The Mid-afternoon Craving - A Dangerous Time For Dieters

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A high protein lunch with complex carbs from vegetables and healthy fats like avocados – dark green salads, a fruit and yogurt OR simple home cooked food.
Spread calorie intake throughout the day – mid morning fruit snack, mid afternoon dried fruit or oat bar, fruit yogurt, sprout salad, glass of skim milk, carrots, cucumber, celery & hummus, sandwich made from wholegrain bread, a slice of cheese, or even a hardboiled egg.
Avoid sugary snacks as an energy boost or a treat – Say no to donuts, mithai, fried chips, fried nuts, store bought milk shake/ smoothies, fast foods such as fries, burgers, pizzas.

A healthy diet usually calls for eating every 2-3 hours, which means that a person would usually eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks in a day. A mid afternoon snack is advisable as it usually helps to keep hunger at bay and prevents overeating during the next meal. However, one must choose from several convenient and healthy options

So, be sensible and if the craving arises – Go ahead, give in – but with a healthy snack!!

By Poonam Vaswani
Senior Dietitian Nutritionvista.com

NutritionVista

User Comments

05 July, 2011 | Faiza Abbasi | Reply

I fully agree that one should not walk too hungry to the next meal and avoid this by taking a healthy snack. It also keeps away the feeling of deprivation and contributes to the success of the diet plan. i want to add some options of healthy snack particularly suitable for mid-afternoon accompanied with green tea. I tried mixed dal idli with green chutney, bhel without poori, boiled chana with cuchumber salad, safed matar ki chaat and kachalu (slices of boiled potato tossed with katha meetha seasoning or tamarind cutney). One can also try stuffed uttapam spread with minimal oil on a non stick pan. The Dhokla and Khandvi can also be served if the tempering is spared.

06 July, 2011 | Mrinal | Reply

Hi Faiza, some good snack suggestions indeed - most of the time if people remember to keep the snack portion small and appropriate to a snack serving they should be fine - its when one has a couple of servings in between meals or has a larger portion - that the snack becomes a problem. Thanks for your post.

31 March, 2011 | Swapna Raghu | Reply

I work for almost 12 hours a day with lots of meetings and calls to attend. Can you please suggest some snack that I can carry to the meetings and also not feel embarassed about eating in front of my team.

01 April, 2011 | Parul Bhatnagar | Reply

Hi Swapna,
Green tea, Sprouts Chaat, small vegetable rolls made of whole wheat stuffed with some veggies, Fruit pancakes, mini vegetable idli are few more snack you can take in addition to what already suggested earlier.

01 April, 2011 | Poonam Vaswani | Reply

Hello Swapna,
You could have a handful of roasted nuts, roasted gram, fruits, a slice of cheese, a granola bar, a cup of yogurt, a glass of buttermilk, a glass of coconut water,salads or a sandwich. All of these make healthy snacks and can also be eaten with the team. Infact you can start a trend of everybody eating a fruit as a mid morning or mid afternoon snack, so that no one is tempted to order fried savouries or snacks, especially during the mid afternoon.

30 March, 2011 | Parul Bhatnagar | Reply

Taking mid morning and mid afternoon snack daily also gives you chance to add good serving of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. Butter milk and yogurt with herbs like mint helps to decrease acidity and abdominal gas.

30 March, 2011 | Poonam | Reply

I couldn't agree more with Sangeetha and Vijaylakshmi. I would also like to add that everyone MUST start the day with a filling healthy breakfast followed by a small healthy snack every 2/3 hours in addition to an adequate lunch and dinner. This ensures a stable blood sugar level throughout the day and thus a sustained supply of energy to the tissues. This will cut out the risk of cravings, which are usually the cause of unhealthy snacking.

29 March, 2011 | Vijayalakshmi Iyengar | Reply

I agree with Sangeetha that its the large gaps between meals that lead to cravings. Its best to ensure that every 2-3 hrs people have a small or mini meal such as a few fruit slices, a fistful of nuts, 1/2 a cup of yogurt, a glass of lassi even a couple of high fibre biscuits with some tea or coffee. These foods not only increase your metabolism, but also help to avoid the temptation of unhealthy snacks.
Large gaps cause collection of abdominal gas leading to a lot of discomfort, which can also be avoided.

29 March, 2011 | Sangeetha Narayana Swamy | Reply

Many people who are watching their weight do not understand the importance of mid morning and mid afternoon snack. These snacks are what keeps us from over indulging during our lunch and dinner.

Fruits, Sprouts, low fat milk shakes and smoothies (without sugar of course), home made spiced poha/puffed rice, corn cob (1/2 cob) steamed or roasted are good snack options.

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