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Diet

Nine tips to help you snack healthier

Maximize weight loss, conquer cravings and banish stubborn belly fat with smaller portions spread out over the day. Here's the skinny on how to make snack attacks work for you
Nine tips to help you snack healthier

Istockphoto

Eat more often

Snackers have the edge on healthy eating, report researchers from Arizona State University. They reviewed 3,200 food diaries and found regular nibblers had more prudent intakes of cholesterol, sodium, calcium and protein. The best quick bites? Eight ounces of Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of steamed edamame, fresh carrot and celery sticks, a small pita with a tablespoon of hummus, an ounce of hard cheese with a handful of rye crackers, and an apple with peanut butter.

Bowl of edamameIstockphoto

Make your own kale chips

Kale is nothing short of a superfood. Not only is it brimming with vitamins K and A and potassium, it also delivers a healthy hit of calcium, magnesium and immune-boosting vitamin C. Plus, you can use the leaves to make baked kale chips, which are a crunchy, nutritious snack. Try this easy recipe:

Spicy kale chips
Prep: 10 min
Total: 30 min

Ingredients: 1 bunch kale 1 tbsp olive oil 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/4 tsp hot-red-chili flakes

Directions: 1. Tear leaves into small pieces, discarding stalks, and rinse. Dry thoroughly so no moisture remains. Preheat oven to 350F. 2. Spread kale pieces out on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and chili flakes. 3. Bake for 7 min, then move leaves around; bake for 10 min more, or until crisp. If your bunch is extra big, you may need to prepare chips in 2 batches.

Kale chipsAllison Dinner/Stockfood

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Keep it under 250

Eat snack-sized portions and you'll lose weight, says Richard Warburg, author of Snack Yourself Slim. He eats his fave foods in 100-to-200-calorie hits, so he never feels ravenous or deprived. "It's about enjoying tastes, not getting full," says Warburg. "Light snacks stabilize blood sugar, help your body burn fat and keep it from storing it." And doing this keeps cravings at bay, too.
Make it a habit: Take his cue by divvying up smaller quantities of food into single-serving sandwich bags.

Woman eating green appleMasterfile

Add some air

Pick popcorn, rice cakes or natural cheese puffs over their crispy counterparts like chips and crackers — and you can eat more while still cutting calories. In a study published by Appetite, snackers chose between two types of cheese puffs, one more air-filled than the other. Those who opted for the lighter puffs ate 73 percent more, yet took in 20 percent fewer calories. We love Popchips or Quaker Quakes Rice Snacks. Try them on movie night!

Stack of ice cakesGetty Images

Play mind games

Scottish hypnotist Benjamin Cook suggests this clever way to trick yourself into snacking right: Give in to your inner rebel. He says writing "Do not eat delicious healthy food" on a piece of paper and pinning it in a prominent place may make you crave wholesome foods. He believes the counterintuitive command works because generally we don't like to do as we're told, and so the words in the quirky mantra are more likely to create the desire for healthy eats in your subconscious.

Yellow post-itIstockphoto

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Stash almonds in a go-to tin

Michelle Wien, a researcher at Loma Linda University in California, swears by the "tin approach." Why? An empty Altoids case or similarly sized container holds just the right amount of almonds (one ounce or 20 nuts) to satisfy you between meals. Plus, her study shows eating almonds helps you stick to a healthy diet. "Almonds are all-stars — they provide slow-releasing energy with his of fibre and protein," she says.

Altoids tin and almondsIstockphoto

Nosh before noon

Eating breakfast or a mid-morning snack puts you on the fast track to feeling happier and more alert, say Welsh researchers. They asked some women to skip breakfast and others to eat a bowl of cereal within a few hours of rising. An hour and a half later, women who'd eaten the light bite scored higher on memory tests, and they reported sunnier outlooks all day long.

Bowl of cerealMasterfile

Munch to Mozart

Or have a bite to the sounds of Beethoven and Bach. Research shows music tempo influences food intake — the faster the beat, the more you'll eat. A long-term study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, measured the eating speeds of lunchtime diners listening to fast-paced jams or slower, soothing sounds. The rockers ate two additional mouthfuls per minute — and often forgot to properly chew — compared with those who listened to classical.

Woman listening to music and eating a saladMasterfile

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Walk it out

Sometimes no amount of willpower will fend off that 3 p.m. craving. If you're consistently reaching for the wrong kind of pick-me-up, go for a brisk 15-minute walk first. A study by the University of Exeter in England charged sweets junkies with the task of power walking before completing a stressful work-related assignment. Afterwards, a tempting bowl of treats was put on display, but the walkers were no longer as interested — they ate half as much as their desk-bound colleagues.

Woman walking across the street, red shoes and purseDavid Burton/Trunk Archive

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