Many overweight people blame their inability to slim down on their snack habit, The Snack Factor Diet is a plan that actually encourages frequent snacking to help dieters lose weight. Designed by a registered dietitian, the diet emphasizes the idea that nutritious snacks can make you feel more satisfied with your diet while still cutting calories and enabling you to reach your weight goal.
Theory
Author Keri Glassman purports that by eating nutrient-rich snacks throughout the day, people who follow the Snack Factor Diet will feel more satisfied, eat less overall and lose weight as a result. She also maintains that her plan can help dieters gain energy, end mood swings by stabilizing blood sugar levels, prevent constipation, improve their skin, avoid heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer, protect against aging, improve their mental skills and feel happier overall.
Guidelines
Rather than dictate a strict eating schedule, the Snack Factor Diet allows you to choose when is the best time to eat your snacks and meals depending on your "Hunger Quotient." The idea behind letting your Hunger Quotient determine when you should eat is that by paying attention to how hungry or full you are you can avoid ravenous feelings that lead to overeating as well as snacking when you're not truly hungry. The Snack Factor diet suggests trying to maintain a Hunger Quotient between four, which means "slightly satisfied," and six, which translates to "slightly hungry."
Foods
Glassman recommends you get roughly 1/3 of your daily calories from protein, 1/3 from fat and 1/3 from carbohydrates. Specifically, the author encourages dieters to eat lean protein sources like egg whites, fish, poultry, canned tuna and shrimp; high-fiber sources of carbs like whole-grains, legumes and produce; and unsaturated fats, especially those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, walnuts, sardines and flaxseeds.
Process
The first three days of the Snack Factor Diet are designed to break you of bad dieting habits like weighing yourself too often, not drinking enough water, skipping breakfast and six other "Diet Traps from Hell." From there, the program offers guidelines for keeping portion sizes in check, eating indulgent foods without undoing your diet and making food choices that will satisfy you and provide needed nutrients. The Snack Factor Diet book provides plenty of healthy recipes and snack suggestions to keep your eating plan on track.
Pros and Cons
The Snack Factor Diet encourages a balanced and nutrient-rich diet without forbidding treats or cutting out entire food groups, making it a realistic plan to maintain long-term. The idea that dieters should enjoy small frequent meals and snacks to prevent hunger and overeating is also sound advice whether you're trying to lose weight or not. The main flaw in the program is that people who have trouble controlling their portion sizes may end up taking in far more calories than needed when eating so frequently. The book also doesn't address how to overcome emotional eating or snacking out of boredom.
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