Today I want to take a little look at those little things we all seem to love. The 100 calorie package, you can find these snacks just about everywhere now but are they the right snacks we should be eating?Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, Doritos, Cheeto’s, even chocolate bars, you can find just about everything today in a 100 calorie pack. While it seems like a great way to portion out our servings, is it really a healthy alternative to use when dieting?
These snacks are a great way to portion out servings, eating that small 100 calorie bag of snacks is far better than eating an entire box or bag of the regular snack before we know it. But does it really prevent us from overeating? How many times have you gone back to grab just one more package right away or even an hour later?
According to a study from Arizona State University 100 calorie snack packs can actually boost consumption! They gave people 200 calories worth of regular-sized M&M’s vs. the same amount of mini-M&M’s packaged into four baggies. 18% ate all of the mini-M&M packages while only 4% of those with the regular sized did. Those they tested that were not chronic dieters did just the opposite; over 30% of them ate MORE regular sized M&M’s from the larger package.
A big thing when dieting is not only portion control for a lot of us, but eating nutritious as well and the 100 calorie packs really don’t give us much of that. They’re still filled with carbs and sugars and empty calories. Things we need to look out for are foods that are going to help us suppress that appetite. Foods that are high in fiber, protein and healthy carbs and fats. With the sugar, high carb count and empty calories, these 100 calorie snacks will just keep us wanting more.
It’s easy to find some great 100 calorie items that will be nutritious and help our bodies and our hunger during out diet, some things that are a great 100 calorie snack include:
* 12 oz of skim milk
* 1 cup of fresh cherries
* 1/2 a cantaloupe
* 1 packet of regular instant oatmeal
* 1 cup of peanuts + 2 cups of dried cranberries
* 1 cup of fresh strawberries
* 15 almonds (plain without the added salt)
* 1 cup baby carrots + 2 tablespoons of humus
* 1 large celery stalk stuffed with a tablespoon of peanut butter
* 1 medium banana
* 2 egg whites on 1 slice of whole-wheat toast
These are just a few snacks that I’ve put on my list recently. My eating every 3 hours with some high protein high fiber foods isn’t an easy task, but with the snacks on hand, I can get it done, and be healthy doing it while keeping my appetite in check!
What sort of snacks do you find yourself grabbing on a daily basis?
2 comments:
I always like to have jerky around, great protein and can go anywhere though can be a bit high in sodium. Also yogurt they have so many different kinds, personally I like the Fiber One. Also if ya have a sweet tooth Jell-O pudding is nice.
I end up going back for another bag or 3 . I look at it as ,its only 100 calories. Not good!
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