a snack.

As long as you’re eating balanced meals and balanced snacks made of whole foods, you know your body is sending hunger signals because you’re genuinely hungry; your body is truly low on energy and nutrients–not because you’re craving the addictive ingredients found in factory food.

Remember, packaged food is full of additives that trick your body into feeling hungry. Salt, sugar, preservatives and artificial flavours interrupt your body’s natural ability to know when you’re full. In fact sugar and artificial sweeteners are more addictive than cocaine! Next time you reach for food that comes in a package, read the list of ingredients on the wrapper. You’ll be surprised how many foods, including low-fat and low-calorie foods, have added sugar or synthetic sweeteners and other additives that confuse your body.

Unnatural foods also lack the nutrients your body needs. That’s why you can feel hungry even though you’ve eaten a whole bag of chips or pretzels.

These days I generally have a snack between lunch and dinner (I tend to eat dinner late). If you eat dinner early, you might feel more like a snack in the evening.

Healthy snacking is about meeting your nutritional needs.

can you snack - apple test - the10principles

Figuring out when you’re genuinely hungry:

If you’re eating more balanced meals and snacks made mostly of whole foods and you’re getting used to listening to your body’s hunger signals, you can do “the apple test”. When I first started eating a balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner made of whole foods I was never sure if I was actually hungry or just wanted to eat because I was in the habit of grazing on low-fat and zero calorie processed foods.

People don’t always snack because they’re hungry. Sometimes people eat because they’re:
a) bored
b) tired
c) thirsty
d) in the habit of always drinking or eating somethingNext time you find yourself thinking about snacking and you’re not sure if you’re actually hungry, do the apple test.

What’s the apple test? When you think you’re hungry but not sure, eat an apple and get back to what you were doing. If you still feel hungry, then make yourself a roughly balanced snack made mostly of whole foods. Here’s 3 examples:

A – yogurt, frozen blueberries and some natural granola on top (lately I’ve been eating ground flax seed instead of granola)
B – piece of toast with peanut butter, a banana or other fruit and a milky coffee
C – cookie, milky coffee and an orange

Stay away from processed foods! Cookies are fine here and there–especially if they’re from your grocery store’s bakery. Then they’re less processed than cookies that come in a box with an expiry date that’s months away. The fewer artificial ingredients in your food, the less it will confuse your body.

can you snack - choose fresh fruit - the10principles

Most nights I have a few squares of chocolate after dinner if I feel like it. A treat here and there is no big deal if you’re mainly eating natural food. And eating sweet things occasionally, stops you from feeling deprived, craving a food and then eating too much of it.
can you snack - one meal at a time - the10principles

When you take life one meal at a time and focus on making them balanced and made mostly of whole foods, you start to trust yourself and your decisions and you don’t need the Grand Diet Plan to feel good anymore. 🙂

Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you try 3 Grand Diet Plans this month, aim to try one less next month. Changing your behaviour in lasting ways requires baby steps!

Summary: Can you snack?

Eatwell Plate 2016 - the10principlesCan you snack? Yes. But make your goal to eat balanced proportions made of mostly natural food. Keep the Eatwell Guide in mind when building a snack.

Thanks so much for your question Eve! I was excited to hear from you. 🙂

Build healthy eating and exercise habits. A healthy weight will follow.

Next Steps:

Take life one meal at a time. Avoid processed foods. Aim to eat roughly balanced meals made mostly of whole foods and balanced snacks made mostly of whole foods when you’re hungry between meals. How do you make this change lasting? Especially if you’re used to eating chips, pop and other processed foods? Sign up for my weekly blog post (below) and you’ll receive one of the best strategies I learned. It will help you build healthy eating and exercise habits—or reach any goal.

The Worst In You by Andy Shauf
Can you snack? Yes. But stay away from processed foods. They bring out the worst in you.

I heard this song for the first time recently and loved it right away. It played on the radio just a few hours before news hit Canada and beyond, that Stuart McLean, author of all the Vinyl Cafe stories, had died. The lyrics and general tone of the song gave me that feeling of when you lose someone you love. You can’t find them anywhere but you feel them everywhere:

…I went back in the door
kicked off both of my shoes
looked around for your coat
and then went looking for you
thought that I heard your laughter stepping down the stairs…

 

 

  Work with me - 1:1 Coaching Buy Now - It took me 10 years to lose 10 pounds What the F do I eat?

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Sharing what I learned makes the 10 years I STRUGGLED worth it

What is your favourite balanced snack made of whole foods?