Healthy Eating Tip of The Week

Stop Skipping Meals!

Yes, we’ve all heard it before but people are still skipping breakfast, lunch or dinner to cut calories in an attempt to lose weight. Skipping meals brings out those hunger pains shortly before your next meal, causing you to eat anything you can get your hands on — you then end up eating far more calories than you need and before you know it: hello weight gain. Some other not-so-cool facts about skipping meals:

• Consistently skipping meals sends your blood sugar on a roller coaster, possibly laying the ground for the development of diabetes in the near future.

• It slows down your metabolism. Your metabolism works like a car – it needs a consistent source of fuel in order to keep running properly. Eat every 3-5 hours, even if it’s just a small snack.

• It makes you tired and less alert throughout the day. Next time you crash mid-day, don’t reach for the coffee, grab a healthy snack to pick you up.

Need some snack ideas?

• Peanut butter + whole wheat bread – choose a peanut butter with minimal ingredients such as peanuts, salt and a small amount of sugar and/or oil. Smuckers or Jiff Natural are healthier options that don’t skimp on the flavor.

• 0%/Low fat Plain Greek yogurt + with fruit

• A handful of nuts such as almonds, walnuts or sunflower seeds + a piece of fruit

• Carrots dipped in dressing, hummus or even peanut butter (try it – it’s actually really good)

• Bowl of whole grain cereal with >12g sugar + low fat/fat free milk

• Small whole wheat tortilla spread with hummus and rolled up with veggies like spinach, bell pepper and onion

• 3 cups plain popped popcorn drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt and parmesan cheese

• Apple slices dipped in peanut butter

On the road and forgot your snack? Try healthier convenience snacks with less than 300 calories and at least 3g-5g of fiber…

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  Nature Valley Granola Bar, Cliff Bar, Kashi or Special K bar

• Low fat Yoplait yogurt with fruit on the bottom

• Low salt or salt free packaged nuts

• Peices of whole fruit such as apples, bananas and oranges

• Choose bottled water or unsweetened teas over sodas and other sugary drinks

• Avoid the candy bars and the enormous high calorie, high sugar, high fat muffins, donuts and pastries

Your best bet is to add some healthier snack items to your next grocery list and make it a point to bring those healthy snacks with you for the day. We often already know what we need to do to eat healthier — actually doing it is the hard part.

So just do it. Your health is in your hands.