To snack, or not to snack…
Snacks can be an important part of your plan as you focus on hormone health, and feeling better in your body again.
Are you struggling to lose weight?
Feeling exhausted every day?
Hit that ‘mid-day slump’?
Can’t sleep?
Bloated?
Snapping at people around you?
If so, keep reading.
I commonly see Women skipping snacks during the day (and let’s face it, meals too), then eating ALL the food they can find in their pantry as they cook supper, answer email, and get ready to do everything they need to do that evening.
This can cause bloating, weight gain, mood changes, and even trouble sleeping.
I want to stop and look at what is happening here.
For those of us that have stress hormone imbalances – this is about 95% of the Women I meet with when they come to see me… Skipping meals and snacks, and going for long periods of time during the day INCREASES stress on your body.
When you are already in a state of imbalance, or even burnout (check out THIS Cheat Sheet if you’re unsure), skipping snacks & meals can be making this worse.
This leaves you feeling even MORE tired, MORE grumpy, MORE irritated at everything, and losing weight is much harder.
The trick is to find snacks that support your stress hormones and blood sugars, and build you up again.
An easy way to do this – have snacks with protein and healthy fat.
By eating snacks high in protein & healthy fats you can reduce cravings and binging later in the day, help support blood sugars, reduce symptoms like low energy, hot flashes, mood swings and headaches.
Here are a few of my favourite snacks to help get you started:
- Energy balls
- Hard boiled eggs and veggies
- Small handful of nuts with some berries
- Homemade yogurt parfait
- High protein muffin
- Hummus and veggies
- Guacamole (I throw some hemp seeds in mine) and veggies
- Fat bombs
(I have loads of recipes HERE to help get you started)
At this point I’m usually asked this question – ‘Ok, so now I know having snacks is important, but what is the best timing for this?’.
This depends on your schedule and routine, and needs to work into your life.
If you have breakfast before 7AM, you may want to add a morning snack in.
If you have breakfast at 9AM, you probably won’t need one – just an afternoon snack.
Afternoon snacks (again, depending on your routine), I usually suggest around 2:30-3pm. This can help reduce the mid afternoon slump, and curb your cravings before they strike.
Snacking needs to be easy, something you enjoy, and when you choose something that supports your hormones – you tend to notice a change very quickly.
I’d love to hear what your favourite snacks are below!
