Why is snacking important?
● It increases nutrient intake throughout the day and can reduce your overall daily calorie intake
● It aids in muscle growth and repair following training sessions
● It increases metabolic rate (a higher metabolic rate will allow you to burn more calories at rest)
● It stabilizes blood sugar levels, and therefore controls hunger
Below is a graph of blood glucose (sugar) levels throughout the day. Blood glucose is vital for the management of energy, hunger and concentration (blood sugar is the brain’s only fuel).
● The key points here are that keeping prolonged fasting between meals (the red line) leads to a pronounced spike and crash in blood sugar levels. As the graph indicates, at these low blood sugar levels, we often feel tired and hungry, which can lead us to over eating and craving sweets and sugary foods.
● The diet with smaller meals or 3 meals interspersed with 3 snacks on the other hand (the green line), allows for a far better control of blood sugar which encourages high energy, low hunger and a boosted metabolism (ideal for our weight loss).
