Snack Time

If you want to follow the 'modified food intake plan' you might have noticed that it includes regular eating times. Breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, tea/dinner, and supper.

This is part of gently spreading the load of carbohydrates more evenly across the day to give your body (pancreas) a better chance of processing without putting it under so much stress.

Fruit snacks - many (but not all)
perfectly packaged for a day
out in the handbag

This wasn't my original approach to eating…. I ate when I felt hungry. If I was bored, this was more regular. If I was busy, I often didn't think about food for hours. I could get up in the morning and head into the day with no breakfast and often not think of food till 2pm. Or have a late breaky and not stop till tea/dinner time.

The problem with these long breaks with out food, is that when you do finally eat, you tend to feel like you are 'starving'. So you are more likely to over eat, taking in way too many carbohydrates, and putting a heavy load on your body (pancreas) to process all that food.

Since following my new eating plan (the modified food intake plan), I have noticed a couple of important changes to my approach to eating. I have noticed that if I eat regularly (have my 'appropriate snacks') I am less likely to feel ravenous when it comes time to eat, and I can tell you, it's much easier to manage food choices and portions if you aren't feeling desperate for food.

I've also noticed that if it's time for a snack, or a meal, and there's a big slice of Chocolate Cake looking extra moist and extra edible …..  hard though it may be, if I can muster the self control to turn away and choose the snack or meal that fits my eating plan, I am usually satisfied enough to walk away from that cake.

This is why I think it's so important to have those mid morning and mid afternoon snacks, and supper (or dessert). It just keeps at bay that more overwhelming 'give me food and give it right now' feeling which is often behind making inappropriate food choices.

I also think its important to have a plan in place for these snacks. Either at home or when you're out , if it's time for a snack it helps if you are not scrambling to find something appropriate. Otherwise you end up settling for the poor choice simply because its easier. So have a plan. Lets face it… if you have a plan you are way more likely to stick to it.

My favourite brand of nut bar-
This one has 10 g carb per bar

My snack plan when I'm out is to always carry a few nut bars (10 to 20g carb) in my hand bag (or bike back pack) and if I'm going to be out a bit during the day where healthy snacks may be hard to come by, I throw in a piece of fruit or two (fruit that will keep okay rolling around in the bottom of the handbag).

Some fruit is all I need for a healthy alternative to keep me going till I have access to other options. But if I find myself having coffee (or a pot of tea) with friends somewhere, then lets face it, a piece of fruit just isn't going to cut it. Hence the nut bars for a better option than anything the coffee shop has to offer both for health, and for grams of carb.

If my nut bar supply has run out, or if it's a special occasion (sometimes just catching up with friends is a special enough occasion!) my back up plan is to share with someone. My mantra is that sharing halves the guilt and doubles the pleasure. Half the guilt cause I've only eaten half. Double the pleasure cause usually a whole portion can leave you feeling bloated whereas a half portion is usually enough to enjoy without being left with that over full feeling.

For snacks at home I also find fruit handy. Sometimes I add some yoghurt. But as you already know with my 'cup of tea and a nibble' fettish, my crackers are an invaluable part of my 'snack' plan. I have two types of crackers that I prefer. Sao's which give me three crackers for a 15g carb serve. And Multigrain Corn Thins which give me four crackers for a 15g carb serve.

Multigrain Corn Thins -
one cracker = 4g carb 

These crackers are basically a platform for as much carb free and 'anytime' food as I fancy loading on them. Sometimes a Sao cracker on its own is enough. I never eat a Corn Thin on its own… just doesn't do it for me at all. But usually I load up my crackers with cold meat, leafy greens, cottage cheese and tomato with a little salt and pepper.

Apart from the carbs in the crackers this is pretty much a no carb snack. If I have three Saos or four Corn Thins that is my 15gram carb snack (and one of my three anytime carb serves for the day). But often one cracker will often do me…. in which case I can spread that serve of sometimes carbs across three snack times if I want a nibble at each cup of tea (morning tea, avo tea, supper).

If Saos or Corn Thins don't rock your boat, check out the labelling on other alternatives till you find something that works for you. If you find the crackers a bit bland, a little horse radish sauce or mustard can add a little kick, and I do love a little smoked salmon or anchovy on a cracker. It doesn't take much to add a little flavour punch.

Sao Cracker
 one cracker = 5g carb

Smoothing a little cream cheese or avocado on a cracker is also a nice base for a little tomato and rocket. Pretty much whatever you find that comes in under your 15gram of carb guideline for your snacks and that works for you.

Other no carb (anytime) snack ideas I find good for grazing are sliced mushroom, a nice sweet fresh carrot (good for a satisfying crunch), cherry tomatoes (though watch as they pop in your mouth… it can be messy if your mouth is open!), a boiled egg (though I usually have my egg for breaky these days), and rollmops (pickled herring) and sardines I also love  - though these are more of a sometimes treat for me based on cost (rollmops) and social acceptability (sardines).

When I first started this plan I found I liked something sweet after tea/dinner, so I would have a low carb dinner (under 15g carb), then leave some time between dinner and desert, and have fruit and yogurt (fruit carb and dairy serves)  or another sweet alternative (around 25g carb) such as one or two 15gram carb biscuits as my supper (sometimes carbs serves).

Taste.com is really useful here (try typing in low carb snack in the 'search' window) as in the Nutrition tab for each recipe it often tells you how many grams of carbohydrate. Normally we would look for 15grams carb as our snack, but if you've had a low carb evening meal, you can use a little more for your supper (try to limit to 25grams carb) depending of course on what other sometimes carbs you have had during the day.

There are also low carb sweet snacks available on the shelf in the supermarket. Usually they come with a lot of artificial flavour and sweetener which I'm not a big fan of myself but that's easy for me to say when I don't have the sweetest tooth around. But making this eating plan work for you is more important than my qualms about artificial sweetener, and if it gets you over the hump then I say go for it.

A variation of one of my
regular snacks - Multigrain
Corn Thins with a pile on top

These sweet items usually come under your serves of sometimes carbs but are not the healthiest option or the most sustainable source of energy so best to try and keep them in some kind of balance in your eating plan, well behind all our healthier options for energy and repairs and maintenance. They should very much be sometimes foods or transitional support rather than too regular a feature.

The bottom line is that your Snack Times are an important link in the chain for the success of your 'modified food intake plan' so whether the crisp apple, the bunch of grapes, the yoghurt, the crackers, the sardines, the banana, the cherry tomato, the low carb chocolate biscuit, or the nut bar, don't forget to top up mid morning or mid afternoon, and end the day with a little something before bed.

I do hope you have found something in here that helps you bridge that 'between meals' gap in a healthy and sustainable way. Food for thought anyway.

Happy snacking.