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Vanquish the vending machine
When 3pm rolls around, are you scrounging for coins for the vending machine? You know you shouldn't give in, but a chocolate bar will pick you up, right? While you might feel a temporary lift, you can bet your king-size Mars Bar that your energy levels will soon crash again once the sugar leaves your blood stream.
If you are genuinely hungry between meals, try a healthy snack. If you're eating the right type of snack and don't develop "snack amnesia", you can incorporate a healthy snack into your day.
Try these strategies:
- Eat a substantial breakfast and lunch to reduce your need for snacking throughout the day. Don't use snacks to replace meals.
- Bring a healthy, low-calorie snack to work with you. If you don't plan in advance, you risk resorting to the vending machine when you start to feel peckish. Eating a healthy snack when the hunger pangs start can quickly and quietly stop a diet blow out.
- Keep your snack "out of sight and out of mind" such as in your desk drawer or in the office fridge. If you keep food on your desk, you can bet that the more you look at it, the "hungrier" you'll feel.
- Track your snacks. Snack calories do count and can add up over the day. Aim to "spend" about 150-200 calories per snack.
- Choose wisely. Remember that chocolate or chips can waste up to 400 calories – and still leave you hungry!
- Don't mistake thirst for hunger. Try having a drink of water instead of eating. Wait for 10 minutes and see if you still feel hungry.
- Watch your portion sizes. Just because a snack is "healthy" doesn't mean you can eat it by the bucket-load. Buy portion-controlled snacks, or serve out the amount you wish to eat and put the rest away.
- Are you actually hungry? If you are, then go ahead and enjoy your snack. If you're just bored or stuck on a difficult task, go for a walk, or do something else, rather than eating to take your mind off the problem. Remember food is for giving you energy and nutrients, not for solving your problems.
Handy tip: How much food can you eat for less than 200 calories? Choose carefully and you might be surprised.
Try half a punnet of strawberries, plus 100g no-fat vanilla yoghurt, plus 1 cup of air popped popcorn, plus a skim milk cappuccino - all of this is only 180 calories and less than 1g of fat! |
Try some of these healthy snack ideas to stave off the 3pm munchies:
| Healthy snack ideas |
| Flavoured rice crackers |
Carrot, celery and capsicum sticks with
2 tablespoons of fat-free dressing to dip them in |
| Reduced-fat cheese and crackers |
| Tub of low-fat yoghurt |
| Fresh fruit |
| A low-fat muesli bar |
| Dried fruits and nuts |
Toasted wholegrain bread spread with peanut butter or low-fat
cream cheese |
| A cup of hot microwave soup (non-creamy) |
Homemade trail mix combinations, such as raw nuts,
sunflower seeds, roasted pumpkin seeds, sultanas,
dried cranberries |
|
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