Snacks

Say it ain't so! The accepted conventional wisdom of eating several smaller meals throughout the day to shed pounds is being challenged at almost every turn. A recent article has gone so far as calling extra meals a "faddish dieting trend" (gasps in horror).

It's easy to get caught up in work or chores, then dive into the nearest packet of biscuits because you're starving and too busy to stop and prepare a healthy snack. Keep some of the following to hand, and you'll always have something easy to grab.

All can be eaten without any preparation, straight from the container (though you'll need a spoon for a couple of them.)

The Lunch Box Diet is a small downloadable document (10 pages) from UK personal trainer Simon Lovell. Although Simon describes the diet as "no fad" its recent appearance in Elle Magazine may well change that.

So what is the "lunch box diet"?

If you ever wanted proof of the commercial juggernaut that is called dieting - this is it.

Kraft Foods is rolling out a vending machine stocked with South Beach Diet branded food.

The Snack Factor Diet is written by New York-based nutritionist Keri Glassman. Glassman's book promotes the concept of using snacking as a weight loss tool.

Glassman also has her own line of, ummm, well... snack bars.

I’ll start by confessing: If I get to the point where I am really, really hungry… I just might eat a bit too much (of all the wrong things).

I always thought there had to be more to internet video than laughing babies, or strange people mixing Mentos with Diet Coke...

VideoJug has a nice selection of cooking/recipe videos. The recipe is displayed below the video -- along with all sorts of bells and whistles.

Here are a few samples.

Most vending machines are stocked full of junk food. With a bit of planning it is possible to replace those snacks with foods that will nourish your body.

The challenge is to balance convenience with nutrition.

Here is a pictorial guide to a selection of healthy snacks - and remember - healthy eating is not just about the number of calories*.

Eating often is the key to hunger management, however many weight loss regimes advocate a cut-off time for eating. WebMD reports on a study that looks at this very issue. Are meals eaten late at night more fattening than those eaten in the day? "The outcome was, there was no difference at all," Cameron tells WebMD. "Whether they eat by day or by night, monkeys have an equal probability of gaining weight. So weight gain depends on how many calories we eat, and not when we eat them."