Food feeds thy soul. Food also feeds thy health. It’s not an unknown sight these days, while we are indoors, to be munching on our favorite snacks almost all the time. Blame the lockdown or the natural tendencies to entertain our brain with nibblers. Food is indeed the source of happiness and health, both at once.
While the dieticians advise you to be mindful of what you nibble on, do you really pay attention to it? Research conducted by Monica Oak and Padmini Ghugre, 2018 (SNDT University, Mumbai, India) reveals that all snacks including fried and street food are high in salt and fat.1 This research published in the Indian Journal of public health research and development that there is a significant increase in BMI, Body fat and hypertension with the increase in consumption of such foods.
HEALTHY BITE TO THE RESCUE
So why are we snacking all the time these days? Although we are working from the comforts of our homes, the work pressure has doubled whether it is a homemaker or a working individual. In the process, after making one-two square meals, there is no time left to make nutritious snacks and therefore portable snacks come in handy. Although swapping full meals with quick snacks are fine sometimes, but it can create a problem when done often. It is a well-known fact that snacking on processed junk food can result in weight gain and other health problems like increased appetite and digestion, inadequate growth, and, in extreme cases, memory loss and learning problems. Well! The alternative is to keep healthy snacks handy.
When done mindfully, snacking can be beneficial for you. It can help you in increasing nutrient intake, sustaining energy levels, better mood, boosting your immunity. Certain kinds of snacks can help you in improving the quality of your diet.
HEALTHY SNACKING CAN MAINTAIN BLOOD SUGAR
Snacks can be beneficial for people who struggle with their blood sugar levels. Generally, after eating an unbalanced meal, blood sugar rises rapidly and decreases after some time. If there is a huge gap between two meals, blood sugar can drop suddenly creating complications. Therefore, for people who have diabetes, it is advisable to have snacks in between meals to keep a check on the sugar levels. A diabetic should consider having high fibre and high protein snacks such as roasted nuts. This will prevent fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which is important for a person who has diabetes.
Healthy snacks are a good option for a post-workout meal. Wholesome snacks after exercise are very good to replenish stored energy and speed up muscle recovery. A combination of some sort of carbohydrate and a protein source can be a good snack. Healthy snacks like Bajra crackers with ginger, jaggery and fennel seed or sweet pearl millet grain crackers can prevent a person from getting too hungry, prompting him to grab something from the junk food cabinet.
HEALTHY SNACKS THAT CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT
Yes, you heard it right. Snacking is not the dreaded habit. If followed mindfully, it can aid in reaching your goal of a healthy weight. Preparing and eating a filling and nutritious snack should be enjoyable and easy. Foods that are high in fibre, which contain carbohydrates for quick fuel, or which contain high protein content can be good choices. If you don’t have time or you are simply lazy to prepare a snack, you can opt for ready-to-eat healthy snack items available in the market. You can rely on these snacks made from nutritious and wholesome grains and other ingredients like crackers made from Ragi or Jowar. Satiate your sweet cravings by reaching out to peanut chikki made from jaggery or Gram chikki with jaggery and amla. If you are looking to just nibble on something tiny, a ready seed mix with chilli and sea salt will keep you satisfied a long way. Pre-planning your bites for the sudden hunger pangs can also be of great help. You can keep some nutritious food items in bags and small containers that are handy. Filling your pantry with market-bought healthy food items made from natural ingredients can also be a good idea.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Next time when you are craving to eat something in between your meals, go for wholesome foods and shun those highly processed, fattening options. Conscious Food offers a wide range of healthy and organic quick bites and other food items. These healthy and nutritious options can satiate your appetite and can also help boost weight loss at the same time.
The writer is a Mumbai-based Nutritionist, Conscious Food.