5 Tips to Become a Healthy Snacker

Are you an unhealthy snacker? Make your snacking healthy by taking these five steps:

1. Get your mind on board.

   Most likely you are eating to satisfy a feeling. What are those feelings? Annoyed? Anxious? Sit with those feelings and allow yourself to take the journey to melt into that feeling. When you do snack, keep a food mood journal by writing down exactly what you ate and how you felt right before, during and after you ate it (Example: Gummy bears - Before=Lonely, During=Satisfied, After=Weak). This helps you stay accountable. Most likely you will come out on the other end feeling lighter and with an action step to move yourself forward with your goals.

2. Make snacking automatic.

   Do you go hours at a time without eating anything at all? This is a sure way to fail, once you are hungry you are most likely going to want to eat any and everything in your path. Take the time to never go more than two hours without having a meal or little healthy snack.

3. Stay hydrated

   Drink half your bodyweight in ounces scattered throughout the day (Example: 150 lbs=75 ounces a day). If you worked out for one hour, that is an additional 10 ounces.

4. Eat before you are hungry

   On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not hungry and 10 being very hungry), eat your snacks when you are at a 5. This will help with overeating.

5. Chose 5 healthy delicious snacks

   What are your favorite snacks that are nutritious? Keep these in stock, so you can easily grab them when you are hungry. (Examples: Almonds, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, dried mango.)