Have you ever stopped to think about why snacking is important?
Snacking is important for a number of reasons:
Helps stabilise energy and blood sugar levels Prevents overeating at mealtime Controls appetite Makes it easier to choose healthy food Improves concentration and mood Promotes weight loss
You shouldn’t be snacking, “just because”, snacks should be eaten mindfully when you are hungry between meals to keep you sustained until you can have a proper meal.
In the WLA we recommend three meals per day and healthy snacks in between. Generally, that looks like this:
Breakfast
A small snack – a single portion of fruit or veg
Lunch
A bigger snack – anything bigger than a single portion of fruit or veg
Dinner
A small snack – a single portion of fruit or veg, if physically hungry
Here are our top tips for healthy snacking:
Try to eat more regularly throughout the day to prevent big gaps between meals
Eat as much fruit and vegetables as you like, but listen to your body and try not to eat just for the sake of it
Go for snack/cereal bars with less than 5g of sugar per 100g and the least number of ingredients like nakd bars, which have no added sugar
Go for savoury snacks like plain nuts and seeds, plain popcorn, lentil crisps or baked vegetable crisps with no added salt
Be mindful of dried fruit, one handful per day is recommended
Aim to not replace regular meals with snacks, if feeling less hungry at mealtime prepare a smaller portion of the recipe
Add variety to your snacks. For your bigger snack, you can alternate between protein-based snacks (boiled eggs, smoothie, Greek yoghurt) or a carbohydrate-based snack (naked bars, banana bread, crackers with toppings)
Here are some of our favourite larger snack options 
2 boiled eggs
2 crackers with nut butter, cream cheese or hummus
Apple slices with 1 tablespoon of nut butter
Small handful of nuts and raisins
125g of Greek yoghurt and fruit
Let us know in the comments below what your favourite snacks are.
