Wellness Wednesday: Five Healthy Food Cravings

Hello fellow fitness junkies, it's #wellnesswednesday again! This week, I'm going to share on the 5 snacks I usually eat, which I feel are (somewhat) healthier as compared to other chips and crisps. And this is also my first attempt blogging using the blogger app on my iPad, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on how this post will turn out. 

Well, here goes.

1. Fresh Fruits

As our company has a 'fruit day' policy, it has slowly became my habit to grab an apple, snow pear or banana as my mid day snack in office. And in the evenings at home, my after dinner snack will usually be an orange, kiwi, strawberries, red dragonfruit (best fruit to cure constipation!) or sometimes, peach.

However, not all fruits are the best diet-friendly snack you can have with no limitations. Other than fats and calories, sugar content is also one of the most deadly diet-killer. And a cup of grapes contain about 23g of sugars while a cup of strawberries contains only a mere 7g. You can do your own maths here. :)

2. Chocolates

Yeah, I know most of you ladies will probably be going, "What? No, that's not healthy snacks!" But believe it or not, what I love is dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao and not the fattening milk or white chocolates, so I'm safe. 

No, I'm not going to listen to you telling me chocolates aren't good for me because I'm going to continue snacking on them. HA HA HA. 

And till date, scientific research has suggested of 4 main possible health benefits of dark chocolates.

1. Chocolate may help reduce LDL cholesterol levels

2. Chocolate may prevent memory decline

3. Chocolate may reduce risk of heart disease

4. Chocolate may prevent stroke

In addition, recent developments on the health benefits of chocolate has also observed that teens who eat a lot of chocolates tend to be slimmer and consuming high levels of flavonoids, which is found in chocolates, could significantly help protect against type 2 diabetes.

3. Almond Nuts

Almonds is my favourite nuts, ever. Well, actually I love hazelnuts more, but due to a serious lack of availability in my local marts, I ended up turning to my 2nd favourite most of the time. 

There's always a tub of baked, unflavoured almonds and another tub of walnuts (my brother's favourite) sitting in our kitchen and while watching TV programmes, both of us will always be hugging our respective tub of nuts and munching away. 

Okay, not a very good example here. Everything should be in moderation, yeah? A handful a day is more than enough. Heh!

Rich in healthy fats (monounsaturated fats), almonds are scientifically believed to have a handful of health benefits, such as:

1. Lowers LDL cholesterol and Reduce risk of heart disease

2. Provides double-barreled protection against diabetes and cardiovascular disease

3. Lowers risk of weight gain

4. Helps with body energy production

5. Helps prevent gallstones

But remember, for almonds to be a healthy snack, do away with the salt and sugar! 

4. Yoghurt

Once again, the issue with sugar content plays an important factor when it comes to yoghurt, so remember to check out your dietary labels! The healthiest yoghurt will undeniable be a low-fat, non-sweeten Greek yoghurt, but it's really too funky in taste and texture for me to crave for it at any time. So even though I'm 'cheating' with non-fat yoghurt instead, there's still enough health benefits packed within to make it healthier than other junk food snacks, mainly for the protein, calcium, vitamins and probiotics content. 

5. Edamame

Edamame, or soybeans, really make the best snack ever. Just by dumping a frozen bag of them into hot boiling water for a while, drain and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and viola, you got yourself the yummiest, most addictive TV programme snack ever.

Being low in fats and calories, and high in protein, fibre and almost every other essential vitamin and mineral, edamame is literally a powerhouse of nutrients, and it's said that just 1 cup serving will give us at least 6% of the recommended daily intake of all nutrients, with the exception of vitamin D. Magic or what!

So, what are the healthy snacks that you crave for most of the time? Drop me a comment and let me know of more healthy snacks to munch on!

Till then,

Mia Foo