3 Steps to Stop Hunger Before It Starts

Truth is, snacks have gotten a bad rap. We associate the idea with an unplanned splurge that’s outside of our otherwise careful meal planning. But it doesn’t have to be. A snack can serve as a perfect bridge between meals—a smart “pick me up” that crushes cravings and quells hunger. Doing this can work to your weight-loss advantage. Here’s how to snack smart.

First, let’s ditch a common misconception: Snacks are more than just a prepackaged, high-calorie food like chips or candy. A snack can be anything—a yogurt cup, fruit, crackers, veggies, you name it. The main difference between a snack and a meal is a snack is generally a smaller portion size and tends to be quicker to prepare and easier to tote if you’re on the move.

You can pick whatever you’d like for a snack, as long as it fits within your SmartPoints Budget. The more important thing is that you plan ahead.

That’s where the danger in snacking lies—we go long periods without eating, and we get so hungry that it drives us to make food choices in the heat of the moment we didn’t budget for.

Instead, by deciding ahead of time what you’ll eat as a snack between meals, you can navigate the high-fat, high-sugar snacking choices we’re often confronted with when away from home, and instead have healthier options on hand that fit within your SmartPoints Budget.

Your Weekly outlines a three-pronged strategy you can put to work this week. Just choose an upcoming day when having snacks easily available would be helpful—maybe a particularly hectic day, one where you’ll be away from home or traveling. On that day, follow these steps to create your snacking plan:

1. Identify times when it would be most helpful for you to snack by considering when you might start to feel hungry. Are you going to be stuck in a particularly long meeting? Will you be on the road? Do you have a string of appointments lined up one after another?

2. Choose what snacks you can have based on your schedule — consider what snacks will be easier to turn to based on where you will be and how many SmartPoints you want to spend. You can also find low SmartPoints snack ideas by searching “snack” in the “Browse Recipes” section of the WW app.

3. Now that you know what snacks you want to eat and when, determine what you need to do to help you follow your plan. Would it help to have a soft cooler to store a snack with ice, or to stop at the grocery store to pick up fruit, almonds and paper bags?

When creating your eating plan for the day, a helpful rule of thumb is to schedule snacks and meals so that you are eating roughly every four hours.

As for choosing how many SmartPoints you want to spend on snacks, consider what you really want to eat and what you love. You may find that you want to use your SmartPoints towards meals and choose zero to low SmartPoints snacks — or you might choose to use more SmartPoints on snacks and less on meals. It’s up to you!

All foods are “in” and can be considered, so if you have a sweet tooth and love to have snacks such as crisps, biscuits, chocolate or sweets, don’t deny yourself. Use SmartPoints values as your guide to choosing healthier versions of these foods.

Also keep in mind this fact: research has shown that those who serve themselves directly from larger packaging or containers tend to eat more—for instance, eating from a full-size bag of chips versus a snack-size package. Being aware of this is half the battle: Make sure you’re buying smaller-serving-size prepackaged items, and make your own servings by transferring foods from larger packaging into smaller baggies or containers.

Finally, when thinking about what you can do ahead of time to help you follow your snack plan, consider the following ideas:

• At work — keep healthier snacks at your desk or in the office refrigerator.

• On the go — determine where you can buy snacks on the road, pop a healthy, portable snack in your bag, have a stash of Ziploc bags or small Tupperware ready at home.

• At home — if healthier choices are at the ready, you’ll be more likely to eat them. Have a bowl of fruit on display on the kitchen counter and healthier choices in the front of the fridge.

The following is a list of healthy snack choices that have low SmartPoints values:

• Whole fruits like bananas, clementines or apples

• Mini flat bread or pita

• Carrot, cucumber or celery sticks with cottage cheese or hummus

• Chopped melon or pineapple (tinned or fresh)

• Frozen grapes or frozen pineapple slices

• Wholegrain cereal and milk

• Fat free plain yogurt

• Slice of wholegrain toast, crumpet or rice cakes with sliced banana or mashed avocado

• Plain air popped or lightly salted bag of popcorn

• sliced meat loaf

• Small handful of nuts

• Boiled egg

• Nut and seed mix sprinkled on top of non-fat plain yogurt

• Low-calorie hot chocolate made with non-fat milk

• Cottage cheese and plain crackers