subject: Do You Eat Too Many Calories? [print this page] Choosing the right snacks can really help you to control and maintain your weight. While some people advocate cutting out all snacks from your diet and just eating three large meals per day, then instead I think having some healthy snacks in-between meals is a great way to keep your energy levels up, and to make sure you don't pig out when it is time to have a regular meal. It is vital you choose the right kind of snacks though, if you lapse into old habits and just eat candy bars and drink soda as a snack like a lot of people do, then that is not going to help you weight at all.
I think most of us are guilty of eating far too many calories each day, and if you eat more calories than you body needs then guess what, it gets stored as fat! Which is why I try to buy as much of my food from the grocery store as I can. That way I can keep a careful eye on just how many calories I am really eating because it tells me right on the box. If you buy snacks from a street vendor or you use the cafeteria at work, then you don't have that luxury. Often we don't even realize how many calories some of the things we snack on contain, by browsing around the supermarket you will start to see how many calories are in a bag of potato chips, or a muffin etc, and then you can make better choices.
Some items like a bagel aren't too bad, if you look at the nutrition profile for a cinnamon-raisin bagel then you can see it is roughly 150 calories and 30g of carbohydrates per bagel, with very little fat. If you are more of a donut kind of person and instead you tucked into a creme filled donut instead of a bagel then as you can imagine the amount of calories jumps right up to nearer 300. Although they seem relatively tame compared to something like a simple corndog which contains around 460 calories!
We are only supposed to eat around 2,000 calories per day so you can see how bad some of those snacks are. Try to stick to items like fruit and vegetables instead to keep your calorie intake low. At first you might find the change a bit weird as you are so used to sugary snacks, but give it a few days and you will start to appreciate just how much flavor is in natural food. Not only are they low in fat, sugar and calories, but fruit and vegetables are also packed with helpful vitamins and minerals to keep you in tip top condition.
If you feel you need some snacks which are a bit more complex then try signing up for one of the diet membership sites online, they usually have thousands of recipes available for you to use which are all low in fat and calories. It will take willpower on your behalf to change what you snack on, but if you want to lose weight, or just avoid putting anymore on, then you need to put in some effort.
