Tips

Healthier Snacking Tips

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Here are 7 tips for smarter snacking.

  1. Try a “hi-low” combination. Combine a small amount of something with healthy fat, like peanut butter, with a larger amount of something very light, like apple slices or celery sticks.
  2. Go nuts. Unsalted nuts and seeds make great snacks. Almonds, walnuts, peanuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, cashews, hazelnuts, filberts, and other nuts and seeds contain many beneficial nutrients and are more likely to leave you feeling full (unlike chips or pretzels). Nuts have lots of calories, though, so keep portion sizes small.
  3. The combo snack. Try to eat more than one macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrate) at each snacking session. For example, have a few nuts (protein and fat) and some grapes (carbohydrates). Try some whole-grain crackers (carbohydrates) with some low-fat cheese (protein and fat). These balanced snacks tend to keep you feeling satisfied.
  4. Snack mindfully. Don’t eat your snack while doing something else like surfing the Web, watching TV, or working at your desk. Instead, stop what you’re doing for a few minutes and eat your snack like you would a small meal. In addition, it is important to avoid snacking to compensate for boredom or cope with stress. Some things you can try instead are going for a small walk around your block or having a big glass of water.
  5. Take only a serving size. One area of struggle for some comes when they eat out of a bag for example. By pouring a serving size worth of your treat or snack into a bowl, it makes it easier to eat only as much as you should, without over – indulging.
  6. You can take it with you. Think ahead and carry a small bag of healthful snacks in your pocket or purse so you won’t turn in desperation to cookies or chocolate bars when out and about.

Have you benefitted from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let me know what you think.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please contact Elisha Cook for more information.

How to Help Picky Eaters Pick Healthy Options

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Handsome Young Boy Eating BroccoliTrying to encourage your child to try something new that is beneficial for their health can be a chore-some task that can lead to arguments and even tantrums. Here are some tips and tricks to help your picky eaters pick the right foods.

Plan Meals Together

Planning meals as a family can be a great way to help each member of your family to get the foods that they want, and encourage cooperation with the meals that are chosen. This does not mean your child gets to pick the meal every day and that you have to eat pizza every day. For example, maybe your child gets to choose what meal you guys make on Wednesdays. If your child chooses pizza, then they have to choose at least 3 vegetables that go on the pizza, or choose 2 veggies as sides for that meal. By giving your child choices, it may help with cooperation, as well as allow them to feel heard.

Make Meals Together

Though this is not always possible, having as many meals as possible where your child is helping prepare it gives them pride in what they are doing as well as encourages them to eat it because after all they did make it. This should be done with caution – for example – do not give a young child a knife to cut veggies. It can be something as simple as, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of corn, then let your child add it to the mixture.

Eat Together

Once again, this is not always possible with busy schedules, but whenever possible, eat together. By eating together, your child sees that everyone else is eating the same thing, and so, might be more willing to eat the food that is put in front of them.

Make Food Fun

Arranging meals on plates into fun shapes or designs can make meal – time fun. This does not take a lot of artistic capacity, but can be something as simple as making a smiley face on the plate.

Use Colourful Plates and Dishes

Using colourful plates and dishes can be effective in encourage children to eat the particular food in that dish.

Have you benefitted from reading this blog? Know someone that would benefit as well? Share, Like, Comment, or Tweet this article, and let me know what you think.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please book an appointment with Elisha Cook at the RSNC today and let me help you achieve your health goals.

 

Beach Body Tips and Tricks

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Girl - Weight LossBillions of dollars are being made on the topic of weight loss. Whether it is self-help books, diets, pills, or programs, a fortune is to be made in regards to helping people lose weight. There is no magic pill for weight loss. Ultimately, the way that you will achieve your weight loss goals is through making appropriate changes to your diet and lifestyle. However, there are some tips and tricks that might help encourage your body to lose weight:

Sleep

It might be surprising and sound very simple, but adequate, good – quality sleep is one of the ways we can prevent our bodies from “packing on” extra weight. When you do not get a good quality sleep, the following day you are more likely to eat 200-400 more calories! Giving your body the rest it needs will also help give you energy needed to exercise and make other lifestyle changes.

 

Water

Starting your day off with a glass of water will help not only with appetite but also with energy. You are asleep for 8 hours (give or take), at which point you are not drinking any water. This causes your body to wake up in a dehydrated and depleted state. Drinking a glass of water helps to replenish those water stores causing you to have more energy and a fuller stomach before meals. Often, when we are feeling hungry, it might even be our bodies trying to tell us that we are actually thirsty.

Slow Down

In our society, everyone is on the run, and that includes meals. By slowing down our eating, we are giving our body time to release the appropriate hormones that will tell our body that we are full. It takes 20 minutes to release this hormone, and so, by rushing through meals, we are not allowing our body to know precisely when we are full. “Mindful Eating” can help slow down our eating to help our bodies know when they are full. For more information on Mindful Eating please see my Handouts page at https://www.plattsvilledoctor.ca.

Smaller Portions

Everyone has heard time and time again to limit portions. A contributing factor to our larger portions might be the size of your plate. By using a smaller plate this will help to encourage smaller portions, as well as trick your mind into being satisfied (fuller plates tend to be more appealing to the eye hence why you normally want a full plate of food).

 

Note that anything beyond change in diet and lifestyle will not adequately retain weight loss goals. Please contact your doctor to inquire about how to make the appropriate diet and lifestyle changes to achieve appropriate weight loss. You can also come see me, Elisha Cook, at the Robert Schad Naturopathic Clinic (416-498-9763) and let me help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Some of the information provided above may not be appropriate for everyone, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the above. If you are interested in Naturopathic Medicine and wanting a different approach to your health care needs, please book an appointment with Elisha Cook at the RSNC today and let me help you achieve your health goals.