If you have ever tried to make the shift towards a healthier diet, you’ll know it can be a great deal of effort! No matter how long you spend on meal planning, there comes a time when you have to confront the reality that chocolate, chips and candy no longer have a place in your store cupboards.
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Despite this fact, eating healthy snacks can help to minimize your hunger between meals and stop you overeating at dinner time. This makes it a great idea to make sure you stock up on healthy snacking options so they’re close to hand when that mid-afternoon hunger strikes. All of the healthy snacks listed here can be ordered online and delivered to your door, so that you will always have them on standby without the inconvenience of leaving your home!
In this article, we’ll answer some common questions about how snacking can be a component of your healthy diet. Then, we’ll list our top healthy snacks to get delivered to your door.
Can snacking be part of a healthy diet?
Thankfully, snacks can absolutely be part of a healthy diet! However, what you choose to snack on is an important factor. When you choose a snack, you should aim to choose one that contains protein, fat and/or fiber. These types of nutrients take your body longer to digest, which means you will stay full for longer.
Therefore, you won’t have to snack again before your next meal. Snacking can also prevent you getting so hungry that you end up overeating at meal times, so even though you are eating more frequently, snacks can actually help you to eat less overall.
Can you snack after dinner?
It is sometimes suggested that if you want to be healthy, you shouldn’t eat after 8pm. The logic behind this idea is that if you eat at night, you will not burn off the calories you consume because you’ll be asleep. This is actually a common misconception! Your body is burning calories whether you’re asleep or awake, just to keep itself functioning healthily.
To keep overeating at night to a minimum, you can serve your healthy midnight snack on a plate or in a bowl, as eating straight from containers increases your chances of eating more than you need to. Now, let’s look at the top snacks to get delivered to your door!
Almonds
All nuts can be a great addition to your diet as a healthy snack. They are full of healthy fats, which keep you fuller for longer because they take your body longer to digest. Almonds, however, are a superior form of nut in multiple ways.
Almonds offer the most fiber per serving of any nuts, which is important to reduce a number of diseases. Studies have shown that people who have fiber-rich diets have a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Another study revealed that eating almonds for 3 weeks or more can significantly lower your total cholesterol. Eating almonds also increases your intake of key nutrients, such as, fiber, calcium, potassium, iron, vitamins A, C, D and E, folate and magnesium.
Chickpeas
Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are a fantastic staple to have in your store cupboards as they can be used in a broad variety of meals, such as curries. You may not have considered, however, that chickpeas can also make an excellent healthy snack.
Chickpeas have a high content of key macronutrients such as protein and fiber, and they can also provide a variety of important minerals such as folate, iron, phosphorus, copper and manganese. Much like almonds, the protein and fiber content of chickpeas may help to slow your digestion and increase levels of appetite-reducing hormones in your body.
For example, one study found that female participants experienced a significant reduction in appetite and calorie intake after eating chickpeas. Another study similarly reported that individuals who ate chickpeas daily for 12 weeks felt fuller and ate less junk food.
Chickpeas also have several properties that help to manage blood sugar levels, such as a low glycemic index (GI). This means that after eating chickpeas, your blood sugar levels will rise more slowly than after eating foods with a higher GI.
For a healthy snack, you can roast chickpeas at home ahead of time. Alternatively, packs of pre-roasted chickpeas can easily be ordered online and delivered to your door at your convenience.
Dried fruit
Dried fruit is a long-lasting, portable snack which represents an easy and extremely flavorful source of vitamins and minerals. There are records of dried fruit being eaten in regions across the world from over a thousand years ago! For example, countries in the middle east ate dried apricots, and regions of north America were found to have eaten dried cherries many generations ago.
A huge variety of dried fruits are eaten and different individual fruits contain different vitamins. Most commonly, dried fruits will contain micronutrients such as vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and potassium. Raisins are especially high in vitamin C, whereas, in contrast prunes are higher in vitamin A. This demonstrates how the healthy nutrients present in different dried fruits is highly variable.
The best way to consume dried fruits to maximize the health benefits it offers is, therefore, to make a trail mix containing a wide range of as many dried fruits as possible. You can also add nuts to your trail mix to give it some extra protein.
Trail mix can be ordered online in large quantities, sometimes over a kilogram, so you can stock up for when you need a healthy snack on the go!
Crackers
If you’re making a transition towards life full of healthy snacks, but are missing chips, crackers could be the perfect healthy alternative for you. Look for organic sugar-free crackers that contain ingredients such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, or lentils.
These ingredients are high in fiber, protein and healthy fats which can keep you full for a longer period of time than normal, less healthy crackers. They can also be dipped in hummus for a tasty boost of protein!
Snack bars
Snack bars are a widely popular snack that can be packed full of healthy ingredients while still maintaining a delicious flavor. Simple ingredient lists tend to be healthier as they do not contain preservatives and unnecessary chemical additives such as sweeteners.
Therefore, seek out snack bars that are based on beans for elevated protein levels, sweetened with dried fruits such as dates or blueberries, or contain healthy, flavorful ingredients like mushrooms and spices. You can also dip them in peanut butter for extra flavor!
Granola
Granolas are superfoods which contains numerous health benefits. Like many other snacks on this list, granola is high in multiple types of fiber which improves digestion. Insoluble fiber helps food to pass through your digestive tract, and soluble fiber helps to lower your blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Luckily, granola contains both! The high fiber content decreases hunger levels, cholesterol levels, and helps to control fluctuations in blood glucose. By reducing hunger levels, granola can also help to promote weight loss. Additionally, granola contains manganese, a mineral involved in many biological processes, including metabolism, which means it can boost your energy levels.
Vitamin E is another key nutrient that can be obtained by eating granola, and is important for skin health and your immune system. Vitamin E reflects UV rays to minimize the amount that can penetrate and damage your skin cells, this can also reduce genetic mutations to help reduce cancer development.
It also has a high iron content, which can help to treat anemia, and magnesium which can help to manage and minimize migraines. Granola’s high potassium content can contribute to a reduction of the risk of heart disease.
Granola can be ordered online and may additionally contain dried fruits which will add sweetness, texture, and many extra vitamins. You can also add honey or yoghurt for extra flavor. As well as being an excellent snack option, it can commonly be eaten as a healthy breakfast.
Conclusion
It is normal and healthy to snack between meals, and this can actually benefit your health and help you to reduce your caloric intake overall. This doesn’t have to be inconvenient or time consuming, as we have shown here that there are many healthy snacks that are high in protein and fiber content which can be ordered online for delivery to your door on demand!
Snacks such as almonds, chickpeas, dried fruit, crackers, snack bars and granola are all potential options you can add to your online shopping list as alternatives to common less healthy snacks. As well as macronutrients like fiber and protein, they contain important vitamins and minerals that improve your body’s function and offer a variety of health benefits.
We hope this article has shown you the range of easy, healthy options for snacks that can be delivered to your door!