Read our latest bulletin: April 2023

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Hello again, and today we're talking about healthy snacks. So once you have thought about your meal time plates and how they can be better balanced to promote and sustain your energy.
Let's think about these snacks that can be incorporated into your day and we're going to look at the different reasons as to why we snack.

So the first of those may be because you're tired are you looking for that quick energy boost that pick me up. And if so what is the quality and the content of those snack choices and we might be snacking because we're actually hungry.

If you look back to one of the webinars called mindful eating in the feed your body clock series, we looked at different types of hunger.

So not just the stomach hunger where we've got that rumbling tummy. But is it hunger because of your the eye hunger where we just see something that looks delicious and suddenly just want to eat it.

Or it could be smell hunger where something smells amazing.

Or could it be heart hunger where we're looking for something that doesn't feel necessarily our stomach but a hole elsewhere and that might come under comfort eating.

Because there are so many emotional aspects associated with comfort food, and we're not looking necessarily to eliminate all of those. We need those little treats that food for the soul.

But we're looking to maybe make those more occasional or are we snacking out of habit. Whether it's a habit at home where we just think oh it's 11 o'clock I reach for my 11 o'clock packet of biscuits to dunk in my coffee. Or is it a workplace habit where treats and snacks are handed around and you can just take those and chomp away on them quite absent-mindedly without even really realizing.

Are we snacking out of boredom for people that were working from home. Which may not relate to to your role, but for some people we're just looking for something to fill a bit of time. Particularly if they're working from home by themselves.

So just thinking about the reasons why we're snacking and whether those snacks are always necessary and so when we come on to talking about snacks in policing, I'm very aware that with the unpredictable nature of policing you don't necessarily know where your next meal is coming from.

So it makes sense to have some snacks with you and when you're out and about. But we're going to look at the nutritional content of those and the impact. Both short term and long term on your body.

So short term snacks that are very ultra-processed or are very high in sugar are really going to impact your blood sugar. And I've talked a lot about that and the increased risk that gives you of type 2 diabetes as well as creating issues with weight management and energy.

And so the longer term impact of that is also quite clear with though that risk of later chronic disease and so we're also looking at the nutritional content that can give you a more sustained energy for a longer period. It's not going to spike your blood sugar. But can still feel like a tasty little treat.

So next we're going to move on and have a look at a few examples.

So here we have some examples of what some healthier snacks might look like. I'm going to start off with these which are not celebrations sadly but they are very delicious.

Oat, date, and dark chocolate squares. And they're like they're kind of like a fake flapjack equivalent and you honestly only need quite a small square of one of those to fill you up between meals.

And they are really nutrient dense really filling and full of nutritious ingredients. The recipe for these is on the Oscar Kilo website. So I would invite you to take a look. Super easy to make.

Whilst they were in the oven last night, I also made a kilo of my homemade granola. And so that could also be eaten as a healthy snack with a dollop of yogurt and maybe with some fruit.

I will often just have some fruit out on the table so that other members of the family that are passing might choose to graze on healthier things, including this jar of nuts, rather than just going
straight for the crisp and the chocolate or the biscuit barrel which I will have as well.

I'm not trying to eliminate everything that gives us joy but we're just looking at reducing those kinds of foods and just boosting our diets with these really nutritious foods.

Ok, so that's those. Then we come on to these delicious Savoury Muffins. These are from the BBC Good Food website and if you type in Savoury Muffins, there are 12 different recipes there.

These are so easy to make they're just a combination of some chopped vegetables, anything of your choice. These have got spring onions, some peppers, some spinach, and then a few herbs.

Whisk them up with a with a little bit of egg, some olive oil a bit of milk. And they just bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

My daughter had one of these for breakfast this morning. My son took three to school to have after rugby training and again because they've got a lot of egg in there and some milk. Lovely and filling, and super healthy snacks.

Might be worth just sometimes with a simple egg, just having some boiled eggs to hand if you need something to keep you going between meals. Full of protein and some good fats in there.

And again you can try just having a boiled egg as a snack and then if you're still hungry, maybe you do need another little treat food of some kind. But at least we're combining those with some really great food choices as well.

And then here we have some beetroot and mint hummus. I showed you how to make hummus in the last video. And again the recipe for that is on the Oscar Kilo website.

And I'll often just try and have a good jar of that to hand with some carrot sticks, or some cucumber sticks, some peppers.

And again just trying those first before you reach for the for the biscuits, or the cakes, and the pastries can be a great nutritious choice. And as well obviously they make it that makes a great lunchtime item too.

This is my work in progress. This is a version of vegan Nutella, tastes a little bit like chocolate and fondant icing at the moment.

But this is just half a tin of chickpeas, some dates, some cocoa
powder, and some chopped hazelnuts.

So I'm just looking at like reducing the sugar content of some regular everyday treats and giving that a go.

So yeah maybe give that a try and that's obviously so much lower in saturated fat and in sugar than the regular item, may not be everyone's cup of tea but it might be a nice little alternative. Particularly to go on to maybe some pancakes.

So other things I can just think of would be to have some jars of maybe olives in the fridge. A glass jar of those is so much cheaper than the ones you would get in the deli. And they're equally as nutritious and delicious and lots cheaper.

So I'll often just maybe just get out a spoonful of olives and leave those around for people who want to snack.

You could get some wholemeal wraps and you could spread those with some a bit of cream cheese, some cucumber maybe, some tuna fish. Roll them up and you could slice those into like little pinwheels and that could make a great little snack for somebody.

If you just need something just to pick you up a good source of protein there too.

And then finally I'm going to finish with talking about different nut butters.

So peanut butter - you can get nutritious peanut butter but also almond, cashew butter, and a spreading of those on some lovely wholemeal toast or some sourdough.

And again can be a great not only a breakfast start but also something perhaps to fill people between that lunchtime and evening meal break.

If you need something to pick you up and you know it's sort of like late afternoon when you really feel like grazing and snacking.

So I hope that's given you some ideas to think about why you snack. Think about the content, the nutritious content of your main meals. Whether they need perhaps a little bit of tweaking.

And then if you are going to snack think about maybe going for that nutritious option first, and then if it's not quite fulfilling enough, it's not quite touching that spot, then you know treat yourself.

But do it consciously. Do it with the control of the portion size that you're happy with, that's not going to then leave you feeling guilty and negative and everything else. Because the food that we eat so affects how we feel.

So go away and experiment.

Thanks very much.

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