Snacking

So as you know, I am trying to eat better - but not just at dinner, but through the whole day. It is such a constant thought process for me!! I do pretty good for breakfast - I usually reach for the Fiber One cereal - and seriously it's surprisingly tasty!- or Kashi (of which I add raisins) and eat with 1% milk. I may also have a piece of wheat toast - with a little (real) butter. Lunch I do pretty good too - I usually have Aodhan with me and so we eat together - and I'll eat what he eats for the most part but also have like a chicken sandwich on wheat with tomatoes and spinach. But what I have realized is how important snacking is!!! I've always heard two schools of thought on this - Don't snack, you don't want to over eat! - or - You have to snack more - it helps your metabolism! The latter of the two is what I follow now. And now I won't even leave my house without carrots, grapes, banana, sliced apples in my purse. Funny how I always do this for Aodhan, but never myself, until now! And it's true - it does help your "engine" moving! And it helps me be in a better mood and feel more energized. From my Eat your way to Happiness book - "People who divide their food intake into little meals and snacks throughout the day think more clearly and feel better than people who eat irregularly. In contrast, meal skippers are more prone to mood swings, probably because when they do eat, they eat too much of all the wrong stuff." So during the time between meals, instead of being starved by lunch time or dinner time, I'm not as hungry, and my portion size becomes smaller! And I don't crave the "bad" snacks - chips, crackers, sweets - as much. After dinner is still tough for me - I usually want something sweet - 8 times out of ten I'll reach for yogurt, but sometimes I will give in to chocolate! I'm not perfect!!