Have A Sweet tooth or Craving for a Snack - But on a Diet? 4 Ways Not to Snack and Crave at Events…

Events present us with the perfect excuse to either indulge or practice our hands off approach to snacking and cravings. It needn’t be this way though as just simply being mindful of what we’re picking on at a buffet spread is enough to keep our diet on the straight. Here we bring you the five remedies you ought to adopt as a pro the next time you are part of that family gathering or office do with a spread so wide and tempting.

1. Keep 'snacks' as that and not as a 'treat'

Dietitian and nutritionists identify this as the number one mistake we all do. We attempt to blur the lines between a snack and a treat. In the sense they say that we fail to recognise that snacks ought to contribute more generally to our diet through giving us added vitamins and minerals, or as a source of proteins or indeed fibres like we can find in most fruit and vegetables. So for that next do, be mindful of the processed snacks on offer just as much as the biscuit and cake as these contribute massively to our daily calorific value. Chances are, vegetable crudities, a salad, fruit platters or tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches will be a part of the spread. These will be ok to be the indulgence of the day. If you are involved in organising the do, its imperative consideration is given to these healthy ranges as group dieting can be a great encouragement to swap cravings and unhealthy snacks for the goodies the body loves. These ranges also are great for Guests with food allergic; tend to strike at the centre of special diets a lot of guests such as vegans, vegetarians, halal etc etc might have and great for kids too. Instead of having the traditional snacks of pork pies, sausage rolls, savoury eggs and cocktail sausages, cakes and biscuits; swap these for homemade spring rolls, vegetable samosas, pakooras and onion Bhajees. Add a selection of salads and a fruit centre piece.

2. Know your foods

If you don’t know what you are eating, how can tell you tell if it contributes to you wellbeing? This goes beyond the textures, colours and flavours and the layouts common with great spreads that have that ‘Pick Me Please’ written all over it. Knowing your food will help you make the sensible choice of the healthy options from the not so good ones. Protein foods according to nutritionists and dietitians are great at making us full so a choice of plain chicken sandwiches and lean beef sandwiches are a great choice, if you won’t fancy the salmon and paper or tuna and onion ones. Also look out for eggs, cheese, grains, pulses and beans, nuts and fish based foods as these will have a contributing effect to your diet. Thrown in the high fibres such as vegetable crudities, mixed green salads and you will sure be on your way to daily goal.

3. Portion it Out

There’s the hidden danger in eating too much of a good thing. Those snacks and cravings we long for do in the long run add up to some calories. Even at an event party, you can have a game plan mindful of the portions that you put on your plate. The biggest danger is the variety always on offer at event parties but there in can lie opportunities too. One opportunity is that of group think particularly if you go out with diet savvy friends; they can be a great source of encouragement particularly in the absence of calorie counts often seen on supermarket packaged stuff. Often also, there’s plenty of the green and fruity stuff so it’s wise you go to these first so you fill the biggest chunk of your plate by the time you arrive at the section with your snacking and craving favourites. Even nut and dried fruit stuff should be taken in moderation dietitians recommend as they themselves can be rich in calories, fat and sugar some times.

4. Try every treat

One game plan at events that can turn out disastrously bad for your diet is having an all or nothing approach to what’s on offer. Even when mindful some stuff might throw you off course, it’s imperative that you avoid this game plan. Instead, adopting a balanced approach to snacks and cravings can often turn out the most sensible approach in the sense that a bit of a chocolate éclair and a bit of the other is better than nothing at all now, and ‘all god sends’ later. Dietitians advise that the game plan should be one that embraces in controlled amounts the sugary biscuit or two so you are less tempted to crave for it later on.