Unhealthy Snacks

I do believe that healthy snacking is an important part of eating a balanced diet.  Eating a healthy snack, like fruit or low fat yogurt, between meals helps to keep you feeling satisfied throughout the day and helps you not to over eat at meal time.

However, unhealthy snacks can cause spikes in your blood sugar, leaving you with that afternoon "crash". Here is a list of a few snacks to avoid:

1. Doughnuts. High in sugar, trans-fats, and calories doughnuts are not only bad for your waistline, but bad for your energy levels as well. The high sugar content is likely to end in a midday crash. If you crave a doughnut, try a piece of whole-grain toast with 1 TBSP all natural peanut butter.
2. Soft Drinks. There just isn't anything nutritious about soda, whether it's diet or regular. Don't be fooled because the drink is diet - there is nothing healthy about them and in fact diet drinks can actually make you add on extra pounds!  Instead of a soda, try some sparkling water with lemon, unsweetened tea, or just plain water.
3.  French Fries: Actually anything fried - from chicken to potatoes to vegetables - should be avoided. Deep-fried foods contain trans fats that are bad for your body. If you want finger foods, opt for carrot sticks, low-fat mozzarella cheese sticks, or grapes.
4. Chips: Chips of any kind are usually fried so are therefore high in fat and salt.  Instead of chips opt for healthier choices like cut up fruits and veges, apple slices, or a hand full of almonds.  This way you still get the crunch without all the calories.

UnHealthy Snacks to Avoid

I do believe that healthy snacking is an important part of eating a balanced diet.  Eating a healthy snack, like fruit or low fat yogurt, between meals helps to keep you feeling satisfied throughout the day and helps you not to over eat at meal time.

However, unhealthy snacks can cause spikes in your blood sugar, leaving you with that afternoon "crash". Here is a list of some snacks to avoid:

1. Doughnuts. High in sugar, trans-fats, and calories doughnuts are not only bad for your waistline, but bad for your energy levels as well. The high sugar content is likely to end in a midday crash. If you crave a doughnut, try a piece of whole-grain bread with 1 TBSP all natural peanut butter.
2. Soft Drinks. There just isn't anything nutritious about soda, whether it's diet or regular. Don't be fooled because the drink is diet - there is nothing healthy about them and in fact diet drinks can actually help make you add on extra pounds!  Instead of a soda, try some sparkling water with lemon or lime slices- you'll get the carbonation without all the empty calories.
3.  French Fries: Actually anything fried - from chicken to potatoes to vegetables - should be avoided. Deep-fried foods contain trans fats that are bad for your body. If you want finger foods, opt for carrot sticks, low-fat mozzarella cheese sticks, or grapes.
4. Chips: Chips of any kind are usually fried so are therefore high in fat and salt.  Instead of chips opt for healthier choices like cut up fruits and veges, apple slices, or a hand full of almonds.  This way you still get the crunch without all the calories.

4 Unhealthy Snacks

When I find simple,  to the point articles,  I like to share them.  This is a great list of 4 snacks that we need to avoid. The list includes soft drinks - both regular and diet.  Don't be fooled because the drink is diet - there is nothing healthy about them and in fact diet drinks can actually help make you add on extra pounds!

1. Doughnuts. High in sugar, trans-fats, calories and refined flour, doughnuts are not only bad for your waistline, but bad for your energy levels as well. The high sugar content is likely to end in a midday crash. If you crave a doughnut, try a piece of whole-grain bread with some jam and peanut butter instead.
2. Soft Drinks. There just isn't anything nutritious about soda, whether it's diet or regular. Instead of a soda, try some sparkling water with a bit of fruit juice - you'll get the carbonation without all the empty calories.
3.  French Fries. Actually anything fried - from chicken to potatoes to onions to cheese - should be avoided. Deep-fried foods contain altered fats that are detrimental to the body. If you want finger foods, opt for carrot and celery sticks.
4. Instant Soup. Very high in sodium, instant soup generally offers little health benefit in proportion to its sodium count. Your total daily intake of sodium should not exceed 2,400 mg and one serving of instant soup contains around 500 mg (some kinds of Ramen-style soup are even worse, offering up about one-third of a day's recommended sodium.) A better option is low-sodium vegetable broth with part whole wheat and buckwheat noodles such as Japanese soba or udon.

For the entire article and more great information: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP03621/4-Unhealthy-Snacks.html

Health and Diet Sodas

Eat This Not That

I am starting this section to help give us better food and drink choices. I will periodically add to this topic when I find great healthier food choices I want to share. The first up in this section is:


Diet Soda
I want to start this topic by first saying that I used to be a soda drinker. I drank cokes as a kid and switched to diet drinks as a teenager. It was not until I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 36 that I decided to give up all soft drinks and artificial sweeteners.

In an article in the January 2009 edition of Prevention Magazine it is stated that in a 2008 study, researchers linked drinking just one diet soda a day with metabolic syndrome – the collection of symptoms including belly fat that puts you at high risk for heart disease and diabetes. Researchers are not sure if it’s an ingredient in diet soda or the drinker’s eating habits that caused the association.

My play on the topic…cut out the sodas altogether, regular and diet. Artificial sweeteners are just not a good thing. Although they have been approved by the FDA as safe to consume, we still need to keep in mind that by adding artificial sweeteners to our food and drink, we are still eating something that has no nutritional value and does not function like food in our systems. Remember our goal is for food just to be food.

Smarter Sub: Water, Unsweetened Iced Tea, Flavored Seltzer Water (make sure to read the label, you never know what is in a product until you read the list of ingredients), 100% Fruit Juice (small amounts), Green & Black Teas, fat-free or low-fat milk .

If you can’t stop “cold turkey”, consider decreasing the amount you drink gradually. Remember, every step you can take towards a healthier diet, is a step in the right direction. Instead of sweeteners try light vanilla soy milk in your coffee and tea.