Fitness is About Healthy Snacks

One strange part of our fitness issues is most of us eat healthy meals every day, but still seem to gain weight.

This can be confusing and frustrating, but it doesn’t take long to figure our where those extra pounds come from.

Fitness (whether or not we will keep weight off) is decided by the snacks we eat.

Described another way, what you eat at 3:00 in the afternoon will decide if your going to lose weight or not.

I believe most people know the importance of snacks, but unfortunately aren’t sure what food the should be snacking on. With that in mind this morning I’m going to share some of my favorite healthy snacks.

For clarity I’ve organized them by beginner (just starting to eat right) intermediate (already started losing weight) and advanced (trying to keep weight off) categories.

Beginner Snacks:

1. One cup of Dry cereal that is low in sugar, and preferably gluten-free (chex or cheerios is a good choice).
2. A small cup of Greek yogurt with fruit (high fat content but this will be helpful at the beginning)
3. Fresh Fruit (I suggest apples, oranges, or bananas)
4. Carrots or celery dipped in ranch (preferably low-fat ranch)
5. Smoothies that focus on tasting good (frozen pineapple, banana, apple juice, and protein powder make a smoothie that tastes sweeter than any candy bar)
6. String cheese, or a piece of block cheese (cheddar)

Intermediate Snacks:

1. Vegetables in ranch (brocoli, cauliflower, radishes, green pepper) Used here because they are harder to eat than carrots or celery
2. Fruit juice (make sure that you get a drink that says 100% fruit juice on the bottle, most fruit drinks have around 10%)
3. Small cup of low-fat yogurt (add some grape nuts into it if you want to
4. Handful of frozen fruit defrosted in the microwave (strawberries work really well)
5. Smoothie that emphasizes vitamins or nutrients from fruit more than a sweet taste (two whole apples sliced into the blender with juice and a protein shake)
6. Protein shake made with milk in blender (don’t use low-fat or non-fat milk)

Advanced Snacks:

1. Plain vegetables with no ranch
2. Non-fat flavored yogurt
3. Vegetable Juice (V8 or 100% tomato juice)
4. Protein shake made with cold water
5. Smoothie that uses vegetables as it’s base (carrots, spinach, ect)
6. Handful of almonds or walnuts

There are many other snack ideas, but hopefully this explains there are many options other than potato chips, or jelly donut.