Snacks, They Can be Good For You!

I was making some blueberry green tea this morning (which is really good if you like tea btw) at work and looked around and saw that in our little office of 5 people there were doughnuts, danish, brownies and oatmeal cookies (not to mention the halloween candy and M&M's). That is just ridiculous considering the only healthy food in the office belongs to me which means that anything anyone else eats in the office today is loaded with sugar, fat and calories. Now don't get me wrong, baked items are a good sometimes food but this is generally the case here all.the.time. The sometimes foods in this office are healthy. This is not just bad for the waistline though. Eating sugary foods do not help keep your energy up throughout the day and they do not help you focus.

It is my understanding that this is pretty common in offices and even more so for the big offices that celebrate birthdays and just have more people to bring in the leftover sweets from the night before that they bring in so they don't eat it all themselves. I have said this over and over but I advocate snacks throughout the day and don't think you should go more than 4 hours without eating something. Of course I advocate healthy snacking though and not just throwing some chips or cookies in your mouth. If you don't know what to bring try some of these:

- low fat string cheese and a handful of almonds
- low fat string cheese and a small apple
- a small apple and a handful of almonds
- low sugar hot chocolate (if you have a sweet tooth)
- hummus and veggies
- edamame
- cottage cheese and fruit
- pears with low fat yogurt and low fat granola
- celery with peanut butter (low sugar or natural) and raisins
- rice cakes with peanut butter (low sugar or natural) and slices banana
- rice with cottage cheese and low sugar jam
- hard bolied egg
- raw nuts and dried fruit
- whole wheat crackers with canned chicken or tuna (add a little bit of low fat mayo if you wish)

Eating a snack between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and dinner can prevent you from over eating at meal times and keeps your energy going throughout the day. If you have access to a fridge at your work, even better. You can stock up on Monday and you won't have to worry about thinking about what to bring every morning when you are rushing to work.

Remember, if you are trying to lose weight don't forget to eat!