For busy executives and budding entrepreneurs, leading a healthy and fit lifestyle is essential to staying focused and working tirelessly towards their professional goal. While many health-conscious individuals opt for mindful and diet-oriented regular meals, such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is a certain level of neglect when it comes to snacks.

However, in order to reap the benefits of a proper healthy eating routine, it is important to keep in mind that unhealthy snacking can unravel even the healthiest of diets. Working professionals and executives often argue that settling for a healthy snack in the middle of the day is time consuming, and often inconvenient. Untrue – there are numerous healthy snack options which can be prepared quickly without much fuss, or loss of valuable time.

Simple Homemade, High-Protein Yogurt

One of the simplest snacking options is homemade yogurt with fresh fruit. This is an alternative to the store-bought, artificially fruit-flavored, processed yogurt with fruit at the bottom, which is sugar-laden.

Fresh homemade yogurt is easy to prepare, with enough left over to last you the week. One single cup of yogurt contains protein amounting to nearly 13 grams, including phosphorus, calcium, potassium, folic acid and vitamin B complex.^[1] A bowl of simple, homemade yogurt is better than the bulk of costly multivitamin and mineral medication. Moreover, the addition of fruit, such as cherries, apples and bananas, which are rich in antioxidants, will provide added protection against disease and even aid weight-loss.^[2]

Eat Your Vegetables

In terms of opting for healthy alternatives and ensuring you are able to stick to proper weight-loss goals, you can still eat potatoes without worrying about weight gain. Processed potato chips, deep fried potato and fried potato wedges are unhealthy since they contain an unhealthy overdose of sodium and preservatives, such as acrylamide which is a cancer causing compound.^[3]

Instead, if you opt for a mashed potato (sans cream and cheese!), which is essentially boiled potato, or bake it instead of fry it, potato then turns out to be a healthy snacking option. Potatoes contain potassium, iron and vitamin B6^[4]; add fennel for extra flavor, for example, and now your meal is also rich in fiber, vitamin C, folate and potassium.^[5] The combination of these two vegetables helps reduce indigestion, constipation, colic, cholesterol in the blood, and regulates blood pressure, thus ensuring lower levels of risk for heart disease.

Fruit As A Healthy Snack

This is another healthy alternative when it comes to snacking and this one does not take much effort in terms of preparation. Below are some simple fruit salad options, including their added health benefits:^[6]

• Apples: Help the body to develop resistance against infections

• Oranges: Help in maintaining vision and great younger-looking skin

• Blueberries: Help protect the heart

• Mangos: Help in protecting against different types of cancer

• Pineapples: Help to fight conditions, such as arthritis

• Cherries: Help to protect the nervous system

It is quite evident that a healthy fruit salad can turn out to be a healthier option in comparison to canned or processed food when it comes to snacking. For executives and entrepreneurs with limited time in the day, eating a fruit salad is easy, convenient, and definitely one of the best options for better health.

Avoid Junk And Processed Food

Many executives depend on processed, canned, tinned and frozen food for their regular snacking. Here’s a list of commonly preferred junk food and the associated risks:[7]

• Soda pops: Soft drinks with citrus flavors and sports drinks contain brominated vegetable oil, which gives these drinks their cloudy appearance and can cause ulcers, memory loss, headaches, fatigue, as well as loss of muscle coordination.
• Hot dogs and deli meat: Hot dogs, deli meat and other processed meat contain nitrate and sodium nitrite. These chemicals are linked to pancreatic, colon and bladder cancer, as well as leukemia.
• Potato chips: Processed potato chips contain the preservatives hydroxytoluene and butylated
  hydroxyanisole, which are widely termed as human carcinogens (this means that these preservative can potentially cause cancer).
• Salad dressings and canned pickles: Salad dressings, canned pickles, and most carbonated drinks contain benzoic acid and sodium benzoate, which can cause asthma, hyperactivity in children, and, in some serious cases, cancer.

Conclusion

Obesity and weight gain from a mindless diet can cause a multitude of lifestyle problems ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. Mindfully choosing a diet that suits your timetable, taste buds and preferences can help you lose weight and nourish your body with rich sources of minerals and nutrients.