Snacking – is it getting in the way of your weight loss goals? Plus lots of savoury snack ideas

"My meals are all ok, it's the bits in between that are getting in the way"

in my 9 years of supporting people to lose weight, the above sentence is probably one of the most common I’ve heard (along with lack of planning!).

Snacking, for many of us, is the thing that stops us reaching our weight loss goals. We can commit to eating our healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners but when the ‘snack attack’ happens, our determination and commitment often wavers or fails and we find ourselves reaching for those high calorie / high fat / high sugar items that we’re trying most to avoid.

A snack is generally defined as any food eaten in between meals

Many people snack once or twice a day and there’s lots of different reasons for it:

1) Hunger, it’s been a few hours since your last meal and your stomach starts rumbling
2) A dip in energy levels – have you ever noticed that 3-4pm slump for example when your energy levels drop?
3) We enjoy or crave the taste of certain foods
4) Emotions – can be anything from boredom, stress, sadness, loneliness etc etc etc
5) Habit – we’ve trained ourselves to grab a biscuit with our afternoon cuppa for example
6) Temptation – you hadn’t planned on eating anything, but a colleague comes to your desk with a plate of snacks and you are tempted
Plus many more.

Which of those rings true to you?

Snacking isn't banned or bad for you - but if you do recognise that it's stopping you from reaching your weight loss or healthy eating goals, here's a few tips or questions to ask yourself:

Is it physical hunger or emotional hunger you are feeling?
- Physical hunger grows slowly, your stomach may grumble or have an empty feeling, you may feel an energy slump or a bit tired
- Emotional hunger arrives quickly, there’s no real physical sensations and if you distracted yourself completely, that feeling would pass within a few minutes
What do you reach for when you snack?
- Are you grabbing carrot sticks, protein filled eggs and meats, healthy fats such as unsalted nuts?
- Or do you find yourself reaching for biscuits, crisps, chocolate etc?
What’s going on when you snack?
- Are you bored? Stressed? Sad? Tired? Lonely? etc etc
- Did you miss breakfast or lunch and are starving?
When you start snacking, do you eat more than you intended to? Does it lead to other unhealthy food choices?
Do you plan your snacks in the same way you plan what’s for dinner?

What’s important, is the quantity you snack on – you shouldn’t eat too much that you don’t feel hungry for your next meal or overeat past the point of fullness. It’s ok to feel a bit hungry!

I did a survey on social media for this week's blog post and whether people wanted healthy ideas for either sweet or savoury snacks and, surprisingly, the overwhelming majority voted for savoury (I'm a sweet girl myself), so here's a few ideas to plan and try to fill those snack gaps without damaging your weight loss goals!

Top Tip

If you crave salty snacks, did you know that’s a sign from your body that it could be dehydrated so before eating anything, drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes to see if the craving goes away

Savoury Snack Ideas

Homemade hummus

I love having hummus in the fridge and making your own is so easy, its filling and tasty:

Standard version:
A tin of drained chickpeas, a dollop of fat free natural yoghurt, a splash of lemon juice and a few cloves of garlic. Just place in a blender or a jug and blitz with a handheld blender. Add more or less yoghurt depending on how you like the consistency.

Variants:
– Add jarred red peppers or beetroot
– Use a tin of drained butterbeans instead of chickpeas
– Add a tablespoon of tahini
– Add a tablespoon of olive oil

Serving Suggestions
– Crudites such as sliced peppers, carrots, mangetout or sugar snap peas
– rice cakes or high fibre crispbreads such as ryvita

Other homemade dip ideas

Blue cheese dip

Simply mix 30g of blue cheese into a pot of quark, give it a good stir and leave overnight in the fridge.

You could substitute the quark for natural yoghurt.

Tzatziki

Chop some cucumber into tiny pieces, stir into some fat free natural yoghurt with finely chopped garlic and mint.

I sometimes swap garlic for mustard powder too.

Prepare some sliced veggies in advance

Carrots
Celery
Peppers
Cucumber

Or buy prechopped or no prep needed

Radish
Cherry tomatoes
Carrot batons
Mange tout
Sugar snap peas
Edamame beans

Lean meats

Buy pre sliced meats and wrap around pickles or fresh veggies for a tasty and filling snack

Alternatively, save any leftover meat from dinner to pick at the day after.

Many supermarkets sell these pre-packed chicken bites perfect for a protein packed snack on the go

Pickles

I’m a big fan of all pickles and always keep a few jars in my fridge – they are perfect for a quick snack, plus it’s quite hard to overeat a jar of pickled onions or gherkins!

One of my favourite snacks:
ryvita multigrain rye cakes (or swap to any high fibre crispbread or rice cakes)
primula light cheese spread (or equivalent)
sliced gherkins

Crispbreads, crackers and rice cakes

These are handy to have in your storecupboard and can be topped with anything to provide a quick and easy savoury snack

ryvita with homemade hummus

rye cakes with chopped boiled egg mixed with a dollop of fat free natural yoghurt

fat free cottage cheese with beetroot salad

grilled cheese and marmite

Eggs

These are a handy protein packed snack which will help curb hunger and can be so versatile as well as prepared in advance. A couple of my top uses:

Simple boiled eggs – boil up a few and keep them in the fridge for a very quick and easy snack

Egg muffins – you can experiment with whatever fillings you like but simply add your filling to a muffin tin (cook any meat in advance) and pour in beaten eggs and cook for about 20 mins

Cheese

Now, cheese can be a controversial inclusion here – for many people, cheese is a ‘danger food’ or a ‘trigger’ – something that once you start, you can easily overeat it so be very self aware here – if you know that one bit of cheese opens up an avalanche, maybe these snack options are not for you – but cheese, in measured quantities is good for us. It’s a brilliant source of protein and calcium so eating it in controlled amounts is beneficial for us.

Squeeze primula cheese into celery sticks

Top sliced cucumber with cream cheese (smoked salmon optional)

Babybel cheeses are great for a pre-measured snack

Some easy 'grab and go' options

Seafood sticks – always handy to have in the fridge

pre-packed sushi boxes
You can grab these in most supermarkets / lunch places and a great on the go snack or lunch

Nuts and seeds

Another trigger warning here! Nuts and seeds (unsalted, unflavoured) are really good for us – they are good sources of protein, healthy fats, fibres, vitamins, and minerals – however, they are high in fat and overeating them will get in the way of your weight loss and healthy eating goals. If you sit mindlessly with a bag of peanuts and before you know it, the whole bag has gone – these may be a snack that you choose to avoid but check out the recommended portion size and stick to it, then nuts and seeds are a very healthy snack to enjoy.

Crisps

Growing up, crisps were a staple snack in my house – we had a pack in our school bags for ‘breaktime’ snacks and bowls of crisps were available at all parties and social gathering. For lots of people, a bag of crisps is the first ‘go to’ when fancying a savoury snack. If crisps are your thing, then look for a healthier alternative – puffed options such as quavers, french fries and wotsits are going to be a lot lower in calories to the traditional Walkers / Pringles style varieties. The key is to also ask yourself – are they a trigger for you? Can you just eat one bag and be satisfied? If you know that one bag leads to a second and maybe more, then maybe its time to find an alternative snack.

Popcorn

Popcorn is a great alternative to crisps and can really hit that savoury or salty craving. There’s lots of lower calorie pre-portioned bags available to buy, but like crisps, be honest with yourself as to how well you can manage them. Can you stop at one?

Pre-portioned snack packs of nuts and seeds help you control portion size

Healthier crisp choices (but be careful to stop at one!)

Pre-portioned snack bags of popcorn

I hope some of these ideas are helpful for those of you who like a savoury snack. My words of advice would be to plan your snacks as carefully as you plan your meals – those little bits in between can really be the cause of why your weight loss may not be what you want it to be.

I provide my 1-2-1 coaching clients with lots of practical tips as well as strategies to help with their individual challenges when it comes to meeting their weight loss and healthy eating goals. If you’d like to find out more about my coaching services, please do get in touch. More info can also be found on the following blog post: mealplansmadeeasy.co.uk/weightlosscoach/ or you can call me on 07843 442607 or email georgina@mealplansmadeeasy.co.uk