A wholesome evening snack is the perfect way to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner. We all look forward to a scrumptious snack after a long day to keep our hunger at bay, but have you ever wondered if the food you are snacking on every evening is healthy. It may not be. When it comes to snacking, most of us like to indulge in sweet treats or fried food, when instead we should be consuming nutritious, low-calorie snacks that satiate us between our meals and also keep our health in check.
While you may be tempted to have those sugar loaded cookies or open a pack of namkeen with your evening cup of chai, it does not spell good news or give you the nutrition you need to rejuvenate after all the activities of the day.
To help you get started on healthy snacking regime, here are five amazing health tips for your evening snack:
1. Make it crunchy
Who doesn’t like some flavourful crunch in their meals? You can make your evening snacks healthy by adding dry fruits like almonds to it. Almonds or badam are one of the healthiest nuts besides containing essentials nutrients that are good for you. Not just that, they are heart healthy and also help you keep your weight in check. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, a daily snack of 42 grams of almonds instead of a high carbohydrate muffin, consumed as part of an overall healthy diet, improved a number of heart disease risk factors in study participants. In addition to significantly improving LDL and total cholesterol, snacking on almonds instead of muffins also reduced central adiposity (belly fat), all well-established heart disease risk factors. [1]
Simply munch on these dry fruits by themselves or add them to a trail mix of your favourite dry fruits to make a healthy and easy snack.
2. Include healthy seasonal fruits
Incorporating seasonal fruits in your evening snack will add freshness and make your meal nutritious to help you stay healthy. Fruits are full of natural sugars and will lend a subtle sweet flavour to your snack. You can enjoy a seasonal fruit salad or add fruits such as bananas on top of whole-wheat bread with your choice of spread for an interesting snack.
3. Embrace the goodness of vegetables
Vegetables are an important source of essential nutrients that can do wonders for your health. Eating vegetables is also good for your immune system[2]. Since they are also so versatile, you can simply boil vegetables like carrots, broccoli and beetroot and have them with a hummus dip or just sauté some of your favourite vegetables with light salt, pepper and lots of garlic for an easy and healthy evening snack quick fix.
4. Have your favourite smoothie
Smoothies are not only tasty but are also a fun way to gulp down a whole lot nutrients at once. They take minutes to prepare and can be your go-to option to conquer those evening hunger pangs. You can blend up a delicious smoothie with nutritious ingredients like yogurt, fruits and milk. Sitting down with a refreshing glass of smoothie is bound to re-fuel your energy.
5. Fried v/s baked
We all know that high-calorie and oil-laden food is not good for health; Indulging in greasy and deep fried food can increase the risk of high cholesterol, which is a major risk factor for heart and other lifestyle diseases. When we deep-fry our food, we increase the density of calories along with fat. Instead, a good option is to bake your meals for snacking. Baked meals use negligible amount of oil and lower the fat content, it is a healthy way of cooking that you should try to adopt. You can bake popularly fried food like samosas, fries and even donuts.
[1]Berryman CE, West SG, Fleming JA, Bordi PL, Kris-Etherton PM. Effects of daily almond consumption on cardiometabolic risk and abdominal adiposity in healthy adults with elevated LDL cholesterol: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Heart Association 2014
[2]Cell Press. “Eating green veggies improves immune defenses.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 October 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111013121509.htm>.
