One of the cool things about healthy eating is, in many cases, you don’t need to bother so much with meal preparation. There’s no healthier vegetable than a raw vegetable. So, if you don’t like cooking or meal prep, have a carrot! You can’t ask for anything easier or better to help your health and weight-management efforts.
When you couple that idea with the fact that many weight-loss programs are ruined by unhealthy snacking habits, and you can see where we’re taking you in this article.
Try These Delicious, Healthy, Low-Cal Snack Ideas
In addition to helping to keep your calorie deficit intact and being a good source of nutrition, a hidden benefit of trying one or more of the following snack ideas is that they can be your entrée to healthier eating during your regular meals too.
- Berries & Greek Yogurt – If you’ve ever tried low-fat, no-added-sugar Greek yogurt by itself, you may have wondered how anything could be so bereft of flavour. But what it lacks in taste is more than made up for in protein and digestive-system-boosting probiotics.
Couple that with the antioxidants, fibre and vitamins in the berries, and you get lots of great flavour in one of the healthiest and most filling snacks around. Even better, you can use different berries, like raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, each time you make this one for different flavours and different nutrients.
Mix the berries and yogurt together in a 50/50 ratio, like a half cup of berries with a half cup of yogurt.
- Boiled Eggs – No longer the cholesterol scare they once were, hard-boiled eggs are one of the fastest and healthiest ways of curing a hunger pang out there. Coming in at about 75 calories, a regular egg is filling, full of healthy protein, and packed with B vitamins.
- Raw Vegetables & Hummus Dip – This one’s healthy, full of flavour, and can offer different taste sensations every time you have it. Made of chickpeas, hummus delivers lots of protein, fibre, potassium, manganese and B vitamins.
You can couple all of that with whatever nutrients you get from your favourite vegetables, like carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, bell peppers, radishes, snap peas and cauliflower, to name just a few. And, considering the versatility of hummus recipes, you can try a different variation every time.
One cup of vegetables and two teaspoons of hummus is all you need. - Smoked Salmon & Cucumber Slices – Omega-3 fatty acids may be one of the most under-rated nutrients ever. Their benefits range from fighting anxiety and reducing asthma, to helping you sleep and preventing cancer. Fatty seafood, including salmon, are among the best natural sources of omega-3s.
When you put that on top of a cool slice of cucumber, which is no slouch in the nutrient department either (high in fibre, vitamin K and magnesium), you get one of the tastiest and healthiest snacks around.
You’ll need two ounces of smoked salmon (or, if you don’t mind the effort, you can bake or broil raw salmon) and one cup of cucumber slices.
- Cherry Tomatoes & Feta Cheese – This combo may be the most flavorful on the list. Cherry tomatoes pack all the same health benefits as regular tomatoes, including almost half of the recommended minimum intake of vitamin C, vitamin A for your eyesight, vitamin K for your bone health, and potassium for your heart.
But feta will steal the show. Not only is it one of the tastiest cheeses, it delivers healthy levels of all three macronutrients; carbohydrates, fats and protein.
Two tablespoons of feta and up to 10 cherry tomatoes are well under 100 calories.
Do you find fish too fishy? Try Herbal One’s Highly Hemp Ultra EFA’s and get all the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, along with the added benefits of omega-6 fatty acids, including lower risk of cancer, and lower levels of inflammation, cholesterol and blood pressure.
For more help to make the switch to healthy snacks, check out our article “How to Make Healthy Snacking Part of Your Weight Loss”.