Photo by xJasonRogersx

Snacking can be a mixed blessing for anyone learning to eat healthy. On one hand, a small healthy snack after a workout or an hour or so before a late meal can help you avoid making bad, hunger-induced food decisions later. On the other hand, snacking can easily grow out of control and be a source of hundreds of excess calories.

Late night snacking almost never falls into the good snacking category and is usually driven by cravings or habit rather than legitimate hunger. Here are a few tips to help you make healthy post-dinner food decisions and break the habit of late night snacking.

8 Simple Tips To Avoid Late Night Snacking

1. Eat a satisfying dinner

This may seem obvious, but is often overlooked by someone actively trying to lose weight. Though dinners shouldn’t be excessively large, they should be balanced, nourishing and satisfying enough to keep you happy until bed time.

2. Eat fruit

Late night snacking is often fueled by a desire for sugar or dessert. A small piece of fruit can be a great way to satisfy this craving and help you make it to bedtime without indulging in unhealthy sweets.

3. Drink herbal tea

Often a desire to snack can be quenched by simply changing the flavor in your mouth. Warm mint or chamomile tea can substitute for dessert without actually contributing any calories.

4. Brush your teeth

Dentists will tell you it’s good to brush your teeth as soon as possible after a meal to avoid tooth decay. An added bonus of this strategy is that toothpaste tends to make foods taste bad and sap your desire for late night snacks.

5. Drink some water

Water is often overlooked as a simple and effective way to avoid excessive eating. Not only is thirst often mistaken for hunger, water can also help fill your stomach during the extra time it takes for your brain to realize you are no longer hungry. Sparkling water flavored with a little citrus or cucumber is particularly effective at distracting your mouth from the desire to keep chewing.

6. Call a friend

Since late night snacking isn’t a symptom of real hunger, psychological tactics can be effective at helping you make it to bed without extra calories. Eating and talking are not compatible, so calling a friend or family member can be a great way to occupy your mind and mouth until the cravings pass.

7. Get moving

Light exercise can be great for killing the desire to eat. Try burning a few calories instead of eating them by taking a walk or making a booty call instead.

8. Play video games

Though I do not consider the Nintendo Wii a particularly effective form of exercise, one bonus of playing video games is it occupies both of your hands and makes it difficult to eat. It also gets your mind off the kitchen and onto something more fun. I’d vote for video games over television any day of the week.

What are your favorite tricks to avoid late night snacking?

Tags: Exercise, snacks, tea, video games, water

Delicious Nuts

“When I work out at the gym, I am there for a couple of hours and by the end of the first hour, I am still energized but start getting hungry. I read your article on packing food for lunch but wanted to specifically ask if you recommend any specific store bought bars.”

I frequently get questions about different nutrition and energy bars. Generally I think all of them are a bad idea, since they are little more than processed food with added vitamins and/or other trendy diet ingredients–a hallmark of food from the Matrix.

Energy and meal replacement bars serve only one purpose: convenience. So let’s make no mistake about it, these are not health foods.

But I understand that quick calories can be incredibly useful, particularly when intense workouts are a regular part of your day. If you get hungry and don’t have anything around to eat, the chances of you breaking down and eating something you’ll really regret increase substantially. But I think there are better things to carry around than energy bars.

My quick snack of choice is nuts or trail mix. I always have a small stash of nuts hidden somewhere in my gym bag (which comes with me everywhere). My personal favorites are almonds, pistachios, cashews and macadamia nuts. When I’m feeling ambitious I’ll combine a few different kinds together in a plastic zipper bag along with some dried fruit, just to mix things up.

One of the only drawbacks of snacking on nuts is if you are really hungry it is easy to eat too many and ruin your appetite for dinner. Too many nuts can also be difficult to digest. To avoid this I recommend getting into the habit of counting the nuts you eat, drinking water and waiting 20 minutes before eating more. The protein and fat in nuts can be very satisfying, but it takes awhile for the satiety signals to reach your brain.

For almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts 10 is a good number to start with. For shelled pistachios and peanuts, 15-20 nuts is more realistic. You are aiming for a single serving size of 1/4 cup. After some practice, eating the proper amount will come naturally to you. But at the beginning you should either count the nuts or measure them out in advance so it is easier to make good decisions.

There are a few other easily transportable foods that can serve as good substitutes for energy bars. Fruit is a great option, particularly filling fruits with lots of fiber like apples and oranges. Be careful with soft fruits, however, or you may end up with a gym bag filled with goo. Yes, I’m speaking from experience.

(Read: How to transport soft fruits and vegetables)

Another option that I don’t often use but am not opposed to is jerky. Beef and turkey jerky are generally high in protein and very satisfying. Just be careful about the teriyaki flavor that is often high in added sugar.

As a final thought, I wonder if you are maybe spending too much time in the gym? For weight loss and fat burning, more than an hour is really overkill and may actually work against you. If you are training for a specific athletic event, you’ve gotta do what you gotta do. But for the rest of us mortals one hour in the gym is more than enough to accomplish our goals. Maybe your hunger is a signal to you that it’s time to shower up and head home?

One of the most essential aspects of a great healthstyle is planning for moments of hunger throughout your day, but processed foods are hardly ever the answer–no matter how convenient.

What are your favorite post-workout snacks?

Tags: dried fruit, Exercise, fruit, jerky, nuts, processed foods, snacks, workout