Snacking Tips From C&J Nutrition, Registered Dietitians

by Guest Writer 1

The following post was written by C&J Nutrition, a duo of registered dietitians based in NYC and LA, to help you get a handle on this week's Get Fit For 2011 giveaway snacking challenge.

We are big fans of snacking. Why do we love snacks? Our top 3 reasons are . . .

1. Knowing we'll be having a snack in between one meal and the next makes it easier to stop eating a meal when we're "satisfied" versus "full."
2. Snacking keeps us from arriving at meal time ravenous — helping to avoid "grab the first thing I see and eat a lot of it" situations.
3. Snacks help us fit in nutrients we may not otherwise get enough of in our meals. Low on calcium-rich foods in meals? Try yogurt as a snack. Not fitting many veggies into meals? Pair some crudites with hummus. Short on fruit? Dip apple slices into peanut butter.

We're regular snackers and suggest AT LEAST one snack per day to all of our clients. We recommend pairing two of the three main nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein) together into a snack. Other than this general premise, we get pretty creative with our snacks and hope you take some of our ideas and give them your own awesome spin.

• Apple slices with peanut buttery dip
• Baby carrots and grape tomatoes with hummus: Pair 1/2 cup grape tomatoes with 1/2 cup baby carrots and 1/4 cup Tribe Origins hummus. (Tribe doesn't use any artificial preservatives!)

Keep on reading for more snack ideas!

Be sure to share your go-to snack in our Get Fit For 2011 group to enter our weekly giveaway of a $100 Nike gift card and a chance to win our grand prize — a four-day fitness boot camp in LA, which includes a nutritional consultation with the C&J Nutrition team!