High protein snack ideas

Why do you need high protein snacks? If you are a woman over 50 you need to be eating at least 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of bodyweight. That is a lot every day. The reasons to include protein in your snacks are:

1. Protein is best consumed throughout the day. A big serve of protein at night is not as effective in building and maintaining muscle as protein throughout the day.
2. You can only eat a limited amount of food each day to stay within a healthy weight range so the opportunities to eat protein should not be wasted.
3. Protein makes your body work harder (thermic effect) than fats or carbs so it is good for your metabolism.
4. Protein lessens hunger hormones and increases the hormones that tell your body you are satisfied. You will not feel constantly hungry or like you have not had enough.

The reason we reach for carbs or carbs and fat so often when we need a snack is because it is usually the most convenient thing to do. There are lot of portable ready made options. We need to make protein snacks ready and available so that you can easily include protein in your snacks. Think about this when you go grocery shopping and think about opportunities when you are in the kitchen to prep some protein so its ready. Here are some ideas:

Apple slices plus cottage cheese with cinnamon

Boiled eggs with a little bit of grated cheese

Chia seed puddings (you have to make this the night before)

Edamame

Roasted chickpeas

Hummus and chopped up veggies

Greek yoghurt and berries

Canned tuna with a small amount of mayo on crackers

Peanut butter in celery sticks

Pumpkin seeds

Protein shake

Almonds (22 max)

Egg whites (you can buy in a carton) with grated cheese on half an English muffin

Protein balls (try to limit the amount of sugar – dried fruits)

BBQ chicken

Tin of salmon