Trim Healthy Mama 104 - Meal Spacing and Snack Attacks

It is time to talk about meal timing and snacks.

This plan allows you to keep your body fueled. In other words, you get to eat and not be deprived.  (Music to my ears).  A snack or two per day is encouraged between meals, especially if your meals are far apart.  Proper meal spacing and snacking helps to rev your metabolism.

But wise snacking is in order.  You don't want to graze all day long and keep your blood sugar constantly elevated; you want to give your body some digestive rest.  The plan recommends that you give your body some fuel around every 3-4 hours during the day, but the rule is not hard and fast.

For example,  if you eat breakfast at 7 am and don't have lunch until around noon, you might want to incorporate a small snack around 9 or 10 am.  

In the same way, if your lunch is at noon and dinner is at 6 pm, your body is probably going to ask you for something around 3:00ish.

Depending on which meal your snack is closest to, you want to try and match the fuel type.  For example, if your lunch that is coming up in two hours will be an S meal, then a FP or S snack would be in order.  If you are not sure what you are having yet, go with the FP.

Here are some of my go-to snacks:

S snacks - String cheese, a hard boiled egg, a chunk of a Lily Chocolate Bar, a slice of S dessert that is lurking in my fridge, a handful or two of nuts, a handful or two of Whisps (addictive parmesan cheese crackers which require great restraint on my part), or an Epic bar (which I almost always happen to keep in my purse).

One of many flavors.   THM recommends darker chocolate,
but you have freedom here.

FP snacks - Oikos Triple Zero Yogurt, low fat cottage cheese with berries, an Epic bar, a zero fat Greek yogurt and berry smoothie.

These are my latest discovery... so good!

E snacks - an apple with a teaspoon of peanut butter, an Epic bar, and nonfat Greek yogurt or low fat cottage cheese with fresh fruit (banana slices, oranges, peaches, or similar).

When changing your fuels, it is best to allow about 2 1/2 to 3 hours between them.  For example, if you have a carby E snack at 3 pm, don't eat a rich and fatty S meal until about 5:30 or 6 pm.  You want to make sure all the former fuel is used up before introducing a different fuel.

This can be a lot of information, but I encourage you to work through it until you have a handle on it.  And feel free to ask questions.

Oh, and for those of you who are asking, what are Epic bars?  Oh, let me tell you. They are the most convenient protein snack that I have found.  Each one is different, so I studied the labels to determine which ones worked best nutritionally with this plan.

I look for 10 grams of protein or higher, because some are lower than that and I avoid those.  Here is a list of the ones I keep around:

Venison (FP)
Turkey and Cranberry (E)
Chicken Sriracha (FP)
Chicken Sesame BBQ (Personal Favorite, FP)
Beef, Bacon, Apple (S)

My precious... 

Coming up next in this series of THM basics... sweeteners.  Click here to read it.