You plan your meals to ensure they’re healthy and nutrient dense but tend to reach for snacks that don’t complement that diet. Here are a few suggestions of what to snack on:

• Rye toast with nut butter
• A handful of nuts and/or seeds
• Veg sticks with humus
• Low GI Fruit
• Yoghurt, preferably natural and organic (def not yoghurt with sugar or sweetener added to it, this includes all ‘diet’ yoghurts so avoid them too as their flavour comes from chemicals your body can’t properly digest)
• Try to stick to low GI foods so wholemeal pasta, rice etc and bread if you eat it
• Small pieces of cheese
• Avocado
• Olives

Pre workout food

• Don’t eat too much a couple of hours before a workout
• Protein shake as long as low in sugar or sweetener
• Grilled chicken with mixed veg
• Berries, a small amount of banana, natural yoghurt – I add quinoa flakes, goji berries, cinnamon, grounds flax seed and chia seeds to mine
• Smoothie made with whatever milk and fruit you like and you can add powders like wheatgrass etc to it
• Oatmeal with low GI fruit
• Apple wedges with almond butter
• Oatcakes with nut butter

Post workout snacks

• Follow workouts with a good quality protein, especially when you’ll be working out again the following day
• Sweet potatoes are a good pre or post workout food, pair with salmon, or some other protein
• Veg omelet with avocado

A few tips

• Try to avoid foods that will cause a sugar spike which include dry fruit, most cereal bars, honey, jam, wheat-based products and of course cakes, biscuits and other processed foods.
• Where poss choose organic products.
• Stick to the purest forms of foods. This is the basis of ‘clean eating’.
• Lots of fruits are high in sugar which will cause a sugar spike. Bananas, apples and grapes are some of the worst culprits. The better options are berries, peaches and cantaloupe melon.
• Avoid ‘diet’ or ‘low fat’ products. Often they are pumped full of chemicals to give them flavour, which your body isn’t very efficient at processing, which can lead to all kinds of health problems including weight gain.
• Don’t be afraid of fat. Your body needs fat to function. Just ensure you go for pure fats including natural organic yoghurt, organic butter from grass-fed cows and when it comes to oil opt for organic coconut or hemp seed oil for cooking, and organic cold-pressed olive oil to drizzle on salads.

If you have more questions about nutrition or would like me to write you a diet plan then please email me at laura.f.hilton@gmail.com