Try These Three Snacks and Stop Your Food Cravings

I often hear in clinic clients try to avoid snacks because they fear that they are ‘unnecessary calories’ and will result in weight gain. They sometimes also say snacks are unhealthy and ‘shouldn’t be needed’. Thank you diet culture.

So there are NO three single snacks or foods that end food cravings. What actually happens is that eating snacks helps address true hunger!

The truth is, studies show that going long periods greater than 4-6 hours without food increases risk of OVEReating. Yes, you read right. It leads to the exact opposite effect intended. 

Hunger is not a sign of losing weight. Hunger is not a sign that you are doing something ‘good’ as diet culture would like you to believe it is. Hunger is your body telling you to EAT. And sometimes that may look like a complete meal or a snack. There is no right or wrong. The only wrong is deliberately not listening to your body. This only weakens the trust you have with it and deteriorates the relationship you have with it.

When learning how to honour your hunger and fullness it is key to address your hunger before it gets severe, which can result in overeating. If you have a long period without eating your body naturally responds by increasing your hunger hormone – ghrelin – and reducing your satiety hormone – leptin – which may result in a sense of feeling out of control. 

To prevent getting ravenous or if you anticipate a large gap between meals, snacks can be a go-to. Ideally, we recommend limiting the gaps between meals and snacks to four hours. This may be individualised for each one of us, however, it is most common to require an energy top-up even as much as every two hours!

So what does a balanced snack look like?

We recommend having at least two food groups  and one of them being protein. That will ensure you are satisfied for longer. This may look like a protein and carbohydrate, fat and protein or fruit or vegetables with a protein etc.

Introducing snacks is an effective way to manage your blood sugars, stabilising mood, hunger and energy levels throughout the day. Who wouldn’t want that?!

Here are three of our favourite snacks. Of course, this changes every few months as we like to always try new combinations! But if you are unsure where to get started, give these a go!

ONE. Greek yogurt (protein), vanilla, lemon zest and blueberries (fruit/carbohydrate/fibre)

TWO. Rosemary crackers (carbohydrate) with goat cheese (protein), cherry tomatoes or cucumber and fresh basil (added fibre)

THREE. Corn cakes (carbohydrate) with peanut butter (protein) and banana (fruit/added fibre)+ a drizzle of honey (delicious!)

Tell us which one is your favourite or which snacks are your GO-TO!

Tag us @embodyhealthlondon_ and get our full list of snack ideas for inspiration. 

EHL x