What Nutritious Homemade Snacks Can you Eat While You’re Gaming?
We’re always warned that we shouldn’t snack because it’s going to make us fat. That’s a fallacy because what makes us fat is WHAT we eat, not IF we eat. While you’re relaxing and playing online at your fav casino bonus codes games you can enjoy nutritious, healthy and even weight-reducing snacks if you’re careful to plan your snacks properly.
Snacking
Snacking generally refers to eating in-between your main meals. By and large, health professionals, including nutritionists, believe that people should eat three meals every day.
Some suggest no snacking in-between those meals while others say that you should eat snacks to help keep your blood sugar regulated and your appetite in check.
There’s a substantial body of research that says that increasing the frequency of eating through snacking can help with weight loss.
If you plan your shacks you can also increase your intake of nutrient-rich foods that many people don’t eat enough of including fresh fruits and vegetables. Therefore, you should aim for snacks that include fiber, healthy fats and proteins since these foods help keep you full while giving you the nutrients that your body needs.
Snacking While Playing Games
Research shows that it’s not a good idea to eat while you’re doing something else. When you set aside time to eat you can focus on your meal while if you eat while you do something else you are probably not paying as much attention to WHAT you’re eating and to HOW MUCH you’re eating. That combination is deadly for someone who is trying to establish good eating habits.
But modern life isn’t that simple and the plain fact is that we often eat while we’re doing something else because it saves time, or because we’re involved in another activity and need to munch. Given that reality, it’s important to find healthy, low-calorie snacks that you can enjoy at any time which will promote an overall healthy eating pattern.
Looking for some ideas of healthy snacks to eat while you’re watching TV, playing games or talking on the phone? Check these out.
Greek Yogurt and Fruit
Greek yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt meaning that, while it has more calories than regular yogurt, it has more calcium, more protein and is more filling than regular yogurt. If you don’t want to pay the price that the supermarket asks for little one-cup portions of Greek yogurt you can make big batches of your own for the price of a gallon of milk.
Boil milk and let it sit until it cools – warmish is fine. Mix in one tablespoon of regular Greek yogurt per every cup of boiled milk. Pour into a glass jar and place in a warm water bath (warm enough that you can comfortably place your hand in the water) in a cooler box. Close the box and leave it to sit for 12 hours.
When you take it out, if it’s still runny, you can put it in another warm water bath for another 12 hours. Then refrigerate. It should turn solid. Let the excess water drain out and keep refrigerated.
Add fruit – for a super healthy snack that’s full of antioxidants, add berries.
Granola
Make your own granola to mix into your yogurt or eat with milk. This isn’t sugary store-bought yogurt that we’re talking about here – this yogurt is full of fiber and protein and has minimal sweeteners. ¼ cup of sesame seeds is optional.
Mix 2 cups of oats with ½ cup of wheat bran, ½ cup of wheat germ and ½ cup of ground flax seeds. You can add in ½ cup coconut OR use coconut oil for the oil.
With your hands, mix in ¼ cup soy/canola/coconut oil and two tablespoons of brown sugar or honey. Mix it all together with your hands and lay it out on an oven sheet. Bake at a low-to-medium temperature for about 15 minutes, then take it out, mix it up again and put it back in the oven to rebake for another 10-15 minutes.
Store in an airtight plastic container in the refrigerator – there are no preservatives in this granola but if refrigerated, it can last for months.
When you serve it, you can mix it with yogurt, milk or just fresh or dried fruit. If you’re eating it for a more filling meal you can add almonds or walnuts.
Chips
You can buy chips in the supermarket but they’re often over-oiled and over-salted. Make your own for a healthy, munchy snack.
For kale chips, mix one cup of kale leaves with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Lay them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at medium-high heat until crispy (about 10 to 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and pull them out as they start to brown, otherwise, they’ll burn. Kale contains twice the selenium content and four times the vitamin C content of spinach, as well as nutrients like beta-carotene and vitamin E.
For sweet potato chips, slice the sweet potatoes into think strips or slices (if you have a food processor with a slicer blade, it will do well) and soak the slices in cold water for an hour. Dry and mix with olive oil and salt. Lay out on parchment paper on a baking sheet and bake at a medium-high heat for about half an hour. Check and return to the oven if they haven’t yet crisped. There’s about a 5-minute window of time between crisping and burning so keep an eye on them.
