Dietitian's Guide to Snacks Under 500 Calories

How often after breakfast do you feel like eating something to follow it up? And how often do you worry that a snack will show up on your waistline? No need to fear: a dietitian explains why snacking is right and even necessary, if done wisely.

As Rushaniya Yalalova said, a snack is an important part of the diet. According to her, snacks help prevent overeating at lunch or dinner, maintain energy levels, and help satisfy hunger if a long time passes between meals.

«Any snack is food taken between main meals: between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner. It could be a second breakfast, an afternoon snack, or a second dinner. Snacks allow us not to overeat. If you wake up early, had breakfast at 7 a.m., and the next meal is only at 1 p.m., then during that time a person needs to satisfy hunger and maintain energy. For that, nutrients are needed, which also bring pleasure, so a snack is necessary,» says the dietitian.

Which products are best to choose for a snack?

It is best to choose protein products — yogurt, nuts, cottage cheese.

«Yogurts and nuts contain protein — a nutrient that satiates and helps control appetite, unlike foods with a lot of sugar, which provide empty calories — yes, energy appears quickly, but also quickly fades,» explains Yalalova.

Protein, whether plant or animal, is healthier than other products. However, yogurt can be considered healthy with a small caveat: if the person tolerates dairy products and has no lactose intolerance.

«And one more thing: a person should like what they eat. If they don»t like yogurt or kefir, then that won«t be a rational product for them,» she adds.

Regarding fitness bars, the specialist advises carefully reading the ingredients.

«Personally, I recommend products that are unsweetened: classic yogurt, cheese, boiled egg, cottage cheese with nuts. If a bar is very sweet, then it»s fast carbohydrates that burn quickly, but as a doctor I would not recommend it as a snack. Again, if you like it, please, but it«s better to choose cottage cheese, yogurt, nuts, fruit, berries,» she advises.

The same applies to muesli: choose those with low sugar, otherwise such a snack will put a strain on the pancreas, and if there is a predisposition to diseases, it«s better to avoid such a snack.

Snacks Harmful to the Stomach

Foods with high amounts of sugar, salt, and trans fats are «empty» calories. They quickly provide energy, but it just as quickly drops, and a person has to constantly refuel, leading to overeating. Such snacks can also irritate the stomach lining.

«Such foods include fast food: chips, crackers, salted nuts,» lists the dietitian.

Sausages in dough, ready-made products are also recommended for very rare consumption, but not as a snack. If you eat them, it should be a full meal, for example with tea or vegetables.

As for drinks, consumption of sweet sodas between main meals should be controlled.

«We drink by the bottle, not 100 grams at a time, and this is a big stress on the pancreas, a spike in blood glucose, then a drop, and then you feel hungry again — a vicious cycle. Fluctuations in sugar levels are harmful, especially for children, and affect the stomach and figure,» warns the specialist.

Calorie counting, eating after 6 p.m., and the golden product for dinner

The dietitian advises against counting the KBZHU (calories, proteins, fats, and carbs) of each snack separately.

«You need to base it on your daily diet. In our cold region (summer does not count), breakfast usually makes up about 25% of daily calories, lunch — 35%, dinner — 20%. The remaining 20% is allocated to snacks. A second breakfast could be 10% (for example, an apple, yogurt with nuts, cottage cheese with nuts), and an afternoon snack and second dinner — 5% each. The average daily caloric intake for an average person is about 2300–2500 kcal (for men and women, the difference depends on age, gender, season, physical activity),» she explains.

Meal timing is also very important for health. But this is not about the ban on eating after 6 p.m. — that myth in medicine is long outdated. It«s about a healthy schedule.

«All doctors say that the last meal should be no later than four hours before sleep. If you go to bed at 10 p.m., then you shouldn»t eat after 6 p.m., but if at midnight, then you can eat at 8 p.m. Snacks before sleep can also vary,« says Yalalova.

Meal times depend on sleep schedule: people work not only day shifts but also night shifts — actors, journalists, factory workers. Therefore, saying that you cannot eat after six is wrong. You need to properly shift the time of the main meal to later, when a person«s work process happens at night.

And at night, it«s best to eat cottage cheese.

«Once there was an interesting article, and we were told that cottage cheese for breakfast is the bronze rule, cottage cheese for lunch is silver, but cottage cheese for dinner is gold. Because cottage cheese consumed in the evening promotes almost 100% absorption of calcium. The protein casein, which is found in cottage cheese, digests very slowly, and the body receives essential amino acids throughout the night. But, of course, you should not eat a kilogram, just a little bit, for example 50 grams of cottage cheese,» she recommends.

Bad Habits and Snacks That Make You Gain Weight

Some snacks can even make you gain weight, and the reasons for weight gain can vary. For example, a person often uses snacks to eat away fatigue, worries, or boredom.

«So, a person snacks on something, and after a while calmness and peace come. The body remembers this. Once, twice, three times — and it becomes a habit. Common overeating of foods rich in salt, sugar, and fats occurs,» explains the dietitian.

Moreover, you should not eat on the go: eating should be calm — at the table, not on the run and in an unbalanced state. «On-the-go» snacks are only occasionally acceptable, in exceptional cases, but should not become a habit, otherwise it is a direct path to gastrointestinal diseases.

The specialist reminds of the golden rule of rational nutrition:

«There is a golden rule of rational nutrition — moderation, timeliness, and variety. Moderation is eating according to age, gender, physical activity, and seasonality. Timeliness is a meal regimen: breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as a second breakfast and afternoon snack. This is full-fledged nutrition, not just snacks. Variety means a person should eat everything, but in small amounts, not the same product day after day, because one product does not contain all the necessary nutrients,» concludes the doctor.

If these three rules are followed, we can talk about full prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, including gastritis and even cancer risks associated with unhealthy eating.

Earlier, we spoke with a doctor about which snacks are best not to give to small children.