Snack Attack: What To Eat While Getting In Shape

An essential part of a successful fitness routine revolves around food and what we choose to put into our bodies. Yes, it’s important to eat well, but it’s equally important that you don’t deprive yourself of the food that you need to give you energy and nutrients (and you shouldn’t be going hungry either).?We ask personal trainer Damian Hall?about the potential pitfalls of snacking when you’re trying to stay in shape and what can we eat throughout the day and how much of each thing?

Snacking is quite often vilified for being the culprit for putting on weight. I neither recommend it nor recommend against it. The main thing to remember is that it’s the quality of the calories we should be focusing on, rather than the quantity. I recommend eating when you are hungry (or just before). You have specific hormones which tell you when you should eat, the problem is, these can be out of sync as a result of poor nutritional and lifestyle choices. The key is to sort those out (through eating correctly and at the right time of day), then you can trust your hunger pangs.

My favourite snack choices are as follows:

• Five almonds fried in coconut oil sprinkled with smoked paprika and organic sea salt
• One green apple
• Two turkey slices (wrapped in as much Spinach as you like)
• One celery stick with a tablespoon of cashew butter
• Two slices of halloumi cheese and five olives

As well as being our fitness pro, Damian Hall is the founder of Complete Personal Training. If you have any questions for Damian to answer, tweet us @image_magazine and use the hashtag #imagefitpro.