I ain’t French! This girl needs a snack!

Have you read the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat”? In it the author states that one reason French women don’t get fat is because they don’t snack. Pfffft, well good for them!

I ain’t French! This girl needs a snack!

I have a lot of respect for the way the French eat, emphasizing social interaction and high quality, fresh ingredients. It makes sense on so many levels.

But no snacks?! Are you kidding me??? Pass.

As I said in Tuesday’s blog, snacks are strategic. They help us manage hunger. And as far as I’m concerned, snacks are mandatory.

My eating plan “blueprint” involves eating 5 – 6 mini-meals a day.

Call them mini-meals or call them snacks, whether you’re losing weight or maintaining a healthy lifestyle, keeping your metabolism fired up and humming along all day is critical.

My mid-morning, late afternoon and optional (but who am I kidding? I eat it nearly every day) late night snacks are an important part of my eating strategy.

Like all the food I eat they must meet my two mandatory criteria: they must be a) healthy and b) delicious.

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Here are a few great, low-calorie, high-nutrition options for those snacks and dessert. You can plug any of the snacks into either the morning or afternoon spot in the eating plan blueprint, always mindful of your daily calorie goal.

Snack ideas (200 – 325 calories):

1. Vegan cookie + apple + almond milk latte* (325 calories)
2. Almond butter (2 T) + apple + almond milk latte* (325 calories)
3. 2 light string cheese sticks + Kind bar (320 calories)
4. Cottage cheese  (1 cup) + pear + almond milk latte* (290 calories)
5. Shelled edamame + baby carrots + snap peas + grape tomatoes + small pita (250 calories)
6. 6 celery sticks + 6T hummus + 6 sliced kalamata olives (260 calories)
7. 4 cups popped popcorn + 1 tsp toasted sesame oil + 1 tsp sesame seeds (200 calories)

Dessert ideas (100 – 150 calories):

1. Dark chocolate – This stuff’s outrageously delicious but very high in fat, so watch the portions for petessake  (1/3 of bar, 150 calories)
2. Skinny Cow ice cream treat – variety of flavors (100 – 150 calories)
3. “Chocolate” Cheerios, Chex, Special K, Fiber One cereals with splash of almond milk (usually 1/2 – 2/3 cups cereal, 150 calories)

*One quick note about the almond milk latte: it’s leftover coffee from that morning w/ 1 tablespoon Stevia sweetener, 1 ½ cups unsweetened, plain almond milk and lots of ice (55 calories). Much less expensive and lower in calories than a Starbucks coffee drink.

Snacks and dessert play an important part in weight loss because they help fight off hunger pangs that can lead to feelings of desperation and deprivation, both of which undermine the long-term nature of healthy living.

We want an eating plan that we can stick with for life!

I hope you’ll discover what I have along my weight loss journey: even though I eat fewer calories each day, those calories are so much more satisfying than what I ate before. More nutritious, yes. But also just more pleasurable.

C’est parfait! How very French.

Losing weight is hard, but it’s not drudgery. Or at least it doesn’t have to be. That’s what makes it easier as you get going. And you’re so damn worth it!

Let’s go get it!