Your belly’s growling and you might even be feeling a tad, well, hangry. Dinner is hours away. No use sticking it out—a strategic snack can not only make your more productive, it can also help prevent you from overeating at mealtime. We talked to nutrition expert Ashley Koff, R.D., founder of “The Better Nutrition Simplified Program,” for some of her favorite snack time tactics. Here are her five favorite tips for indulging responsibly.
1. Avoid overcarbing
Although carbs may make for an obvious choice, going double down on carbs—a hefty portion of bread, crackers, fruit—is not a smart choice. Pure carbohydrates can mess with your blood sugar (think spikes and drops). But if you pair carbs with healthy fats or proteins, as Koff recommends, you have a nutrient balanced snack that can get you all the way to mealtime.
Try: One of Koff’s current go-to snack is a bowl of berries sprinkled with hemp seeds. The seeds provide protein and good-for-you fat, and the berries provide the scrumptiousness. If you are hankering for something with more crunch, try pairing pretzels with peanut butter or crackers with a hard boiled-egg.
2. Accept no substitutes
Koff frowns upon artificially flavored snacks, such as pizza-flavored chips. If you want pizza, she says, have pizza—just do a better version of it by making it healthier, such as topping it with greens or using whole grains in the crust. Fake flavors don’t really satisfy the way the real taste does. You may try to compensate in quantity what you lack in quality.
Try: If you have a hankering for nachos, for example, Koff suggests putting a corn tortilla in the toaster oven with some mozzarella cheese and salsa.
3. Get all the bennies
If you have a non-negotiable chocolate attack, go for it—with caveats. It’s best to get all the benefits from a food, says Koff. If it’s chocolate you’re after, make sure its 65 percent cacao or greater—or you are depriving yourself of all the great antioxidants chocolate can deliver. This is what food author Michael Pollan means when he exhorts people to eat “real food.”
Try: Go for the unadulterated, least processed iteration of a food, which can mean choosing the whole version versus the “lite” version. Soymilk, for example says Koff, is best consumed full fat, as is peanut butter. Chips that are baked, not fried, have more integrity that reduced fat versions of potato chips and the like.
4. Stick with right-sized
With liquids, such as juices, lattes, coconut water, and smoothies, 8 ounces should do the trick. The rule of thumb, says Koff, is that carbs should not be over 15 grams if liquid. If you are making the smoothie a meal replacement you have a little more leeway, but for snacking purposes less is definitely more.
Try: An 11-ounce coconut water has five grams of carbs, but it won’t cause your hunger pangs to cease and desist all by itself. Pair it with some turkey jerky, nuts, plain yogurt, cheese, or half an avocado for a snack with legs.
5. Just add water
Most of the time we grab food but what our bodies really crave is water or hydration. With every snack you have, add a glass of water.
Try: If you get bored of water, try an unsweetened herbal tea or hot water with fresh lemon juice.