The traditional three square meals a day are all no more in practice and people have become biters eating at their desks, with a snack in the noon and a late night meal and so on. Most of these snacks are full of sugar and carbohydrate and this creates a problem for those who are trying to adopt Atkins plan. To keep the blood sugar normal snacking is necessary but most of the packed snack foods are restricted according to the plan.
Snacks that are sweet are rich in calories, with no carbohydrates and give no nutritional value although being popular. According to the Snack Food Association that surveys the sale of packaged snack food it is found out that Americans consume 3.1 billion pounds of chocolate and this has raised more than a third since 1988, the selling of the snacks foods crosses over $30 billion per year.
If you are a junk food eater you should realize that you have become addicted to eat carbohydrate of the worst kind as they are prepared from highly refined carbohydrate like white flour, white sugar, corn meal and corn syrup which are rich in trans-fats (and lead to blocked arteries) and you are making the most worst choice of your food by consuming them.
There is still hope if you can suppress yourself from eating them and have Atkins-friendly snack choices instead. But be sure to gain knowledge by reading about the dangerous effects of trans fats and the ingredients used from the label in your favorite snack food. You may be horrified to know about the artificial flavors and preservatives added to them.
The next step is to clear all the snack foods stored in the house as you tend to eat it only if it there as these foods are unhealthy and for all the members in the family and so considering this factor to maintain a healthy family you need not pay any attention to the complaints they make.
These snack foods can be replaced with some other good choice. Avoiding snack foods does not mean avoiding snacks totally as they are a part of our eating habits and prevents us from being terribly hungry and involves high carbohydrate intake.
Snacks like string cheese sticks or small cheese balls and snacks made out of meat like jerky strips and other products of meat, are easy to be stored in the refrigerator and are low in carbohydrate and simple foods too that can be stored for a long time. The labels are to be read well when you purchase cheese or meat sticks to see if there are any hidden carbs.
When you have the temptations to have anything hot you can go for the low carb instant soups which can be prepared easily also. The crunchy crave can be satisfied with low carb soy chips and celery with a spread of butter or cream cheese on it to add more protein to it. A handful of nuts is also a high-protein fast snack.
The above mentioned snacks are the ones that can be consumed only in the initial stages of the Atkins diet and later. But, if you are beyond the induction phase you can include berries with cream as a snack. The best snacks during the pre-maintenance phase are the recommended fruits.