The Best Ways to Snack

You can stave off the hunger from low blood sugar that often leads to binges by eating frequently. Eating every three or four hours gives your body a regular fuel supply and helps keep energy metabolism stable. Choosing fruits and vegetables as snacks also helps you easily meet your daily recommended amounts of 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of cooked vegetables each day (or 5 cups raw veggies). Here are more ways to ward off overeating:

Size up your snacks. Nibbling at regular intervals helps you avoid getting so hungry that you chow down on a 2,000-calorie junk-food meal when you finally do eat. Stick to snacks that range from 50 to 200 calories each—matching the fuel to your energy needs at that time. So, unless you're doing heavy workouts in the evening, eat your larger snacks during the day and smaller snacks in the evening. Tips for smarter snacking:

• Include fruit. Fruit has few calories (30 to 100) depending on the type.
• Be unconventional. Don't be seduced into the belief that snacks have to come processed and in crinkly wrapped packages. A small serving of last night's leftovers counts as a snack.
• Be smart about ice cream. A large serving of gourmet ice cream mixed with sprinkles, nuts, Heath bars and the like can turn a snack into a day's worth of calories! If you're screaming for ice cream, at least get a small size, or try a frozen fruit pop or yogurt bar, or light, low-fat ice cream or ice milk bar that you like.
• Go nuts. They're not as fattening as many people fear—especially if you skip the oil-roasted varieties and eat them raw. Of course, if you eat too many you can consume more calories than you need. But since they are high in good fats and fiber, they are calorically dense—and very filling.
• Choose candy carefully. Some people have to have something sweet every day. So they may have a regular afternoon candy bar. That's 200 to 300 calories, not counting the Coke or Starbucks Frappuccino you may have with it. If you must have candy while you're counting calories, choose hard candies. Hard candies are high in sugar, but they don't have much fat and tend to be lower in calories than a creamy or chocolate candy.

To follow the plan: Continue to record everything you eat on your Diet Diary or My Wellness Center. Keep a running total of the calories that you eat per day and stay within your target range. When planning meals, first determine your daily calorie intake. Then distribute your total daily caloric allotment as follows:

• Breakfast: 400 to 600 calories
• Morning snack: 100 to 200 calories
• Lunch: 400 to 600 calories
• Afternoon snack: 100 to 200 calories
• Dinner: 350 to 550 calories
• Evening snack: 50 to 150 calories

Go to Martica's Eat Smart Tips for Week 5.