All right, we are moving well along the course fearful of your calories. And as we move along in this course, I'm going to now talking to you about snacks. So snacks are a very, very important part of your daily meals. And what I find is that a lot of people actually, they undermine the importance of snacks. And something to remember is that snacks are very important. And they do play a real big role in how you feel throughout the day.

How, how satiated you feel and how full you feel. So let's talk about that a little more. Now remember, snacks are also part of your daily meals. So when you go grocery shopping every weekend or every two weeks, whatever your schedule might be, it is important that you shop for your snacks equally as you structure your meals. Now when you either choose high satiety foods, or you combine them with low energy density foods. So there's a combination of high satiety and low energy density.

And once that happens, it's that kind of a magic formula, then your hunger is much more controlled and you might even lose weight. Let's take a look at this picture in this picture, you can see that all these foods, 150 calories, all of them, but each of them have different volume because the the you know the energy density is different for each of them. Now, look at the amount of carrots that is there 150 calories. So if you were to eat this amount of carrots, you are definitely going to feel for the look at the strawberries, the orange, apple, banana. Now look at the nuts. So even this amount of not the small amount of nuts is also hundred 50 calories, and that's a much higher energy as compared to fruits and vegetables.

So when you eat nuts, be very mindful because it is very, very easy to overeat them. So keep in mind the concept energy density and society at all times when you are choosing snacks. Now I'm going to be sharing with you my top six tricks as to how I choose my snacks. First one is a complimentary protein trick. Now in simple language proteins are made up amino acids. And complete protein foods have all the essential amino acids and foods like milk, eggs, these are complete proteins.

And incomplete protein sources have low amounts of some of the essential amino acids. And incomplete protein sources could be something like lentils, beans, those are incomplete protein sources. However, when you combine the complete protein with incomplete protein, it forms a complete protein because you're sort of completing the whole circle. So that is whole that is a whole goal. Let's learn about it a bit more. When you combine two or more foods with incomplete proteins, it forms a complimentary protein.

And then when that happens, you can actually get the adequate amount of essential amino acids. Meaning if you combine, let's say, two foods, which are, you know, incomplete proteins. So what that does is that if there's some amino acid which is missing in one in one in, let's say food a, and it is that in food B, you are complementing each other. So that I'm going to give you some examples in next slide. And when you do this, the bonus is that they are higher satiety and less energy that's and to make that clear, with some examples is like grains with dairy. Now, dairy is a complete protein, whereas grains is an incomplete protein.

And when you combine the grains with the dairy, you're sort of getting the full, the full everything together, you're getting a complete protein. thing with dairy with not dairy with not season lagoons and some common common meal items that naturally complement each other. other proteins are also like peanut butter sandwich. hummus with pita bread grilled cheese with a grilled cheese sandwich. It's also lentil soup or a dairy based soup, some toast, whole grain cereal with milk, cold pizza, quinoa salad, black beans and fatter. So these are some examples of snacks.

And keep in mind that these are not single snacks, they are two they're you know, there are two foods in that that are included. Which takes me to the next trick that I have for you to try to include at least two food groups for all your snacks. So when you eat carrots alone, whereas when you eat carrots with hummus, then you are more satiated than eating the carrots alone. And this strategy also makes your snack way more nutrient dense. And when you eat carrots only the nutrients you're getting are just vitamins and minerals. But when you combine it with hummus, you're also getting some protein, some good fat, some Carbohydrates making it more satiating and fulfilling.

And to me the bonus also is that it's very difficult for me personally, to eat one whole plate of carrots, I just can't do it. But if I'm eating with hummus, it definitely makes a difference in the taste. And I can eat way more carrots I put already. Let's take a look at this example. Now when you have an apple versus an apple you cheese. So just think about the taste changes and you feel way more satiated and it is kind of easy to finish that one big apple alone, you know, and when you combine it with Apple and cheese, it's just just a different taste altogether.

So keep that in mind. Now choose non starchy foods for your snacks so reserving your structures for your main meals also helps in balancing your nutrient intake throughout the day. Usually people will have a starch you know I bought the breakfast, lunch and dinner and when you're missing a nutrient when you wish Let's say a food group in your main meals, for example, fruit you do not want to eat a new main meal, you can put that as your snack so it sort of balances out whatever you're missing in your main meals, you can incorporate that into your snack and but keep but if you keep your starches reserved for your main meals, what that also does is that you feel sort of satisfaction that you're having a toast or repeater or some sense of let's say rice or pasta for your main meals and you know it is the day goes better strike to that if possible.

And do not drink your snacks. This is so so critical of calories from drinks, whether it is alcohol juice or soda are just liquid calories. And liquid calories are also not satiating as well and lead to weight gain and you do not even realize how many calories you've actually, you know, just cut down and there's a lot of evidence to confirm And although you know liquids such as liquids count as calories, the body does not detect them the same way as it detects solid food. And liquid calories are way more high energy dense and those tightiy soups, soups is another food another category of food that a lot of people are not very fond of, but I would encourage everyone listening to here to this, taking this course, that try to incorporate soups in your meals and use them as snacks. Because soups can be versatile and they are less energy dense except of course the cream and cheese based soups, and they're less energy dense yet they are very satiating and soups have the benefits of combining vegetables, fluids, proteins, carbohydrates and everything are everything in one.

They're very convenient as well. So hearty soup, something like this just has got carrots, you know, you can put in some meats, anything like that. That they are very, they're very satiating. Okay, then adding vegetables to your yogurt into the fruit. You might be surprised at this one. It may be a new taste, but it's worth trying.

And what you could do is add some salt, pepper, and dried Herbes to enhance the taste and adding vegetables makes your work not only interesting, but also increases the satiety on a low energy dense patch. And that is a clear winner. For example, this one is cucumber yogurt with you know some fresh cilantro and you can even put some you know, some green chilies if you want that spice kick a little bit and I'm going to share with you some of my my favorite snacks. So clementines were laughing cow cheese is one of my always a go to one. Or here you'll see that so that the oranges have vitamin C. And they have some you know carbohydrates in them, but they do not but but they are not they have no protein. So to to fill in that missing link you're adding the laughing cow cheese or any kind of cheese which is let's say a low fat cheese.

So the low fat cheese is going to give them the calcium the protein as well so it's calm so it's so the two the two foods are really complementing each other and crisps any kind of crisps so Thomas and buttermilk has makes a really good snack. We ate with almonds about 23 almonds in one serving so when you combine the two they taste really good too. If you do not like the taste of we ate, which is you know tomato juice, you can always throw in some lemon juice into it and a little bit of pepper and just you know dash of salt if you'd like to make it spicy. Then chickpeas and dark chocolate is another great snack. seems odd but it tastes really good together. And rye bread with avocado and salsa, another one.

Sometimes I'll have this at lunch as well because it's really convenient when I'm at work. But this makes a great snack of what an avocado coconut chutney and crackers is another one that I prefer like these kind of snacks. So now let's review so plan your snacks just as you do your meals and your vacation. And I also have a handout for you in the back in the course over here on 15 snacks to manage your weight and control mealtime portions. Be sure to download that and make use of