Snack Time!

If you pay attention to any of my meal plans, you will notice that we have 3 sets of snacks- AM, PM and Evening. We may not eat this many sets of snacks each day but we strive to eat a balanced diet. This mainly started when I was struggling with my weight. I lost a significant amount of weight very fast so I had to start eating several smaller meals during the day in hopes to maintain my weight and energy levels. I also found I was starting to lack in several nutrients. Therefore, my husband’s smoothies were born. I will probably randomly post these recipes but I can’t take credit for them as he makes them for me in the mornings to take to work. We tend to eat really lean during our meals, so it doesn’t hurt us to have the extra calories. Overall, our goal for snacks is to make them wholesome, nutritional, filling and fun. My son prefers cheese sticks all of the time. My daughter may turn into a blueberry. I prefer almonds. We try to incorporate all of these into our snack time. During the week, my kids are in a daycare and they get their healthy snacks there. So mainly these snacks are for me. Anyway – here is a list of different snack ideas that we use.

·         Various fruit/veggie smoothies
·         Pre-made fruit/veggie smoothies or juices. We like the “Naked”, “Bolthouse Farms”, and “Sambazon” brands
·         Fresh fruit with mixed nuts
·         Cheese sticks – typically low fat mozzarella or Colby jack.
·         Yogurt (zero or low-fat Greek, almond milk, or coconut milk)
·         GF Granola (I really like the “Love Foods” and “Kind” brands, or make your own!)
·         Fresh veggies with dip (“Ranch” dip using yogurt)
·         Hummus (regular, red pepper, chipotle, etc.) with GF Crackers
·         Snack bars (We like “Larabar”, “Kind” bars, etc)
·         Trail mix
o   We make our own trailmix using dried fruits, GF pretzels, baked chips or crackers, GF cereals, GF granola, mixed nuts, coconut flakes, etc.
o   Our evening snack is typically our splurge – this is where we eat our smore’s, cookies or other baked goodies (in moderation of course).
o   Because my husband and I both have busy full-time jobs, we prepare our snacks for the week on Sunday’s. Whether it is cutting up fruit/veggies, making trail mix, etc., it is nice to be prepared in case we have busy days during the week.
o   It may seem like a lot of snacks but if you watch your portion sizes and what you are eating for your main meals, you can maintain a proper level of fat and calorie intake. Like I said, we don’t always have three snacks a day. Obviously, if we have eaten more than we should have (or unhealthy choices) we don’t have extra snacks to fill the calorie void. Either way, we like to have our options!