A snack is an optional meal. When sustaining a calorie deficit, it doesn’t matter how many times a day you eat, the main thing here is only your personal convenience (research: 1 , 2 , 3 ). But well-timed snacks will help to cope with the feeling of hunger and endure until the main meal. It’s just important to remember to include all the calories from snacks in your daily calorie calculation.

In this article, we’ll share 5 examples of great low-calorie, yet satisfying snacks.

Fruits, vegetables and berries

This is the best snack option:

• These foods are healthy and contain tons of vitamins and minerals.
• According to the WHO recommendations, 400 g of vegetables and fruits should be eaten daily (source: who.int ). Of course, on a diet it will not always be possible to fulfill such a norm, but this is only an indicator of their importance.
• Fruits, vegetables and berries contain water and fiber, which allows them to saturate well even in small portions (low energy density). In this they are better, for example, nuts, which, although no less useful, are extremely high in calories even in small quantities (high density).

About what kind of fruits and berries you can have a snack, as well as in what quantity, read in this article of ours . There you will also find recommendations for calculating calories that can be taken for sweets (which is often a snack). The vegetable calorie table is shown here .

Protein Bars

There are many different bars, very different in composition. On a diet, we recommend choosing options with a minimum amount of carbohydrates and fats . In other words, read the label carefully before buying.

The advantage of the bars is their balanced composition (they contain more protein and less fat and carbohydrates than regular chocolates) and good saturation of the body. One bar, which can contain only 100-150 kcal, is enough for several hours. You can also easily make them yourself .

By the way, the protein itself can well be attributed to snacks . It is enough to beat it in a blender with skim milk – and a delicious low-calorie drink is ready. You can add any fruit for taste.

Dairy products

For many, a glass of kefir or other similar drink is enough for a snack. Yogurt also falls into this category, primarily Greek. The composition of this group:

The main thing – do not forget that the calorie content is indicated per 100 g of the product, and not per glass. You should not even drink healthy kefir in liters.

We do not include cottage cheese here, because it is more of a main meal than a snack. Although, of course, low-fat cottage cheese is an excellent high-protein product for a diet (up to 18 g of protein per 100 g).

You can also make delicious yogurt-based snacks. Let’s give an example, you will need:

• 100 g of Greek yogurt is about 6 tablespoons. Better to choose fat-free natural.
• 1 small orange.
• A teaspoon of honey.

Cooking:

1. 1 Yogurt should be mixed with honey.
2. 2 Cut the orange into small pieces and add to the mixture. Done! You will need no more than 3-5 minutes for everything.

In total, the mixture contains about 9 g of protein and 123 kcal .

Muffins

This snack is not for the lazy, as it is better to cook it yourself. This is the only way you can be sure of the composition. But the process is not complicated and takes only 15 minutes, and at the end you will receive 8-12 muffins, which will be enough for you for a long time (if you have one a day).

Here are 2 different recipes.

With ginger and chocolate

Despite the fact that dark chocolate is slightly healthier than milk chocolate in composition, the second one is much tastier and has the same calorie content. Therefore, it is worth taking it for cooking, although the final choice is yours.

So, you will need:

• A glass of self-rising flour.
• 2 whole eggs.
• 3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil.
• 75 g chocolate, broken into small pieces.
• 50 g sugar.
• 100 ml of milk with the lowest percentage of fat you can find.
• A small piece of ginger about 2×2 cm.
• A teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Half a teaspoon of baking powder.

Cooking procedure:

1. 1 Combine flour and baking powder in one container.
2. 2 The other contains sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and butter.
3. 3 Now pour the mixture from the second container into the first, but do not stir much yet.
4. 4 Ginger should be grated.
5. 5 Add chocolate and grated ginger to the mixture and stir.
6. 6 The oven must be preheated to 180 degrees.
7. 7 Prepare 12 paper trays. Spoon the mixture into them and place on a baking sheet.
8. 8 Bake for about 15 minutes. The dough should rise and the top should flatten out on its own if you press it with your finger.
9. 9 Let the muffins cool. You can store up to 3 days.

Composition for one muffin: 3.5 g of protein, 20 carbohydrates, 6.8 fats, 155 kcal .