11 metabolism snacks to lose weight
Your metabolism plays a very important part in your weight loss. The series of chemical reactions within our bodies play an important role in how you lose weight while on a healthy eating plan such as the 28 Day Challenge.
Our hormones and nervous system control the metabolism. The speed and effectiveness with which it works is dependent on a variety of factors.
Some of these – your age, gender and to some extent, genetic makeup, are outside of our control.
Other factors though, like the food you eat, your physical activity levels and muscle to fat ratio can be controlled.
Having healthy meals and including exercise in our daily routine helps to keep your metabolism working well. And ensuring that you eat regularly is also important.
If we go too long between meals or snacks, our metabolism can slow right down. This is similar to what happens when we try and follow a severely calorie-restricted diet; our body starts to panic and slows everything right down, to try and conserve as much energy as possible.
One of the best ways to ensure you’re eating regularly is by including regular snacks in your diet. Not only will these keep you feeling full and satisfied, they’ll also keep your metabolism burning.
Each of these below snacks contains metabolism boosting properties, either as an individual food or part of a larger dish
- A handful of blueberries – Calories per serve – 85
- Greek yoghurt with a tablespoon of honey – Calories per serve – 190
- A cup of green tea – Calories per serve – 0
- Overnight oats – Calories per serve – 325
- A handful of almonds – Calories per serve – 110
- 1 cup diced pineapple – Calories per serve – 70
- Cinnamon and coconut rice pudding – Calories per serve – 190 (recipe below)
- Sweet potato and lentil dip – Calories per serve – 135 (recipe below)
- An Acai enriched Healthy Mummy smoothie – 300 calories per serve if made with 250ml of low fat milk and half cup of fruit and a few acai berries
- Raw celery and carrot sticks – Calories per serve – 60
- A Healthy Mummy Green Smoothie – 300 calories per serve if made with 250ml of low fat milk and half cup of fruit
Cinnamon & Coconut Rice Pudding
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of coconut milk – shake the tin before measuring out
- 1 cup of cooked brown rice
- 1 tbsp honey
- Cinnamon to taste
Method:
- Warm up the coconut milk in a small saucepan over low heat until simmering
- Add the honey and mix well
- Add the rice and stir until combined
- Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes until thickened
- Pour into dishes and garnish with cinnamon to taste
Serves: 2. Calories per serve: 190.
Sweet Potato & Lentil Dip
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and scrubbed clean
- 1 ½ cups red lentils (or you can use 400g tinned lentils, drained)
- ½ small red onion, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely diced
- Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
- 2 tbsp tahini or natural peanut butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- Bake your whole sweet potatoes (unpeeled) in a 180C oven for an hour.
- When cool enough to handle, chop into chunks. Leave the skin on as it’s packed with nutrition and blends well.
- Meanwhile, place your lentils in a saucepan with 3 cups of cold water.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer for around 30 minutes or until tender, adding the onions in the final 15 minutes. Drain.
- Place the lentils, onion and sweet potato into a food processor or blender.
- Add the garlic, ginger, lime, chilli, tahini and seasoning to taste.
- Blend until smooth.
Serves: 6. Calories per serve: 135.
For more healthy snack ideas like these, why not join thousands of other mums on our next 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge?