Nutrition is essential for living a healthy lifestyle. It is not the be all and end all, but nutrition impacts your day-to-day life. For example, you may develop hearing loss after a long period of time when you listen to loud music each day (to learn more click the hyperlink). Still, each day you listen to that loud music won’t cause you to go deaf by 9:00 o’clock the next morning. With nutrition, what you eat at the start of your day can impact you for an entire day, and maybe even an entire week based on your food consumption. 

Not many people recognize this, but your gut health is essential to a healthy lifestyle: “There are around 40 trillion bacteria in your body, most of which are found in your gut. Collectively, they are known as your gut microbiome, and they’re incredibly important for overall health. However, certain types of bacteria in your intestines can also contribute to many diseases. Many factors, including the foods you eat, can impact the type of bacteria found in your digestive tract.”

With that being the case, it is easy to see why eating healthy and obtaining your required vitamins, minerals, and nutrients is essential to good health. So, how do you improve your gut health? It is easy! Start eating better!

Now, that is not to say that eating in itself is bad. Heck, eating anything is good! Even in a slice of pizza you have nutrients such as calcium, all while giving you the three main macronutrients of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. But at the same time, there are some foods out there that are denser nutritionally than a slice of pizza. 

It is also important to know that eating frequently is important for keeping a healthy metabolism. The three and three rule of three meals and three snacks is a good rule of thumb to follow to get you on the right track. 

Staying on the right path is important to keep that gut (and brain) healthy. So, without further ado, below is a list of five different snacks you should incorporate in your day to day in order to improve your overall health:

Oatmeal

Oats are some of the healthiest grains on earth. The whole grains you eat contain a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Healthline.com even points to studies that oatmeal helps with weight loss, lowers blood sugar levels, and reduces the risks of heart disease. 

Yogurt and Fruit

Yogurt has long been considered a healthy snack. Canadian Living does a great job of explaining why that is the case:

“Yogurt contains vitamin B12, which keeps your nerves and red blood cells healthy and can only be found in foods originating from an animal. Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, is also in yogurt. This helps the body convert carbohydrates into glucose, or food into fuel.” Convinced yet? You should be. 

Apples and Peanut Butter

Fruit? Got it. Fat and protein? Got it. Peanut butter and apple slices are a fantastic snack. First off, it tastes amazing. The sweetness of the apple with the saltiness of peanut butter truly makes this snack one to die for. Plus, more importantly, peanut butter is in a way a superfood: 

“Numerous studies have found that the consumption of small amounts of peanuts or peanut butter has been associated with a reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. In fact, in just the past year alone, new research has shown that those who regularly consumed peanuts had a lower risk for four kinds of cancer – breast, colorectal, esophageal and pancreatic cancers.”

Trail Mix

Peanuts, cashews, chocolate, M&Ms, pretzels, and so on. Trail mix can contain a bunch of different items, but at the end of the day, the point stays that trail mix is a very healthy snack. It may not appear so if you see a bunch of M&Ms in a bag, but chocolate has nutritional benefits, just like the nuts mentioned above, which contain protein and fat that will keep you full and happy until dinner time. 

Vegetable Sticks

No, this is not referencing Veggie Sticks, Veggie Rods, or whatever else they are called. This here is talking about celery and carrot sticks. Everyone knows the importance of getting in your daily vegetables, and by having a snack of celery or carrots with some ranch dressing, peanut butter or whatever you want is a nice easy snack that won’t make you feel bloated, all while providing tons of nutritional value.