The busy mum’s guide to healthy snacking

Ahhh snacks. So often the downfall of every well-meaning mum. Apart from the fact that often we can’t stop mindless snacking all the time, we often have to contend with snacks that are dressed up as something healthy when in fact they are quite the opposite. Then there’s the one where you are just SO bored with your usual snacks that the lack of inspiration leads you totally astray. So how can a mum around here get a handle on healthy snacking? In this installment of The Eat Right Series For Busy Mums, Lucy Patel, a.k.a. the Modern Mum’s Nutritionist gives us the lowdown on healthy snacking (and how to avoid its not so healthy cousin).

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Whilst having three perfectly balanced meals each and every day is a great theory, I think you can all appreciate that this just isn’t possible every single day. Life gets in the way, some weeks we don’t plan as well as we would like and find ourselves resorting to quick and easy meals just to ensure the family is fed. This is fine – it’s normal, and it’s real life! Some days it might feel like a win that you have remembered to even feed yourself and not reached 3pm and realised you haven’t eaten properly since breakfast.

This is where understanding how to snack well can be a game-changer. Snacking can come with quite a lot of negative connotations these days, with snacking being synonymous with idly picking at crisps, cakes and biscuits. Whilst these foods have their place, relying on them on a daily basis to keep you going is likely to lead to out of control blood sugar and constant cravings.

Think of healthy snacking as a ‘mini meal’; something that is designed to keep your hunger at bay until your next proper meal. It can be a way of mitigating hunger when you know you will be eating later than normal, and is a great way of keeping your energy levels balanced when time isn’t on your side. I sit firmly in Team Snack; especially as busy Mums with constant pulls on our time and attention, knowing how to snack to nourish our body and support our energy and concentration can be an absolute game-changer.

Healthy snacking: building a balanced snack

The most common pitfall people make when snacking is going too heavy on the carbohydrate; this can lead to an unsatisfying snack that leaves you hungry again within the hour. The key to a well-rounded snack is to ensure you include all three of the key macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein and some healthy fats in there too. Yes, that’s right, we want to include fat! Fat is the demonised food group of our generation, but healthy fats are an absolutely crucial part of any healthy diet.

There are lots of foods out there that tick more than one macronutrient box; eggs, full-fat dairy products and nuts are great sources of both protein and fat, so you don’t need to be thinking too hard about having multiple ingredients in each of your snacks.

Other great protein sources are lean meat (such as chicken or turkey), fish, egg, cheese, yoghurt, legumes (such as chickpeas – we all love hummous!), beans and nuts.

So, what exactly is a ‘healthy fat’? Healthy fats include olive oil, nut butters, avocadoes, nuts, seeds and oily fish like salmon, mackerel, trout and tuna. Including these into your diet ensure you are getting your omega 3 and 6 into your diet, which are really important for concentration and brain health.

Two-minute snack hacks

You can actually do quite a lot in two minutes! The key here is having a good range of yummy bits and bobs around so you can quickly build a delicious and well-rounded snack when you get those little pockets of time. Here are some of my favourites:

• Apple slices or oat cakes with peanut butter
• Hummous, tuna or egg mayo on toast with sliced cucumber
• Bowl of full fat yoghurt with some fresh berries
• Cucumber sticks wrapped in sliced ham or turkey
• Wholemeal bagel with cream cheese and tomato
• Handful of unsalted cashews/almonds and dark chocolate

Some days all you might feel like is a biscuit or a slice of cake with your mum crew. Of course this is fine, I had my fair share of cake while on maternity leave, believe me! Just try to fit in some healthier options along the way too, to help keep those energy levels up and feeding your body what it needs.

Quick go-to snacks for healthy snacking

If you have no time to prepare even a two-minute snack, never fear. Here is my list of ready to eat healthy snacks that are perfect for popping straight into your bag.

Having something readily available can be a game-changer when you’re out and about and the hunger pangs kick in, and you need just a little something to fill you up until dinner time.

• Deliciously Ella – Chocolate Dipped Almonds
• Squirrel Sisters – Fiery Chilli Roasted Cashews
• Graze – Punchy Chilli and Line Nutty Protein Power
• Nine9 bar – Chai seeds & Berries
• Forest Whole Foods Trail Mix

I did a post on this quite recently which goes into more detail about what these products contain, and most importantly were you can buy them from. You can check it out here.

What to look for in food labels

When you’re shopping for convenient snack options to keep in the cupboards at home, it’s a really great idea to get savvy on understanding food labels. Use the below as a quick guide so you can quickly make an assessment on the merits of what you’re about to buy. And remember, this isn’t about getting it bang on every time, but it will help you to make balanced choices.

In the ‘per 100g’ column in the ‘Nutrition Information’ table on the back of the packet, aim for:

• Carbohydrates of which sugars – under 13g
• Protein – at least 7g
• Fat of which saturates – under 15g

A lot of the popular snack bars out there are made up of lots of dried fruit and often have added sugar too. This results in a pretty carb-heavy snack which will give your blood sugar a quick boost, but leave you craving something else within the hour.

Don’t worry if you can’t hit this every time – use it is a guideline so you can make more balanced choices. If one snack is a bit heavy on the sugar, aim for your next one to be lower. It’s all about balance!

Portion sizes

One common pitfall people can fall into is not understanding portion sizes. A lot of packaging can be quite ambiguous or unclear on what equates to one portion (whether this is deliberate or not is another question!). Always check the back of the packet, which usually states the “per 100g” nutritional values and the “per portion (g)” values. This isn’t to say you should restrict yourself to one exact portion – eat mindfully and follow your hunger cues. But its good to understand your portion sizes so you can gauge how much you have had.

In summary, snacking can be a very practical way of keeping your energy levels up whilst you navigate the demanding early years of motherhood. Try to follow the guidelines on your macro balance, start to understand food labels and get the cupboards stocked with nutrient-dense and yummy snacks to keep you going when you most need it.

Lucy is a Registered Nutritionist and specialises in supporting women regain their health, energy and body confidence after having children. She runs bespoke nutrition services tailored to busy, modern day mums with the aim of helping women put their own health back to the top of the priority list.

You can follow her on Instagram @lucypnutrition, and she also runs a private Facebook group ‘The Busy Mum’s Survival Hub’. She works both remotely and from her clinic in Cheshire. You can find out more about Lucy by visiting www.lucypatelnutrition.co.uk

Fruit photo created by jcomp – www.freepik.com, Food photo created by KamranAydinov – www.freepik.com, Woman photo created by kroshka__nastya – www.freepik.com

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