Michael Mosley warns you don't have to stop snacking as long as you make 'simple change'
21.02.2024 - 13:00
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Everyone loves a snack, though you'll often hear snacking isn't healthy or won't help us lose weight - but as stated in the latest Michael Mosley podcast, this isn't the case.
The UK is a nation of snackers and we get 25 percent of our daily calories from our snacks, according to the health guru's podcast, Just One Thing.
But surprisingly, snacking isn’t necessarily bad for our health. Mosley, alongside Dr Sarah Berry at Kings College London, discussed snacking in the latest episode with Dr Berry stating people should take a pragmatic approach.
She said: "It's all about the timing and the quality of the snacks. People who were snacking on unhealthy food had high bad cholesterol, lower good cholesterol, they tended to also have higher weight around the waist and yet we found people, even if they were snacking a lot but they were on healthy foods, actually didn't have any of this increase in risks."
Interestingly, they also found out that the time of day mattered with many snacking after 9pm. And if your snack of choice is unhealthy, there was a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, a higher baseline level of blood glucose as well as a poorer insulin sensitivity and blood fat.
But if you're craving a snack at night, it's best to chose healthy options which will not only help with your hunger, but provide you with many health benefits.
The author of the Fast 800 diet asked the doctor what foods we should avoid and she suggested not eating snacks that have little nutrients as well as the usual snacks that are high in sugar. These typically consist of biscuits, sweets, chocolate, cakes and crisps.
Snacks that people should try however are ones that are high in protein, low in refined carbohydrates, low in sugar and full of healthy