Snack time!

Snacking refers to those foods you eat in between a meal and it's often thought that snacking is bad BUT it's not always the case! 

We have a few motivators for snacking, this could include social occasions when we're at a birthday or catch up and there are platters on the table or when we're sitting down for our favourite show and we want something to crunch and munch. It could also be when you know dinner is still a few hours away but you're so hungry you want to have a little something to curb the hunger a little. 

Snacking can be attached to emotion and this can be when it's not as 'healthy' or 'deliberate' 
For example, we can use snacking as a way to procrastinate a task, you know you have a hard job to do and so you eat and make a snack to 'buy time' or 'put off' that task. 
It could also be to band-aid an actual feeling. When we suppress our emotions and lean into snacking (or drinking or biting our nails) this becomes an action that happens 'out of body' so we end up mindlessly snacking. 

Now with all this in mind snacking can be great! I'm someone who loves to eat lots of meals throughout the day rather than 3 bigger meals throughout the day. I find if I dont have little snacks I end up over eating the big meals because I just get too hungry I eat too quickly. 
It also might help your digestion if you eat smaller meals it's less of a big quantity for your stomach to digest all in one go (this is personal for everyone)

TIPS FOR SNACKING

1. When you're feeling peckish ask yourself what it is your body needs. There are so many delicious nutritious snacks readily available that will satisfy your pinch of hunger and your tastebuds 
2. To avoid over-snacking dish out how much you want to have for that moment rather than sitting on the couch with the whole bag of popcorn (we have all been there when we are watching something and without realizing eat the whole bag haha) so in this case put how much you want in a bowl and then take it to the couch so you only have as much as you want 
3. Only buy the snacks you know make you feel good and that you enjoy. Having a good balance of sweet treats and healthy options so that you don't restrict too much and have a wild snack attack of everything 'naughty' because you deprived yourself
4. Don't beat yourself up if you do have a snack attack. Use these moments to notice why you may have lashed out with snacks. Was it because you hadn't eaten enough that day so all of a sudden you became so hungry and ate all your snacks at once? Was it because you had a stressful day and instead of processing the events that happened and how you feel you decided to sit at home on the couch and block it out with icecream (icecream isn't bad by the way but suppressing our emotions is)