Australians are a nation of snackers. Researchers at The University of Sydney have found that Australian adults eat 40% of their calories—nearly half of their food intake—as extra foods rather than as set meals.

Snacking between meals can be of benefit to aid muscle recovery after a workout or to keep the hunger pains at bay between meals so that you don’t over eat or make poor choices but if you are not careful about your choice of snack you could be eating the calorie equivalent of 1-2 extra meals per day without realising it.

I see too many women who are sabotaging their weight loss goals by snacking on high energy “super foods” thinking that they are healthy. For example 2 protein balls from the health food store or supermarket can add up to 400 calories which is equivalent to a main meal.

My advice is, try to keep your snacks at approx 100 calories so that they don’t impact too much on your daily intake. If you are not hungry between meals then don’t eat. Snacking may have just become a habit that you don’t need. Try having a glass of water or herbal tea first and wait for ½ hour to see if you are actually hungry or just bored!

Here are my top 100 calorie snacks,

 1. 12 almonds or walnuts or cashews

2. 2 cups air popped popcorn with little Himalayan sea salt

3. 2 cups fresh berries

4. 2 tablespoons of hummus with vegie sticks

5. 10 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa

6. 2 Vitawheats with cottage cheese and salad

7. KBWL Coconut Berry Smoothie recipe on my Facebook post 9th October