Snacking: For Strength And Stamina

To build, strengthen and tone your body and specifically your muscle, you want to eat to feed the muscle. We all understand the need for small meals frequently throughout the day, yet many clients I speak with still find it difficult or confusing as to what constitutes a good snack for strength and stamina.

Simply put, to have the “stick-to-itiveness” necessary to sustain a long day, long workout or stay on point and disciplined in your new dietary habits , I counsel clients to reach for the snack food that will supply the energy requirement to help them go the distance, i.e., protein and complex carbohydrates.

Easy Travel Snacks

If breakfast, lunch and dinner are planned and portioned for strength, energy and a healthy fitness lifestyle, they consist of a protein, complex carb and a polyunsaturated fat. Therefore for some of us, the small in-between snacks become a challenge: mid-morning, mid-afternoon or late evening. For years, I have traveled with (or can easily grab anywhere) an apple and little smears of peanut butter or handful of nuts to satisfy my stomach and help move my body thru the hours to the next meal.

The apple supplies the complex carb, low in the glycemic index and the nuts or nut butter satisfies the protein and fat requirement. Alternatively, a few stalks of celery with peanut butter will do the same trick and are just as easily transported in a bag or briefcase.

Of course, the protein bars readily available or other good alternatives. However, I do remind clients to pay attention to the Protein-Sugar ratio by reading the label when making selections on the run. The higher the grams of sugar the faster and harder the fall will be after eating the snack and the sooner you will be looking for something else to munch on. Remember, it takes the body 2X as long to breakdown 1 gram of protein – converting it to glucose for use in the body – than it does for the body to breakdown and use 1 gram of sugar.

Liquid Snacks

Similarly, liquids are more readily absorbed into the bloodstream and thus, one should be mindful of the same protein-sugar ratio in selecting liquid energy snacks.

I have been known to chug down an RTD (ready-to-drink) meal as a snack in the mid-morning, preceding a workout or late afternoon. Low-carb and low sugar drinks are, therefore, preferred for energy during the course of the day. However, I would never recommend using these alternatives as a replacement for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are snacks and nutrition supplements and are best if used as such.

Juicing fresh vegetables and fruit for a morning or afternoon snack can provide the ideal nutrients, complex carbs and antioxidants to support the body/mind energy requirements. For example, eating a handful of nuts or a few scoops of nut butter with an 8-10 oz glass of fresh juice (my favorite is 2 apples, 2-3 stalks of celery, 2-3 carrots, 1 cucumber, little ginger root and handful of whole cranberries) will take you a lot closer to your health and fitness goals than the same 8-10 oz glass of soda, with or without the nuts! And, obviously, blending adding a little fiber, protein powder or even egg whites to the juice will add to the volume of the snack.

Empty Snacks

It should be no surprise therefore, what the empty snacks may be. Potato chips, cookies, pretzels, popcorn etc., all fall neatly on my list of empty, “cardboard” snacks. Yes, they will fill your stomach, however with the value of “cardboard” or “junk” and provide no value worthy of the time or energy you used to consume them. Additionally, soda, sugar juice drinks and high-glycemic index fruits (be they fresh or canned) provide only empty calories that will add untold work to your regimen of burning them off later.

Summary

For a healthy focus toward snacking, reach for wholesome foods first and make a conscious choice of including a healthy protein, complex carbohydrate and polyunsaturated fat in your selections. Be mindful of the ratio or protein-sugars in your solid and liquid snack choices and minimize the empty, junk food alternatives. Your mind, body and certainly your muscle will repay you in the long run.