Tag: healthy

Smart Snacking Tips

On By mhhughesIn Nutrition/FitnessLeave a comment

What do you do when your stomach starts growling hours before your next meal? You grab a snack of course! Snacking definitely has a bad reputation thanks to our tendency to choose empty calorie and fattening snacks, but snacking isn’t a bad thing! Eating a healthy snack will hold off hunger and keep your energy levels high. So here are some tips to snack smart!

-Steer clear of foods with added sugar like candy bars or soda

A glass of skim milk or soy with calcium will sustain you longer than a soda will.

-Look for foods with fiber and combine them with protein filled snacks.

You can pair peanut butter, cottage cheese, or low fat yogurt with whole grain breads, cereals, fruits, and vegetables for a quick healthy snack!

-Prepare healthy snacks in advance!

When you prepare your own snacks, for example trail mix, you can control the ingredients and put in what’s good for you!

-Keep healthy snacks with you to eat when those hunger pains strike.

Keep whole grain crackers, fruit, or baby carrots in your backpack or work out bag. This is healthier than stopping at that vending machine!

-Keep it interesting!

Give yourself a variety of choices so you don’t get bored eating the same things.

-Satisfy cravings with healthier options.

For example, if you’re craving chocolate, go for a chocolate drink instead of a candy bar. If you’re craving something salty, go for pretzels instead of chips.

-Read labels and serving sizes.

What looks like a small package of cookies can contain multiple servings meaning multiple calories, sugar, and everything else!

Need Healthy snack ideas?! Check out The Snack App available on the IPhone! Whether you are craving something sweet, crunchy, sinful, or just a late night snack this app has every snack you could possibly think of! AND it’s all less than 200 calories. If you happen to slip up, it even suggest simple ways to burn those extra calories!  It also sends out daily tips!! I love this app and I hope you learn to love it too!

snackapp

Advertisement

Color Psychology

On By mhhughesIn Nutrition/FitnessLeave a comment

ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

Notice something in common? That’s right, the color scheme. Most fast food chains contain the colors red, yellow, and sometimes orange in the color of their logo. Why you ask? These colors, according to color theory, subconsciously trigger hunger and/or induce excitement. They often cause consumers to spend more money and leave quickly, which is just what these types of restaurants want you to do.  Study shows that you also eat more in a room surrounded by warm colors opposed to cooler colors.  Notice how weight loss ads and programs use cooler colors like blues, greens, and browns? Restaurants on the more healthy side, like Subway, also incorporate these cooler colors.  Cooler colors are actually known to suppress appetite. Some weight loss programs even encourage users to eat from blue plates or putting a blue light inside the fridge. Beiges and Browns are known to be more luxurious. Think about it nice sit down dinners usually have wooden floors. Many of the foods we eat are also in this color group. Those include: breads, pastas, meat, beans, etc.

So next time you’re out I encourage you to take a look around at all the different colors. Some of the fast food chains and weight loss advertisements pictured have obviously figured out what colors work best in their line of business.  Colors really do play a role in our everyday lives. Pretty cool, huh? I thought so!