The Only Good Snack is No Snack

We hear a lot about healthy snacks: a piece of fruit, a wedge of cheese, a handful of nuts, or raw vegetables with ranch dip. Without a doubt these selections work much better in your weight control plan than, for example, cookies, a piece of cake, or that all-American favorite, potato chips.

But hold on a minute . . . what if we dispensed with snacks altogether? What would that do?

For a start, no snacking is going to reduce your overall caloric intake. You may tell yourself that a healthy snack takes the edge off your appetite so you won't gorge at your next meal. Be honest - do you really eat less because you snacked?

Eliminating snacks also avoids teasing those unruly taste buds of yours. Once they wake up at the hint of food, they become raucous and demanding, clamoring for more food to still their frantic excitation.

Don't eat between meals, at all, and the old buds can stay in their calm mode, happily snoozing and disinterested and you have, once again, reasserted control.