Build the Perfect Meal Plan with Snacks

Research suggests that having snacks throughout the day will keep your metabolism going stronger between meals and will help you to prevent binging during mealtime.  You should aim to eat about every three hours or so - so if you eat breakfast at 6 before work, eat a snack at 9, lunch at 12, another snack at 3, dinner at 6, and a high protein snack around 9 before bed.  It sounds like a lot, but ideally all of these eating times will have around the same low number of calories.  By breaking your calories up throughout the day, you stay full  without getting bloated, your metabolism continues to work at a fast rate, and you prevent binges.  Aim for somewhere between 300-600 calories for each meal/snack, depending on your size, activity level and fitness goals.  If you don't think you can realistically break up all of your calories evenly throughout the day, it's okay to eat more at meal times and cut your snacks down to 150-200 calories, but I would still recommend trying to eat about every 3 hours.

As always, you should look to have a balance of high quality protein, carbs and fat (learn about a Smart-Carb Diet).  A delicious snack might include an apple, which has up to 5 grams of fiber with the peel with peanut butter.  If you like the convenience of granola bars but are tired of the high price tags and strange ingredients you'll never be able to pronounce, try this recipe (you don't even have to bake them!):

In a large mixing bowl, combine the following ingredients:

• 2 cups of oatmeal (Quaker has whole grain oats available for pretty cheap)
• 1 cup of protein powder (I use chocolate but definitely feel free to experiment!)
• 1/3 cup of dried fruit (raisins, prunes, cranberries all work great - just make sure there's no sugar added on the ingredient list and you may want to cut the pieces smaller)
• 1/4 cup of sliced almonds (any nut would work but I would definitely recommend getting them sliced)
• 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon

Now, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the following ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of honey (if you buy this locally at a Farmer's Market it may help with allergies)
• 1/4 cup of almond milk (you can use normal milk if you want, but if you're going to have them out of the fridge for a while, almond milk might be safer)
• 1/4 cup of apple sauce (get the stuff with no sugar added - it will probably be specially marked but you can always check out the ingredient list)
• 1/4 cup of dark chocolate (experiment with this - I recently got a holiday mix of mint chips and dark chocolate chips and it's been a HUGE upgrade)
• 1 tsp of vanilla (optional - this is a kind of expensive ingredient)

Microwave the wet ingredients for 30-35 seconds.  Then stir until it's a dark brown color and the texture is consistent.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until all of the dry ingredients have been absorbed and the texture is consistent throughout.  Pour the mix into some kind of pan (I use a baking pan with decently high sides) and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the mix harden a little.  Since there aren't any raw eggs or anything, feel free to lick the bowl clean - it tastes great!  You can cut out as many bars as you like; I usually make 6.  Keep them refrigerated throughout the week until you pack them to go somewhere - I've never had any problems but I would try to eat it within 12 hours of taking it out of the fridge.  As always, feel free to comment if you have any questions or something to add!