Lose Weight - Snacks that Keep Weight off

High fiber snacks that keep your weight off and satisfy your appetite include raw vegetables and fruits whole-grained crackers, breads and cereals; soups with lots of vegetables and 100% vegetable juices; nuts and dried fruits; and popcorn among others. These high fiber snacks combine with water in your intestinal tract and form what's known as bulk, which satisfies your hunger mechanism quickly. This combination of fiber and water takes longer to digest, and therefore your appetite stays satisfied for a longer period of time. This bulk fills you up without filling you out Stay away from snack foods that contain refined carbohydrates like cookies, pretzels, crackers, and candies. These refined sugars increase rather than decrease your appetite by spiking both blood sugar and insulin levels. And besides, these refined carbohydrates help to store unwanted fat in your abdomen, buttocks and thigh.
For snacks that satisfy your appetite for a long period of time, without raising your blood sugar and insulin levels, choose from a wide array of high fiber snack foods. For example, soups (not creamed), with lots of veggies make an excellent mid-day snack for appetite control. Several companies have come out with new travel-type containers for soup that can be eaten on the go, with or without heating just like drinking a can of soda. Also, 100% vegetable juices come in plastic travel bottles, which make an excellent high fiber, appetite satisfying snack, that's also chock-full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
Cut-up fruits and veggies, packed in sealed plastic baggies make excellent high fiber, nutritious, appetite satisfying snacks that you can take with you anywhere. Dried fruits such as figs, prunes and apricots also are great travel snacks that are high in fiber, low in calories and fats and high in essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. These fruit and veggie travel packs are appetite satisfying and loaded with nutrients like B-complex vitamins, potassium, folic acid, magnesium and iron among others.
To keep your weight off and boost your energy level, combine our high fiber snacks with lean protein. Try peanut butter with or without low sugar jelly or low fat cheese on whole-wheat crackers, bread or pita. Be especially careful that you stay away from packaged snacks like peanut butter crackers, which are loaded with the very bad trans fats. You can even add wheat germ or instant oatmeal to low fat yogurt or cottage cheese for a delicious fiber-protein snack. Sliced low fat turkey or low fat cheese on one slice of whole wheat bread or English muffm, makes a stick to your ribs, long-lasting snack.
When you combine high fiber foods with protein, your body's metabolism processes this fiber-protein complex much more slowly than it would by eating either fiber or protein separately. Subsequently, the digestion and absorption of this fiber-protein complex takes place at a slower rate, which results in less calories consumed because your appetite is satisfied more quickly and for a longer period of time. It takes the body considerably longer to digest and absorb protein than it does for the body to process carbohydrates and fats. Protein causes a very gradual rise in the blood sugar, which, in turn, causes a very moderate rise in insulin levels. Therefore, the addition of lean protein to your high fiber snack ensures that you'll be hunger-free until the next meal, without the desire for additional snacking.

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