Watch Those Small Cravings!

Everyone gets hungry in between the day. More so, if you have a thing for fried chips or want to have a bite of the pizza slice that your family has ordered, be careful. If you make a habit of munching during the day, you are harming your waistline and increasing your love handles!  

Here are a few tips on what to avoid:

1. Disaster is sweet

Desserts such as cupcakes, sweet shakes, cookies, and even nutella can prove to be very harmful. A study says that it has shown that "just the sight or smell of candies, cookies, donuts, and other sugary sweet concoctions triggers a desire to eat some." I have such a big problem with desserts specially because we always have some at home. Just saying "one's not going to do anything," starts to become a habit and sooner or later your a kilo heavier on the weighing scale. Having sugar every day can cause anxiety, listlessness or even moodiness once the sugar runs off, its also bad in terms of leading to obesity, heart disease, hypoglycemia, diabetes and afcourse cavities!

2. Pizzas

At my house, my dad keeps a bunch of frozen pizzas in the fridge for us to munch on if we get hungry. Little did I know that pizza's have a very high fat content and no fibre at all. Also the base of the pizza contains high calories. A single slice on its own can have 400 calories!

3. Potato Chips and Soda

One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories  and 30 to 55mg of caffeine with artificial food colors and sulphites also having artificial sweeteners. By all these statistics and numbers, I think soda in the middle of the day is a complete bad idea!

Macdonalds, Doritos, Jalapeno Chips, Lays, Calbee, as much as it's fun to munch on, its not a good snack. Potato chips are loaded with salt and carbohydrates and a combination of that is not good! Also, many chips use trans-fats. They won't say they do because it is often less than 1g per serving but you can find it in the ingredients under partially hydrogenated oil this kind of fat is super bad for you. It's VERY calorie dense food!

4. Temptation

Avoid temptation! If you know your going to get tempted then avoid it in the first place. Tell you parents not to buy junk food in your house and store up with fruits and vegetables so you can resist the temptation of leaning towards fatty foods.

 Here are 5 healthy replacements to munch on!

1. Fresh Fruits

Fruits like apples, bananas, pears, and oranges are good for you. You will get a healthy does of vitamins minerals water and fiber to keep you satiated for a long time!

2. Nuts and Seeds

They may be high in fat but when  you eat a small portion they make a filling of a fiber vitamin and mineral rich snack. They have protein and can help regulate hunger and metabolism

3. Dry Fruits

Dried Fruits like dates, prunes, raisins are lower calorie options compared to chocolates. They are high in iron and other essential nutrients necessary for energy and metabolism. They do contain calories but they contain all the fiber you need! You could even mix dried fruits and nuts and make a trail mix if you don't like either one on its own.

4. Low Fat Yogurt

In yogurt there's lot of protein and zinc and is a great substitute for ice cream. If you want to make it a little more "teenage friendly" just add a little bit of chocolate sauce or fruits and it'll make it yummy!

5. Home made Popcorn

Make popcorn without oil or butter and just add a little bit of salt and you got a nutrient dense snack. Popcorn is whole grain and filled with fibre not to mention it's really filling. Although its not as tempting when watching a movie, its a healthier option of what you tend to lean towards.