I have been eating pretty healthy for a while now and have hit a 40 day streak tracking my food intake on My Fitness Pal. I was reviewing my data today and realized I eat about the same amount of calories in snacks as I do for each meal! I wasn’t sure if I should be horrified but decided to just take it in stride. My overall caloric intake is fine and I am happy thrilled with my current weight! I have been using the My Fitness Pal App on and off for a few years but have never been so consistent with it. In addition to getting a glimpse at my calories, protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber and sugar intake, I find it helps me to see how the food I eat affects my body. There is a section at the end of each day for notes and I use that to jot down any symptoms I feel during the day; allowing me to recognize patterns of eating and how I feel.
Eating healthy takes a bit of planning but it can be fun and oh so good for you. When I work less than 6 hours at the Nursing Home, I don’t bring lunch but I always bring a couple of snacks. In the refrigerator at work, they put in leftover employee lunches all individually wrapped and free for the taking. It isn’t usually good or food I would typically eat. When I forget to bring my snacks, I start foraging for something to eat and end up wolfing down something I would not have even considered putting in my mouth if I had just brought something decent from home!
Figuring out what to snack on can be a challenge and it is easy for a good diet to get derailed by the snack attack! I tend to eat a Paleo with an emphasis on getting good quality protein and lots and lots of healthy vegetables. I don’t worry about my caloric intake but My Fitness Pal tracks it for me anyway. I average around 1850 calories per day and bet I easily eat 400-500 calories in snacks alone! I have seen my caloric intake increase with my yard work jobs but this is easily off-set by the extra calories burned!
When I feel the need to snack I tend to go for the nuts. A handful of nuts is healthy and filling and I love the crunch. In my house, we have walnuts, cashews, almonds, mixed nuts, and pistachios. My honey just picked up a few pounds of mixed nuts from the Reading Terminal Market in Philly! I don’t know what makes their nuts so good but they are seriously amazing! I think the trick with nuts is to measure out a 1/4 cup or so and then put them away. It is too easy to hit the jar time after time and those calories add up quick!
Another favorite, go to snack for me is an apple or banana with almond or sun butter. I just slice the fruit thin and toss a tablespoon of the nut butter on top. Lately, I have been eating Lara Bars for a snack when taking a break from doing my yard work. I love the Cashew Nut and the Peanut Butter bars. I used to eat a lot of granola bars but don’t tend to eat sugar or refined flour anymore so I grab the Lara Bar instead. They typically only have 3-4 ingredients and the sweetener is often dates. It doesn’t hurt that they taste really good too!
Other snacks that make it into my diet are hard boiled eggs, fruit and vegetable smoothies and homemade yogurt with berries. I have been using my Instant Pot to make yogurt using whole milk from a local farm. I ferment it for 24 hours which converts the lactose to digestive enzymes and proteins making it easier to digest. Earlier this week, I made a Mother Fran special of rhubarb and strawberries cooked down with a little bit of honey. I tossed it into my yogurt last night and was really excited about the taste. I had to call Mother Fran to tell her what I made!
My Fitness Pal doesn’t have a space to record beverages so I include them with snacks. That means my nightly glass of red wine ends up in the snack category! I figure there are worse things I could include in my diet!
Before I got serious about eating healthy I would start to crash after lunch and grab a candy bar, granola bar or cookie for a pick me up. The influx of sugar and processed carbohydrates would wear off and cause another crash and cravings for the same food to start the process again. Snacking on foods higher in healthy fats and protein helps me feel full and do not cause me to crave cookies!
When you get a case of the snack attack, what do you reach for?
Lake Girl
