It is best to incorporate healthy snacks into your diet to lose weight, which is especially true if you want to lose the next 10 pounds. This may sound counterintuitive, eating more to lose fat, but many people need more quality food to lose weight.

Adding healthy snacks between meals is a crucial strategy for supporting weight loss. And, they provide essential nutrients to support better appetite control for sustainable weight loss.

A Few Healthy Options

Listed below are a few snack ideas you could have between meals, whether mid-morning, midafternoon, or later in the evening, like after dinner.

• 1tbsp Roasted garlic butter on 5-whole grain crackers or celery (Pro5 Carbs15 Fat13 Kcal178)

• one rice cake with 1 tbsp nut butter (Pro5 Carbs10 Fat7 Kcal135)

• Whole grain muffin with 1tbsp no sugar added jam (Pro5 Carbs27 Fat1 Kcal 140)

• 3oz Guacamole with 20 fat-free tortilla chips (Pro6 Carbs30 Fat20 Kcal297)

• 2oz cheese with 2oz of lean meat with mustard (Pro26 Carbs2 Fat18 Kcal262)

• 1/2 small fruit, 1oz cheese, one small handful of nuts (Pro12 Carbs31 Fat20 Kcal336)

• 1oz cheese, whole grain cracker, one thin slice avocado (Pro8 Carbs6 Fat12 Kcal162)

• 1 palm-size portion of meat, one slice of whole grain bread, 1 tsp light mayo (Pro10 Carbs15 Fat4 Kcal127)

A Useful Analogy of Healthy Snacks

Eating frequent, smaller meals is like adding small, steady pieces of wood to a fire, steadily fueling it and keeping it burning strong. Conversely, throwing a big log on a fire can smother it, much like a large meal overwhelming metabolism, hindering its efficiency.

To keep your metabolism going, you need smaller feedings more often to help stabilize blood sugar levels. Choose nutrient-dense snacks like fruits, vegetables, nuts, or yogurt. Frequent feedings will prevent energy crashes that often lead to unhealthy food cravings and overeating during meals.

What an Optimal Day Looks Like

Below is an example of how a typical day breakdown may look like for someone who is trying to lose fat by adding snack options.

• Breakfast (7:00 AM) – Two to three poached eggs over a bed of fresh spinach and sliced tomatoes

• Snack (9:30 AM) – Celery sticks with 1Tbsp almond butter

• Lunch (12:30 PM) – Baked cod topped with avocado salsa and a green salad with sprouts, extra virgin olive oil, basil, and squeezed lime.

• Snack (4:00 PM) – 1 piece of low glycemic fruit, 1oz of cheese, and 10-12 almonds

• Dinner (7:00 PM) – Grilled turkey breast with sage, roasted green beans, and 1/2 cup riced cauliflower

Strategically placing snacks can keep you going until the next meal. As a bonus, your increased energy levels make you more likely to engage in physical activities and exercise.

When looking for healthy snacks, choose foods that are not processed or high in sugar. You can also try incorporating healthy snacks with the “5-Habit Meal Plan.”

Above are just some of the many snack ideas, so be creative!

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*Note the caloric calculations are according to MyFitnessPal and are just approximations.