I feel as though snacking has developed a bad reputation in our society. Ever so often, I come across articles that discuss how snacking contributes to eating an excess of calories, how it promotes weight gain, and how it can be detrimental to one’s weight loss plan.

There are two sides to every story and even though snacking may sabotage your weight loss efforts, keep in mind that there is a wrong and a right way to snack.  The key  is for you to ‘snack smart’.

Here are some benefits of snacking:

• Consuming a healthy snack between meals can suppress your hunger
• Snacking can prevent overeating at meals by controlling your appetite throughout the day
• Eating small, frequent snacks throughout the day keeps your metabolism revved up
• Snacking provides necessary fuel needed to prepare and recover from exercise
• It can help you close nutritional gaps in your diet

When choosing a snack, pick foods that satisfy your hunger, supply your body with energy, and are rich in nutrients. In order to ‘snack smart’ choose from the following food groups:

• Fruits and Vegetables – These are nutrient dense and have low calories
• Whole grains­ – Rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates for an efficient energy boost
• Low fat dairy products – Excellent sources of calcium and protein
• Nuts and Seeds – Provide protein for satiety. However, they are calorically dense  so do not  consume these in large quantities

Keep in mind that snacks that are 100 calories or less will help you stay within your daily caloric allowance.

When in the mood for something crunchy:

Choose apples, celery sticks, carrots, and unsalted rice cakes

When in the mood for something sweet:

Try fresh or frozen fruit, semi-sweet dark chocolate, or Greek yogurt with no added sugars

When in the mood for something savory:

Pick unsalted nuts, low-sodium crackers, or low-sodium, low-fat popcorn

When in the mood for a drink:

Choose water, tea, plain coffee, unsweetened juices, or plant based milk such as almond milk or cashew milk

Bottom line … when done sensibly, and in moderation, snacking isn’t bad for you.

Did you know that in order to maintain a healthy weight, you must balance calories consumed (food eaten) with energy expended (physical activity)? Although this may seem like common sense, most people tend to focus on calories being consumed from food alone, while neglecting to factor in additional calories that may be coming from beverages.

Even though you may be eating the right amount of calories for your weight, height, age and physical activity level, your beverages may be adding an excess amount of calories to your diet, therefore contributing to weight gain. In fact, increasing rates of obesity have been attributed to the alarmingly high proportion of calories that are consumed in the liquid form.

When you consider that the average drink portion sizes are steadily increasing, the surge of sweetened beverages, energy drinks, and specialty coffee drinks on the market, in addition to the fact that most restaurants offer free beverage refills, you can easily fall into the trap of consuming excess calories in the form of liquids.

Ponder this:

• A medium frozen mocha coffee coolatta with cream from Dunkin’ Donuts contains 800 calories (the large contains 1050 calories!)
• A grande (16 ounce) white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, made with 2 % milk contains 400 calories (not including the whipped cream typically added).
• A bottle of Vitamin Water is made up of 2.5 servings so it contains 125 calories, and 33 grams of sugar. Wowzers.
• A 16 ounce hot chocolate from Panera Bread contains 380 calories.
• A 12 ounce McCafe strawberry banana smoothie from McDonalds contains 210 calories.

Okay, now will probably be a good idea to re-evaluate your liquid consumption, and make sensible beverage substitutions if necessary, in order to maintain a healthy weight.

Consider the following when next you reach for a beverage:

• Choose water, to quench your thirst. It is natural, refreshing, and essential for maintaining vital bodily functions. The Institute of Medicine recommends a total daily beverage intake of 13 cups for men and 9 cups for women. Oh, and besides it contains ZERO calories.
• Jazz up plain water by adding lemon, lime, orange, or mint.
• Choose regular coffee with skim milk or non fat dairy creamer instead of a latte. If you must drink a latte, try a ‘skinny latte’ (meaning that it’s made with skim milk and sugar-free syrup). Also, opt for the smallest size available.
• Limit your intake of fruit juice to no more than 8 ounces a day. A cup of fruit juice contains 120 calories. When you drink lets say 16 ounces, 3 times a day it adds up to 720 calories. Consider diluting your juice with water to provide more volume but less calories.
• Drink soda sparingly. That is if you can’t skip it altogether. Soda is basically sugar water, providing empty calories with no nutritional benefit. If you must indulge, you can opt for diet soda. However some studies suggest that even drinking diet soda leads to overconsumption of calories in the long run.
• When at a restaurant, instead of getting soda refills choose water instead.
• Limit your alcoholic beverage to one a day, and steer clear of alcoholic beverages mixed with energy drinks.

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Popcorn is a whole grain food which is low in calories and also a good source of fiber. 3 cups of popcorn counts as one of your three recommended servings of whole grains per day. Air popped popcorn is only 30 calories per serving, provided you hold the butter.

Substitute potato chips with popcorn as a healthier snack. Just make sure you steer clear of popcorn drizzled heavily with butter, cheese or caramel because those calories can add up fast. Also remember to choose brands that are low sodium.

Happy Snacking!

Did you know that coffee is a significant source of antioxidants in the US diet due to its level of consumption? Also, both caffeinated and decaf coffee appear to provide similar antioxidant levels.

Antioxidants have been associated with potential health benefits which include protection against cancer. According to  recent published studies, besides keeping you alert, coffee has been linked to providing protection against type 2 diabetes, liver and colon cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. However, more research is needed to concretely establish its health benefits.

So how much coffee is too much? 3, 8 ounce cups a day is considered moderate coffee consumption. So do limit your intake to no more than 3 cups a day.

Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram which is quite a lot considering that protein and carbohydrates only pack 4 calories per gram. When you take into consideration that most mixed cocktails contain juice, soda, or both, the calories add up fast.

What is a serving of alcohol?

A standard alcoholic drink is one that contains 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of “pure” alcohol. This equates to:

• 5 ounces of table wine
• 12 ounces of a beer or wine cooler
• 1.5 ounces of 80 proof distilled spirits such as gin, whiskey, or vodka
•  8 ounces of malt liquor

If you choose to drink alcohol you should do so in moderation. This means no more than 2 drinks a day for men, and one drink per day for women.  Anything over moderate consumption can be detrimental to your health. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), evidence shows that drinking alcohol increases the risk of liver, colon, rectal, breast, and esophageal cancers. 

The list below depicts the average amounts of calories found in common alcoholic drinks:

I am sure almost all of you have heard the adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I was curious to know where this phrase originated from, seeing that it is so common, and permeates through facets of various cultures.  My research led me reason to believe the proverb originated from Wales, where the earliest known example of its use in print was in 1866.

This version of the popular adage reads “Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.” I find it cheeky, extremely clever, and yet I couldn’t agree more. And here is why.

Let’s talk facts:

Just take a look at their nutritional value. Not only do they contain no cholesterol, or fat, and a negligible amount of sodium (0-2 mg per piece), they are low in calories (about 80 calories a piece) which constitutes only 4 % of the recommended caloric allowance for the day. Apples are also a good source of dietary fiber as they contain on average, 3 g of fiber, which is 13% of the recommended daily value.

Now let’s examine the benefits:

Weight loss

Since apples are filling and are low in calories, they can help promote weight loss if consumed as part of a healthy, balanced, diet. You can begin to incorporate them into your diet by simply substituting them with high fat, high sodium snacks. Also, since they are a great source of fiber, they will help you feel satiated longer.

Quercetin

Quercetin is another beneficial nutrient that is found in apples.  Quercetin belongs to a group of plant pigments known as flavonoids, which give many fruits, vegetables and flowers their color.  It functions as an antioxidant, scavenging free radicals in the body which damage cell membranes. As an antioxidant,  it has the potential to prevent many different types of cancer. It might also be effective in protecting against Alzheimer’s  Disease by combating free-radicals which are implicated in the disease.

Heart Health

Some of the fiber contained in an apple is in the form of pectin, which is a soluble fiber. Numerous studies have shown that soluble fiber has the ability to lower ‘bad cholesterol’ also known as LDL. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is notorious for clogging up arteries. Soluble fiber blocks the absorption of bad cholesterol, and triggers the liver to pull it from your body. In doing so, less cholesterol is left to accumulate in your arteries, which ultimately reduces your chances of developing coronary artery disease, heart attack or stroke.

Immune system

A medium-sized apple, which measures approximately 2.5 -3 inches across contains 8 mg of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that plays a significant role in strengthening the body’s defense against disease-causing germs.  Adequate consumption of Vitamin C will boost your body’s immune system, making you more resistant to infections, such as the common cold.

 Inflammation

The soluble fiber found in apple causes increased production of an anti-inflammatory protein called interleukin-4. These are ‘healing cells’ that help us to recover faster from infection by altering the composition of pro-inflammatory free radicals into healing anti-inflammatory cells. Supplementing a high fat diet with adequate amounts of soluble fiber is said to have a protective effect against inflammatory conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Conclusion

If taken literally, the adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” means that as long as you consume an apple daily, you won’t fall ill. It would be wonderful if eating an apple daily could ward off every infection and disease possible wouldn’t it? Although apples cannot prevent all health problems from occurring, they provide a multitude of health benefits, and you definitely can’t go wrong by having one (or two) a day.