Good nutrition is a must for anyone who wants a lean, toned, fit body. But if my experience as a Costa Mesa Personal Trainer has taught me anything is that most diet’s fail not because of what people eat at their typical meals, but because of what they eat while snacking. If a person decides that they will consume a certain number of calories a day to lose weight, they might factor in the calories they eat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but they won’t factor in that bag of potato chips or handful of M and Ms they had in between meals.
Obviously, this is a problem. If you go on a diet, you don’t have to stop snacking entirely, you just have to make sure you count them into your daily calorie totals if you are counting calories, and that you eat the right things. Here are some suggestions I often offer my clients at my Costa Mesa Personal Trainer Business if they want to nibble on things between meals guilt-free.
Don’t Knock Healthy Snacks Before You Try ‘Em – A lot of people dismiss healthy snacks out of hand, before they even give them a shot. Really, you will be surprised as just how much variety the world of healthy snacks has.
Learn the Labels – Just because a packaged food has the words “diet” or “low-calorie” emblazoned on the front, it doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Always check on the label, making sure that to take special note of the serving size. If the label says “two servings per package,” be sure to double all the numbers you read.
Even if a food is advertised as “zero grams trans fat,” that might not be completely accurate. Legally, a food can be called “zero grams trans fat” if there is less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving. You can tell if the advertising is true or not just be reading the ingredients list. If you see “partially hydrogenated soybean oil” anywhere, you know that it does actually contain trans fat.
Be Careful with Energy and Protein Bars – Snacks that are high in protein are usually good for a number of reasons. First, a large amount of protein in your diet is essentially to constantly build lean muscle. Second, since protein is more difficult to digest than most simple carbohydrates, it leaves you feeling fuller for longer.
Even so, most energy and protein bars aren’t very good for you, mostly because of sugar content. A bar that comes packed with twenty-four grams of protein won’t do your health much good if also comes with thirty grams of sugar. As always, check the label before you eat anything.
Ask Yourself If You Are Really Hungry- Often when people think that they are hungry, they are really just starting to feel thirty, and it takes is a glass of water to hold them to their next meal. Or they might think they are hungry, but in reality they are just bored and looking for something to do, in which case it might good to turn to a favorite activity.
Don’t Snack Just to Keep Your Mouth Busy – If you are a compulsive eater, the type who likes to pop a big bag of popcorn before settling in front of the TV, consider finding some other ways to keep your mouth busy. You might try chewing gum or sipping tea. As a Costa Mesa Personal Trainer, I have helped and shockingly large number of people start losing real weight just by telling them to find better ways to occupy their mouths than with French fries and fried tortilla chips.
Chris McCombs is a Costa Mesa personal trainer who is known for getting Costa Mesa and Orange County residents into incredible shape. Chris used to be super fat, lost all the weight and then became a personal trainer in Costa Mesa. Learn more about his amazing program at http://www.socalworkout.com/
