When losing weight, or even trying to maintain your current weight after weight loss, having a selection of healthy snacks that you can grab and devour when hunger strikes or you’re on the run is essential.
We all should know by now how important regular snacking is for weight loss and overall health and wellbeing. By enjoying healthy ‘micro-meals’ between our main meals, we keep our metabolism ticking over and our blood sugar levels balanced. Snacking also has a psychological benefit as it stops us from feeling deprived (a common feeling on many ‘diets’) and/or ravenously hungry. This means that we are less likely to get fed up and indulge in a sugary or salty high calorie snack or overeat at our next meal due to an empty tummy.
This is makes sense but our downfall sometimes comes in the choice of snack we make. A ‘snack’ should be just that, a small something that fills our tummy and keeps us satisfied but without having a meal sized proportion or calorie count. With the super sized options available on shelves today, it’s not uncommon for a commercially prepared ‘snack’ to have as many calories, if not more, than the sandwiches on offer, one aisle over.
Avoiding this pitfall is easy, if you’re prepared. We have a whole load of healthy, calorie controlled snacks available on the Lose Baby Weight website. You can click here to see them all. One of the easiest and most convenient snacks to have stashed in your pantry is trail mix. You can buy pre-prepared mix at most supermarkets BUT it is often laden with sugary and/or salty items like salted or sugared nuts, chocolate coated berries and a hefty amount of dried fruit.
Making your own trail mix allows you to control exactly what goes in, and probably more importantly, what stays out. It also means that you can load up on protein and complex carb rich ingredients to ensure a good mix of nutrients to keep you firing on all cylinders. The suggestions below can be altered to suit your taste but always remember to try and stick with raw nuts and natural products. And don’t go too heavy on the dried fruit as it contains a lot of sugar.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup puffed corn (available in the health food aisle at the supermarket)
- 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- 1 cup mixed raw nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews and walnuts all work well)
- 1/4 cup craisins
- 1/4 cup dried apple or banana chips (choose one of the other)
- 1/3 cup yoghurt buttons (available in the health food or baby aisle at the supermarket)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (optional, see below)
Directions
While you can mix all the above ingredients as they are, lightly toasting the nuts adds a great flavour.
- To toast, combine all your chosen nuts in a bowl and drizzle with coconut oil.
- Preheat the oven to 110C and line a baking tray with baking paper/parchment.
- Spread the nuts out on the tray evenly and place in the oven.
- Bake for 5 minutes before turning and baking for another 5-10minutes or until golden.
- Remove from the oven and place in the fridge to cool and crisp up before adding to your mix.
Keep your trail mix in a ziplock bag with the air squeezed out and section into tupperware containers when you need it. If the weather gets really hot, it can also be kept in the fridge.
Makes 6-8 servings – Cal per serve – 150-250 (depending on if you toast the nuts)
If you are ready to lose weight then the Lose Baby Weight plans offer a healthy and safe exercise and diet routine.
