Some people may tell you that you can't be eating sugary snacks like Twinkies and candy bars and expect to lose weight. I call baloney. You won't soon find me "snacking" on celery sticks or carrots. Carrots are a great addition to my Mongolian barbeque mix, don't get me wrong - but I'm not having carrots for my after-dinner "snack".
No, I eat real snacks - and so far, the results have shown me that it really doesn't matter. Some people say "Eat what you want, it's all about moderation!" and to some degree, that's true...But what if you are used to eating a Twix after every meal, eating 2 double cheeseburgers and a large fry from McDonald's every day for lunch, and drinking 2 44 Big Gulps of Mountain Dew every day? Is cutting down to just 44oz of Mountain Dew and only one Twix a day, and getting a medium fry instead of a large really going to help you to lose weight? In fact, will it do anything but cause you to continue to gain weight, albeit at a slower speed? Probably not. True "moderation" to me is the ability to find alternatives to what you're used to eating. If you're used to eating a Twix every day, twice a day, at around 286 calories per package - consider a lighter snack like a...wait for it...Twinkie! Yes, I said it. You are on the website of someone who is trying to lose weight, and in turn help you lose weight, and he just suggested you eat Twinkies. Is he insane? Slightly, but not for this reason. Twinkies surprisingly only contain 150 calories. Sure, some will argue that they give you no benefit (no vitamins, with cholesterol, plenty of sugar, etc), and I won't argue about that - but I'm in the business of counting calories, and it works for me, it will work for you, and for anyone else who wants to lose weight.
And that's where my smart snacking comes in - I'm not necessarily finding snacks that are chock full of vitamins and nutrients and low sugar and blah blah blah - but I am finding good snacks that you can enjoy while at the same time experiencing a lifestyle change and losing weight. I will be using my smart snacking posts to hopefully give you some new ideas and a fresh perspective. I'm not a paid nutritionist or personal trainer, nor will I ever be, but I want to share with you what has worked for me.
For my "snack smart" ideas, click here! (coming soon)
