Intuitively Written

On a mission to prevent nutrition misinformation.

Brittany Lubeck, MS, RD

Recent Posts

  • How to Make a Balanced Snack Plate That Actually Satisfies You

    How to Make a Balanced Snack Plate That Actually Satisfies You

    Snacks are a great way to curb hunger between meals, but finding satisfying snacks is easier said than done.

    Enter snack plates.

    Snack plates can feature a variety of foods, like veggies, protein, and even chocolate. Knowing how to build a balanced snack plate may increase satiety, improve nutrient intake, and make eating snacks more mindful and enjoyable.

    This post will teach you how to balance a snack plate so you’re eating with both intention and satisfaction.

    Why Snack Plates Work: Balanced, Fun, and Mindful

    Snack plates are pretty much what they sound like: a plate of snacks. However, there’s a little more to them than that.

    Snacks often consist of just one food, but this isn’t always satisfying. Snack plates are different as they include various types of foods. Eating a variety of foods offers a better range of nutrition benefits, tastes, and textures, and increases satisfaction.

    Snack plates are customizable, easy to assemble, and fun to eat (and it’s important to have fun with food). Creating a snack plate is also a great way to practice mindful eating as it helps you tune into what foods truly sound good to eat.

    The Balanced Snack Plate Formula

    You don’t have to be a social media influencer or food photographer to build a colorful snack plate.

    Learning how to build a nourishing snack plate can teach you more about nutrition and help you experiment with new foods and flavors.

    You can build a balanced, nourishing snack plate by following the simple formula below:

    • Protein: Protein is a macronutrient and an essential part of any snack plate. Protein slows digestion and increases satiety. Eating protein at snack time also ensures that you’re getting enough of this important nutrient throughout the day.
    • Fruits & Veggies: Fruits and vegetables add color, texture, and freshness to snack plates. You can include any fruits and veggies on a snack plate. Eating a variety of fruits and veggies increases fiber and micronutrient intake.
    • Carbs & Fun Foods: Carbs are another key addition to snack plates as they are your body’s preferred source of energy. This means that skipping out on carbs may make you extra sleepy. Other fun foods, like sweets and treats, can also be included on a snack plate for comfort and enjoyment.
    • Healthy Fats: Fat gets a bad rap, but it’s a nutrient that you shouldn’t avoid. As a macronutrient, fat aids the digestion and absorption of important nutrients. Fat also adds flavor to foods (butter makes everything taste better).
    • Flavor Boosts: Your favorite dips, spreads, and seasonings should be added to snack plates to boost flavor. Remember, snack plates (and other meals) should be enjoyable. When you like what you eat, you’re likely to feel more satisfied afterwards.

    Keep in mind that your snack plate doesn’t have to be pretty or end up on Instagram, but it does have to be satisfying. Otherwise, why eat it?

    Snack Plate Ideas

    So, what should you actually put on your snack plate?

    Well, here are some simple ideas to help you make healthy snack plate combinations:

    • Proteins: almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese, chickpeas, nut butter, cheese, trail mix, Greek yogurt, tofu, tuna, jerky, smoked salmon
    • Fruits & Veggies: cucumber slices, carrot sticks, berries, edamame, banana, apple slices, olives, bell peppers
    • Carbs & Fun Foods: whole-grain crackers, popcorn, tortilla chips, pita bread, oatmeal, toast/bread, dark chocolate, roasted sweet potato, rice cakes, whole-grain waffle
    • Flavor Boosts: Hummus, tzatziki, guacamole, cinnamon, honey, mustard, cream cheese, fresh herbs, paprika, jelly, pickles
    • Healthy Fats: nut butter, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado, fatty fishll

    You may notice that many of the foods listed fit into more than one category. For example, edamame is a vegetable, carbohydrate, and protein source. Nuts, fruits, and vegetables are also sources of carbohydrates.

    These are just some of the many ideas for a balanced snack plate. You can use any nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies, fruits, grains, healthy fats, or lean proteins that you wish. And don’t forget the fun foods!

    Mindful Eating Tips: How to Make Your Snack Plate Truly Satisfying

    Mindful eating isn’t just for meals. You can be mindful during snack time, too.

    When building a balanced snack plate, pause and ask yourself, “What do I really want?”. Mindful eating entails listening to your hunger cues and learning how to satisfy your body with foods that are both tasty and nourishing.

    Engaging your senses is another important part of mindfulness. You can achieve this by combining various food textures and flavors on your snack plate.

    Additionally, including foods like chocolate, chips, or any other favorite foods increases satisfaction, another key component of mindful eating.

    Finally, be sure to check in with yourself about halfway through eating your snack plate. As you enjoy your snack plate, pause and ask yourself questions like, “What is my hunger level now?”, or “What foods taste best?”, or “Am I enjoying this snack?”.

    It’s important to be honest with yourself to ensure you’re nourishing your body and your mind.

    Common Snack Plate Mistakes (and Mindful Fixes)

    It’s easy to make mistakes when learning how to make a snack plate. But any mistake can be fixed!

    Here are a few common snack plate mistakes, plus mindful fixes for each:

    • Mistake: eating only fruits and veggies.
      • Fix: add protein
    • Mistake: skipping carbs.
      • Fix: add carbs and fun foods to avoid cravings later
    • Mistake: unsatisfying portions.
      • Fix: add a variety of foods to increase satisfaction
    • Mistake: missing flavor.
      • Fix: include healthy fats for flavor and satiety

    Remember, restriction makes snacks less enjoyable and less satisfying. The whole point of a snack is to keep hunger at bay. A successful snack plate will include a variety of foods that taste good and curb hunger.

    Conclusion: Find Peace and Joy in Your Snacks

    Snack plates can not only nourish you but also help you find peace and joy in food.

    A balanced snack plate includes protein, fruits and veggies, carbs, healthy fats, and fun foods and flavors.

    Remember, the best snack plate is the one that satisfies both your body and your mind.

  • Food Isn’t the Enemy: How to Stop Labeling Foods as Good or Bad

    Food Isn’t the Enemy: How to Stop Labeling Foods as Good or Bad

    Have you ever sworn off bread, only to end up craving it more than ever? You’re not alone.

    Diet culture paints certain foods as enemies, which leaves you feeling guilty about enjoying them.

    I’m here to tell you that food isn’t the enemy. Diet culture is. There are no “bad” foods except for moldy bread and expired eggs.

    This post will teach you how to stop labeling foods as good or bad – and how to start finding peace with what’s on your plate.

    Why We See Food as the Enemy

    Diet culture is a system of food myths and beliefs that lead society to believe that thin bodies are righteous and large bodies are immoral.1 In diet culture, thinness is idolized and food is moralized.

    Diet culture is everywhere: social media, movies, shows, music, work, and even schools.

    One (of many) problem of diet culture is that it gives food morals, painting some foods as “good” and some foods as “bad.” But, since food is soulless, it can’t have morals.

    The diet industry uses fear surrounding food to get you to go on the latest diet or take the newest medication that is definitely going to make you suddenly and finally get back to your high school weight (that was sarcasm).

    If you’ve ever fallen victim to diet culture, as many of us have, you may have noticed that carbohydrates, processed foods, and desserts are basically blacklisted.

    When you restrict certain foods, you can’t help but want them more. It’s biology, after all.

    Research shows that food cravings can come from either nutrient deficiencies or conditioning. Whatever the cause, extended food restriction for the sake of weight loss has been proven time and time again to lead to eventual re-introduction of restricted foods followed by rebound weight gain.2

    Not only that, but food restriction is also believed to be the root cause of many eating disorders.3 This is due to the unhealthy cycle of restricting certain foods, then giving into food cravings, then feeling guilty and ashamed, then starting all over again with a new diet.

    The Reality: All Foods Fit

    If I told you that the diet industry was worth close to $200 billion dollars in 2024, would that make you question its motives?

    My perspective as an RD and expert in nutrition is this – no single food or type of food can ruin your health or make you gain weight. The truth is, all foods can fit into a diet that is both well-balanced and health-promoting.

    What’s most important are diet patterns over time.

    Eating a cheeseburger for dinner or ice cream for dessert (or both in one night!) isn’t going to destroy you. In fact, eating delicious foods like these may actually spark some joy, especially once you realize that they won’t cause weight gain or diabetes overnight. And joy is essential to health.

    To have a better relationship with food, it’s important to start seeing the benefits of food.

    Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of energy. Fats provide satiety and increase nutrient absorption. And sugar is delicious and is often included in celebrations and times of social connection.

    Food is fuel, but it’s more than that. Food is joy, tradition, and connection, too. Food is not the enemy.

    How to Make Peace with Food

    As an ex-dieter, it feels easy for me to tell you to leave diet culture in the past because I’ve made it to the other side where I enjoy all foods. But I know it’s not that simple.

    Finding peace with food took me literal years, but the slow process was worth it. Hopefully, it won’t take that long for you.

    While the steps can look different from one person to the next, I’ve come up with 4 steps to help you start making peace with food.

    1. Notice the labels: Call yourself out when you label a food as “good” or “bad.” Also, become aware of feelings of guilt or shame surrounding food. After awhile, you may find yourself no longer labeling foods (or yourself) as “good” or “bad.”
    2. Challenge the thought: When a thought pops into your brain regarding food, challenge it. Work on replacing “I can’t have this food” with “I can choose this food if I want.” Who says you can’t have the food anyway? Diet culture? Remember, diet culture doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
    3. Add, don’t restrict: Diets are all about restriction. One of the best things you can do when finding peace with food is focus on adding foods to your diet rather than taking them away. This means finding balance by adding more foods, like protein, healthy fats, and whole grains, to your diet.
    4. Practice permission: To find peace with food, you must allow yourself to enjoy all foods. One meal, one snack, one day, or even one vacation of eating doesn’t define you. Give yourself grace and permission to eat what you enjoy.

    Allowing yourself to eat the foods that you want and that sound good to you is incredibly freeing, and important to your physical and mental health.

    A Gentle Nutrition Perspective

    Gentle nutrition is one of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating. It emphasizes food choices that support your overall health and don’t require food rules or restrictions.

    An example of gentle nutrition is enjoying pasta (diet culture’s nemesis) with veggies and protein. Adding veggies and protein rounds out the meal, increases satiety, and adds important nutrients, including fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

    Like the example above, a gentle nutrition approach to food allows you to create meals and snacks that are satisfying but also nourishing.

    There’s often confusion surrounding gentle nutrition and intuitive eating, as some people think intuitive eaters eat McDonald’s and cookies all day. While those foods can certainly be enjoyed, gentle nutrition is more about flexibility and balance.

    Gentle nutrition recognizes that there is no “perfect” diet. The foods that nourish your body may look different from the foods that nourish my body, but that doesn’t mean we can’t both be healthy.

    After all, isn’t health what it’s all about at the end of the day?

    A Final Note

    There are no “good” foods or “bad” foods, and labeling them as such is harmful.

    Diet culture has been rampant for years and has ruined food for many of us. But you have the power to stand up to diet culture for the sake of your physical and mental health.

    Once you realize that diet culture is the enemy (not food), you can start taking steps to make peace with food.

    As your start to learn how all foods can fit into your diet, I recommend a gentle nutrition approach, and a whole lot of grace.

    References

    1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10815398/
    2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6226249/
    3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240585722300116X

  • Food Myth: Dieting Leads to Long-Term Weight Loss

    Food Myth: Dieting Leads to Long-Term Weight Loss

    Diets are often considered the go-to solution for weight management. However, dieting may actually hinder weight loss, especially long-term.

    Will Dieting Lead to Weight Loss?

    You may lose weight while on a diet, but it probably won’t last. (Sorry).

    As you begin a diet, you may lose weight as your body adjusts to it. However, the rate of weight loss will eventually slow down or even stop.

    Research shows that weight re-gain is commonplace for dieters, especially chronic dieters. One meta-analysis of weight loss studies found that more than 50% of the lost weight was regained by 2 years, and 80% was regained by 5 years.1

    Restricting food has also been shown to slow down metabolism, which may be one reason for post-diet weight gain. Additionally, dieting has been associated with increased levels of ghrelin, the hormone that increases your appetite.2

    Interestingly, some researchers have found a link between dieting and future weight gain in normal weight adults.3

    While there may be many reasons for weight gain after dieting, one thing is for certain: restrictive diets are unsustainable.

    Is Dieting Healthy?

    For some people, dieting may be a healthy option, but this isn’t always the case.

    When medically necessary, dieting may lead to healthy weight loss, which can improve certain health parameters. For example, in the case of obesity, losing 5-10% of body weight may improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Even less weight loss may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.4

    However, dieting for the sake of dieting, or when it’s not medically necessary, may set you up for a lengthy recovery to normalcy.

    Going off and on diets (also known as yo-yo dieting) may lead to weight cycling, or losing weight and then gaining it back. According to research, weight cycling may cause strain on your heart.5

    Chronic dieting may also increase the risk of developing an eating disorder. One study found that highly restrictive diets are more likely to cause disordered eating habits down the road.6

    Are Some Diets Better Than Others?

    Not all diets are created equal, as some can do more harm than good.

    First and foremost, beware of fad diets. You know, the diets that promise “magical” weight loss in a week.

    Real change takes time, and any rapid weight loss will almost certainly come back (and then some).

    Fad diets and restrictive diets are unsustainable, which is why people often don’t stick to them for long. This unsustainability is typically what causes people to go off and on new diets over and over again. This also causes many people to feel like they “failed” at a diet, but, really, the diet failed them because it was never going to work in the first place.

    The best diets are those that focus on lifestyle changes and don’t require you to eliminate entire food groups. Diets like the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet are supported by science, as both have been found to cause positive impacts on human health.7

    If weight loss is the goal, keep in mind that a healthy rate of weight loss is around 1-2 pounds per week. Anything more than this may cause stress on your body. Intense diets that may cause rapid weight loss should only be done under the supervision of a qualified healthcare provider.8

    Non-Diet Options

    Before trying a new diet, it’s important to ask yourself why you want to lose weight.

    While weight loss may sometimes improve your health, weight loss for the sake of weight loss can actually be unhealthy. This is especially true if you’re trying to lose weight quickly for an upcoming event or for another person’s approval.

    Healthy bodies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and “skinny” doesn’t always equal “healthy” (just like “fat” doesn’t always equal “unhealthy”). A healthy weight fits your body type and isn’t a struggle to maintain.

    However, weight loss may be recommended to some people for a variety of health reasons. For example, some people may need to lose excess body weight to improve their heart health and reduce the risk of diabetes.4

    Instead of crash dieting, certain lifestyle changes may lead to weight maintenance and lasting weight loss. You may consider:

    • Adding more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein to your diet
    • Getting plenty of sleep
    • Engaging in regular physical activity (intense workouts are not required)
    • Focusing on healthy snacks that include both fiber and protein
    • Reduce stress in your life
    • Limiting alcohol

    One of my favorite and final pieces of dieting advice (because I’m not a fan of diets): instead of removing foods, focus on adding nutrient-dense foods.

    For example, instead of restricting carbs or fat, add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean protein to your diet. When your diet consists of mostly nutrient-dense foods, your body gets all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protein, and other nutrients it needs to repair, grow, and stay healthy. Then, you can fill in the gaps with fun foods that you enjoy without any guilt.

    The Bottom Line and Next Steps

    The weight loss industry is worth billions of dollars…BILLIONS.

    Sometimes, weight loss may be necessary. However, it’s important to re-frame your mindset around losing weight before starting a diet or changing your lifestyle.

    We’ve all seen ads for restrictive diets on every form of media. Once you realize that the diet industry is out to get your money (and not to help your health), then you can change your mindset.

    It’s evident that fad, restrictive diets aren’t the best choice for lasting weight loss. For healthy weight loss, choose sustainable lifestyle changes instead.

    To make the best choices for your body and health, work with a registered dietitian.

    References

    1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5764193/
    2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12023994/
    3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12253
    4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5497590/
    5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12251
    6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147101532400045X
    7. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7071223/
    8. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000885.htm