We’ve all heard some of these myths before. Eat 5 small meals a day. Have a protein shake ‘x’ amount of times a day if you want to build muscle and rev up your metabolism. If you don’t eat frequently throughout the day, you’ll lose muscle.

I am here to tell you, no. No to all of it. Snacking is a cleverly constructed marketing ploy by the food manufacturing industry. They made a whole industry out of it, so that they can get their hands on your money. Nothing to do with muscle, health or metabolism.

The truth is, if you eat 2-3 sufficient meals a day, spaced 4-5 hours apart, you will not feel the need to snack. If you do, then either you are not eating enough food, or you’re not getting enough nutrients (which means you’re not eating the RIGHT kind of foods).

When you give your body rest in between meals, you’re allowing it to DIGEST and ABSORB the food properly, without overloading your stomach (no more heartburn). You’re also allowing your intestines to MOVE the food down the small and large intestines (which total approx 8-9 METRES). Interrupting this process on a regular basis can spur on some gross symptoms like bloating, belching, farting, constipation, diarrhoea, acid reflux, lethargy, and rotting food. These symptoms can usually associated with bacterial imbalance, so if you know that you have SIBO or dysbiosis, you DEFINITELY shouldn’t be snacking.

The only time snacking is OK in my books, is if you are genuinely stuck without food and need to eat something quick and convenient because you’re missing a meal. In which case, the best snacks, are those which are minimally processed. That means, when you look at their ingredients list, you know what those ingredients are, and the food hasn’t been drastically altered from its original state. Also, if you want to feel satiated, opt for a source of fat.

Examples:
-An apple/pear/banana (any type of fruit)+ a tablespoon of nut butter
-Raw vegetables + guacamole
-Boiled egg
-Handful of raw nuts and/or seeds
-Pot of goats or sheep’s yogurt (I personally prefer coconut rather than dairy) + fruit/veg
-A couple of squares of 70% or more dark chocolate (less sugar, the better)
-Tea with a bit of full fat coconut milk or full fat dairy milk (if you can tolerate it)
-Sparkling water + fruit in it
-Smoothies which are predominantly VEGETABLE based.

Here are examples of BAD snacks:
-Protein bars
-Any type of snack bar (even if it says it is healthy/keto/magical/etc)
-Crisps
-Any type of air-popped crisps or popcorn
-Vegetable crisps
-Chocolate
-Dried fruit with added sulphur and sugar
-Any other weird psuedo health foods (especially if it says ‘diet’)
-Diet or full sugar fizzy drinks
-All fruit juice, even fresh
-Smoothies which are predominantly FRUIT based.
-Crackers.
-Gluten free crackers.
-Rice cakes.