Tuesday 4 March 2014

Snack Attack




It’s 3:30pm and you have the munchies, the dip in energy and your looking for a snack that won’t undo your awesome hour at the gym this morning, the very green smoothie you had for breakfast and that chicken salad for lunch you spent an hour preparing on the weekend. Rather than go for that cup of coffee and the chocolate bar try one of these high protein snacks to fuel your body & pack it full of nutrients that your taste buds will thank you for.



Why do we need to snack?
The reason for snacking (or for your second & fourth meal) is to stimulate metabolism, maximise nutrient intake whilst keeping portion control and keeping blood sugars at an appropriate level. This in turn allows for optimum energy levels, promotes good mood, muscle retention, fat loss and do much more.  Preventing your body from in taking food & nutrients for 5+ hours  slows your metabolism in order to conserve energy thus putting your body into ‘survival mode’ which then makes it more difficult to lose weight = storing fat + cravings for high fat & high sugar foods + poor digestion.

There are 3 categories of your snacks
K.I.S.S - these are your simple snacks that takes no time at all to prepare
Sweet Success – satisfying the sweet tooths
Seriously Savoury – the savoury lovers


K.I.S.S

  • A piece of fruit + a handful of nuts & seeds 
  • Crackers and ABC spread
  • Boiled eggs and veggie sticks
  • Crackers with avocado + cracked black pepper
  • Cottage cheese with veggie sticks
  • Protein Shake
  • Pot Set yoghurt with chia seeds + berries















Sweet Success
High protein muffins
  •  Ensure that the recipe has a good protein source (protein powder, nuts, seeds) & not too much sugar
Protein Bites
  •  My old faithfuls. Absolutely MYO.
Smoothie
  • This can be green, or a regular smoothie. They are normally a large protin so i would recommend 1/2 a serve as a snack
Nut bars
  • Again
     Ensure that the recipe has a good protein source (protein powder, nuts, seeds) & not too much sugar
Frozen yoghurt pops
  • Essential a frozen smoothie 



Seriously Savoury
Cucumber Cups
  • A hollowed out cucumber filled with tun. You can swap the protein source for edamame beans, salmon
Snack frittatas
  • essentially a mini omlette
Turkey Roll ups
  •  fill a slice of turkey with any veggies you like and roll it up
Avocado dip with carrot sticks
  • MYO!
Hummus dip with celery sticks
  •  Homemade is best but you can get away with a store bought


Do you struggle with snacking? Contact Sinead at naednutrition@gmail.com to improve your snacking habits.