Especially as we get deeper into the holiday season, it becomes more and more important to monitor our food intake to ensure that when January 1st hits that we’ll have less extra poundage on our bodies to take off as part of that traditional New Year’s Resolution to lose weight.
So what should you do? Avoid eating altogether?
Don’t be ridiculous.
But there is one thing that you can do, one small adjustment to your diet, that can work wonders. And you may actually like it.
It’s all there in a CORNELL UNIVERSITY STUDY REGARDING SNACK FOOD, especially in how children snack.
The study looked at young girls (around ages 8-11) and their snacking habits. They were given four snacking choices to choose from while watching TV.
- potato chips
- cheese
- vegetables
- cheese and vegetables
And wouldn’t you know it? Eating cheese WITH your vegetables resulted in 72% fewer calories eaten when compared to eating potato chips. The kids said that they were more full after eating fewer calories, and thus didn’t feel the need to snack even more. The caloric intake was dropped significantly for those children who were considered obese and ate the cheese/vegetable combo vs a child that was not in that group.
Added bonus is that cheese can be good for you, by adding some protein and calcium to the diet beyond the vegetables by themsevles.
Look, we can’t totally eliminate snacking (it’s fun! it’s tasty!), so if you’re going to have a snack of some sort, why not try a cheese and veggie platter at work around 3p. It could be just what your waistline ordered.