End Winter Weight Gain With Healthy Snacking

It’s that time of year we all start thinking about putting on a
healthy layer of fat, just like the hibernating bears. From a
nip in the air to a massive snow and ice storm, there is a
palpable difference in the air. We’ve generally accepted that it
is nature’s way of helping us provide a little extra winter fat,
storing up for the winter, just in case. But how long since you
last had a food shortage or had to wait out the winter for your
next meal?

This year can be different.

Today consider making one small change. When you make a small
change, it is easier to handle, you are more likely to
incorporate it into your daily life and you are more likely to
succeed, than if you try to make a global change to your whole
way of being.

Instead of taking something away, start by adding more fresh
fruit and vegetables to your diet. Just for today, throw out
your rules, if you typically follow a diet that forbids fruit or
fresh vegetables because fresh foods are too important to miss.
Fresh foods are sweet, satisfying and full of vitamins,
minerals, bioflavonoids, and other things that your body
requires for optimum health.

Choose a few you particularly enjoy. This time of year apples
are great, citrus fruits, bananas are available year-round. Get
some fresh fruits you like and start carrying a food sack
everywhere you go. Try little packages of baby carrots, or cut
up cauliflower and broccoli. A fellow I know always has a bagful
of chopped cauliflower, carrots, and others vegis he munches on.
That’s smart.

The idea with healthy snacking is that when hunger strikes (or
what you think is hunger), no matter where you are you’ll now
have healthy snacks handy. No more having to buy a candy bar
because you’re famished. My choices for healthy snacks won’t
suit everyone, but that’s fine. Choose other things that would
work better for you. I enjoy things such as jerky, whole grain
rolls or bagels, yogurts, and fresh fruits as I mentioned
earlier. I almost always have an apple nearby.

The idea is that it’s not that you couldn’t wait, but what has
forestalling your hunger done for you so far? It tends to set
you up for later binging and out-of-control snacking. Eating a
few healthy snacks during the day can end that pattern once and
for all.

Here’s a plan: Think of one or two fresh foods you could carry
in a big or small cooler and then do it. As I’m writing this I’m
a little hungry and I’m starting to think about having a snack.
I might eat an apple, a banana or some jerky because they are
all within my immediate reach. That’s far better than not eating
anything now, but instead deciding to “wait it out,” while I
start thinking about cookies and cake and pizza and other fast
foods I can grab on the way home.

Going all day in a hungry or denied state sets you up for late
night binging and out-of-control snacking. You’ll never be able
to make up for the earlier deprivation. Why bother. I’ve never
met anyone yet who got fat from eating too much fruit, so be
brave and give this idea a chance.

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