Check out these 46 tips and tricks for healthy snacking, and remember, you can see huge changes by incorporating just one or two of these baby steps into your life. Be sure to pick the tips that will specifically work best for YOU, and remember to always focus on mindful eating whenever you snack.
Portion Control Snacking Tricks
- Use your fist to determine your snack size. Put a fist full of snacks on a plate and mindfully enjoy your snack. Click here for mindful eating techniques.
- Drink a glass of water before you reach for a bite. Do this every time to get more water into your day.
- Pre-portion all your healthy snacks ahead of time.
- Instead of snacking from the box, carton, or bag, put a serving on a plate and eat off of that plate. You will enjoy your food more if you take the time to sit down and eat from a plate, and you will be less likely to overeat if you separate snacks into appropriate fist-sized servings.
- Snack when you feel hungry. Before snacking, ask yourself, ‘Am I hungry or am I wanting to eat because of emotions like stress, boredom, tiredness, sadness, etc?’
- When you snack, make sure you are mindfully enjoying your food instead of mindlessly snacking. Chew each bite and swallow before picking up your next bite. Pay attention to the flavors, notice and enjoy each bite. Take a sip of your drink before picking up your next bite. It takes your brain 20 minutes to realize that your stomach is full so take your time. (see How to Mindfully Eating for Weight Loss)
- Pause before you start eating. Pausing before eating is a major key to mindful eating. I do more than pause though; I take the time to pray a specific prayer. After this one prayer, I rarely feel the need to overeat. Now when I eat, I think about 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, “ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Inspired by this Bible verse, I have started praying before I eat, saying, “God, thank you so much for this food. Thank you for this time that I have to sit and enjoy the food you have given me. I want to eat for the glory of You, God.” I enjoy my food so much more when I am focused on eating for the glory of God.
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Snack Less Often Tricks
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- Limit nibbling or tasting while cooking or cleaning up the meal. Nibbling while cooking is mindless eating. When we mindlessly eat, are we really enjoying our food?
- Go to bed at a decent time. . If you start feeling like you want to eat late at night, but you are not actually hungry, you might actually just be tired. Go to bed. You will wake up refreshed and ready breakfast.
- Take up a hobby so that you can enjoy another activity in your leisure time besides eating. Whenever I felt like eating when I’m not hungry, I often think ‘would I rather exercise, read, or dance instead of eating?’ and the answer usually ‘yes’.
- Pre-plan something fun to you will do instead of snacking. Every time you want to snack when you are not hungry, do one of your pre-planned activities first. Examples of preplanned activities are call a friend, walk, read, or take a bath.
- Get into a snacking routine and plan your snack times. Your body will get use to snacking at this time, and you will be less likely to randomly graze and snack at other times of the day.
- Make sure your meals are satisfying. Mindfully eat and enjoy your meals.
- Store snack foods out of site.
- Keep more nourishing foods and snacks in the house instead of the less nourishing empty-calorie foods.
- Limit snacking to only one place in the house so that you won’t associate lots of areas in your house with food. If you eat all over the house, you will crave food everywhere.
- Make TV a snack free activity. If you eat while watching T.V., your body will associate TV with eating. With practice, eventually you will not crave food while watching TV.
- Sometimes we snack because we are tired. If you are feeling tired, and not actually feeling hungry, take a nap or do a mindful breathing exercise instead of snacking. So listen to your body and give your body what it is actually asking for.
- If you like eating while watching TV, do something else with your hands instead like a hobby, fold clothes, or relaxing stretches.
- Close down the kitchen after you have finished a meal. Clean up immediately after a meal and then turn off the kitchen lights, leave the kitchen, and do something in another part of the house.
- Don’t skip breakfast. For some, eating breakfast reduces overeating throughout the day, increases energy, and fuels your mind so that you can feel ready to conquer the day. Make sure your breakfast is nourishing and filling. Eating something like a cup of oatmeal in the morning may prevent you from binging in the afternoon.
- Avoid snacking while doing other things like reading, surfing the internet, eating in front of a television or in a movie theater
- Drink lots of water! Our body’s need plenty or water!
- Make sure your meals are satisfying. Eat high fiber, nutrient-dense meals to promote fullness.
- Eating sugar causes us to want to eat more; therefore, limit sugary foods to decrease your desire to overeat. In other words, the sweeter the food, the more we want sweeter food. The less sweet the food, the less we desire sweets. For example, if you go a long time without sweets, then a piece of fruit will taste nice and sweet to you and a piece of chocolate cake may taste too sweet to you. But if you continue to eat sweet foods, a piece of fruit will not taste sweet enough and a piece of chocolate cake will be needed to feed your sweet tooth.
- If you love to eat, but are feeling full, think of the end of your meal as just a break from eating instead of the end. Tell yourself you will continue eating at your next meal.
- Here is one that may work for some. This is an exercise in changing the way your mind thinks about different foods. Through visualization, learn to think of nutritious foods in a more positive light. When you see vegetables, visualize them fighting your hunger, cancer, and heart disease or picture relaxing by a cozy fire while eating warm vegetable soup. Or picture yourself sitting by the beach, eating juicy cold fruit. Visualize the gift of the nourishing food as you are eating. Below is an example of my thought process as I mindfully ate a meal. This will work for snacks as well.
“I could see the steam coming from my freshly cooked brown rice bowl as I set down at the table. I was hungry, and the aroma from the spices made me feel excited about what I was about to eat. But I didn’t start yet. First, I paused and took a moment to notice this gift from God. As I paused, I looked down at my food. The green of the broccoli, brown of the brown rice and beans, and orange of the sweet potatoes reminded me of the colors of God’s earth on a beautiful bright spring day. I am overwhelmed by the miracle of food, and I thank God. Our bodies and minds need certain “things” to thrive and miraculously, thanks to God, these “things” grow straight out of the ground!Now I am ready to take that first glorious bite. As I bite down, my mouth explodes with the flavors of fresh garlic and spices. I can feel the gritty earthiness of the brown rice, which is yet another reminder that I am eating food from God’s beautiful earth. It tastes like sweet nourishment as if my body is flourishing with each bite. I can feel the creaminess of the black beans as my mouth breaks up the outer skin. I continue to pray with each bite, thanking God for the “things” God gave us to help us thrive- the fiber, the vitamins and minerals, the antioxidants, and protein.As I eat, I enjoy God’s company. I tell God that I want to glorify Him in all that I do, including eating, and thank God for providing the energy and nutrients I need to go into the world and spread God’s love.I continue to mindfully eat, making a conscious decision to be present with God and my food. With each bite, the stress of the day just melts away. This is a chance to rest my body and decompress. I can feel myself relaxing in God’s presence.”
How to Eat Healthier Snacks
- Snack on healthy snacks while your children eat snacks so that you will not mindlessly pick food from their plate.
- Pre-portion healthy snacks. I love pre-portioning vegetables in stackable containers like the SELEWARE Portable and Stackable 4-Piece Twist Lock Panda Storage Jars Snack Container to Contain Formula, Snacks, Nuts, Drinks and More, BPA and Phthalate Free, 31oz Green
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- Or if you would rather eat cooked vegetables for a snack then sauté a big bag of frozen mixed vegetables in cooking spray or olive oil and garlic. Add some red pepper for additional flavor and separate into portion-sized containers for the fridge. The key is always have healthy snacks on hand and limit the availability of unhealthy snacks.
- Snack on nourishing foods like vegetables, nuts, dark chocolate, or fruit. These food are super filling, and will benefit your body.
- Have nonfat yogurt, pudding, and/or fruit instead of other sweets like cake, cookies, donuts, etc.
- If you like picking at food while watching TV, nibble on something nourishing like raw vegetables..
- Nibble on raw fruits and vegetables while you are cooking.
- If you are living with others who are eating less nutrient dense foods, make one cabinet and one part of the refrigerator their foods and make one section in the refrigerator and pantry your foods.
- When you snack on the go you may want to purchase some traveling snack bowls like these collapsible M Square Collapsible Food Grade Silicone Bowls with Lids, BPA-free, Camping, Traveling, Pets, Hiking, Backpacking Bowl (3 pcs set Rose)
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- If you would like to evaluate your own diet and determine which tips work best for you, please take the free Christian Wellness Self Assessment and Evaluation developed by a registered dietitian.
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. This plate takes the guesswork out of portioning. You can even use the lid to prevent you from piling the food to high. The lid also makes the plate very portable. You can pack your lunch for work using the portion plate!
