snacking

It dawned on me last night as I had kale chips dehydrating and a hummus and cracker plate prepped for some guests that I’m a serious snacker. I’ve never been a 3 square meals a day- nothing more, nothing less type of person. Growing up I snacked a lot, which was a contributing factor to my weight gain (read my story here), however I still snack a lot, now it’s just on healthy things. I think some people assume that snacking is a bad thing when trying to lose or maintain their weight, but I’ll be the first to admit that I disagree.

As I mentioned, I dehydrated some kale chips. I seasoned two bunches of kale with a blend of tahini, water, cayenne pepper, tamari (soy sauce), and nutritional yeast; then dehydrated them for about 5 hours at 115 degrees.

They turned out great! They’re perfectly seasoned, crunchy and almost melt in your mouth, unless you get one with a tough stem.

Back to snacking:

Snacks keep you full and energized throughout the day and help to ensure that you’re not ravenous come meal time. I usually have 2 snacks a day along with my normal meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I used to always have to have a morning snack between breakfast and lunch, but I broke the habit of it and realized it was just that, a habit. My breakfasts are usually nutrient/energy dense and I’ve found that they hold me over quite well. Now I simply have a cup of hot water or tea between breakfast and lunch. And, occasionally when my breakfast isn’t holding me so well I do reach for a mid-morning snack which usually involved fruit or nuts.

On the other hand, I tend to eat a mid-afternoon snack daily. Sometimes it’s earlier in the afternoon, sometimes later but usually around 3-4PM the hunger sets in. What I end up eating depends on my mood and what type of snack I’m craving but I have quite a number of options up my sleeve (err… on my counter, in my cabinet, or at work) when it comes to snack attacks. I like to choose something with about 150-200 calories with a good proportion of fat, carbs, and protein.

A perfect example is one of my favorite healthy snacks: trail mix. I made this batch up today for my mid-afternoon treat.

My Naked Nuts, Seeds & Fruit Mix:

1/4 cup each of raw (unroasted and unsalted) almonds, raw sunflower seeds, raw pepitas, raisins

2 tbsp each of mini chocolate chips and dried cranberries

Other snacks I like to enjoy mid-afternoon include an apple with nut butter, veggies and hummus, a Larabar (coconut cream pie or peanut butter and jelly please!), nuts, greek yogurt with fruit or granola, a smoothie (if it’s the weekend since I can’t make these at work).

Speaking of smoothies as a snack, I have question. Does anyone make smoothies and take them to work for later? How does work for you? Does the texture/ consistency stay intact? Do you store it in the fridge or the freezer?

On to other snacking tid-bits- another snack I’ve found I can’t live without is an after dinner snack. It’s usually not 3 hours after dinner, but directly after dinner, when I crave something sweet. I’ve tried breaking this habit before but realized that I really enjoy having a little something after dinner. Honestly I would rather eat less dinner so I can have a sweet snack. Usually I don’t think of it that way. But why nix something that makes me happy so long as it’s a healthy snack. Right?

Usually I want cereal after dinner so that’s what I have.

This photo is actually the breakfast I had this morning, which was kashi go lean, kashi go lean CRUNCH and 1/2 a banana, sliced with unsweetened vanilla almond milk- YUM! Cereal is good no matter what the time of day.

So, in conclusion, snacking works really well for me, but there are a few predicaments I occasionally face. Both limiting the portion size of the snack to one serving and making sure I’m actually hungry/ not just snacking out of boredom can be difficult sometimes. Snacking is great for maintaining and losing weight but as I mentioned you have to choose healthy snack options and snack only when you’re hungry, not because you’re in the habit of eating a snack at a particular time, or because you are bored. And, I by no means have a perfect solution because I still work on these issues myself, but I think being mindful of when you last ate and if you should be hungry can be a good idea, as well as, drinking enough water to ensure thirst isn’t coming across as hunger.

In other news, I dug into the 500+ posts on my google reader / caught up on my blog reading today. Is it just me or are there some really awesome and exciting things happening around the blogoshere lately? I’ve always been inspired by reading food/healthy living blogs but it seems as though everyone is going for the gold and not just in running races or losing weight- they’re following their dreams and doing amazing things with their lives.

Some highlights:

Jenna from Eat, Live, Run has moved across the country to be an event coordinator for the Michel-Schlumberger winery.
The Fitnessista is following her passion for raw foods and has been uncooking some gourmet meals and desserts at the first ever raw culinary school.
Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point announced 3 huge life changes, including an Operation Beautiful book in the making, a resignation from her full-time job, and grad school.

Congrats to all of the ladies in food blog world who are dreaming big and making their dreams happen. I am truly proud of you all!!

Here’s to hoping that your stories will help me figure out exactly what I want to do in life and go for it. I have a marketing degree and I enjoy marketing (especially internet/social media marketing) but I’ve known since college that I had a passion for all things nutrition, food, and fitness. I guess I’ve just been waiting for the day when all the stars align and I can combine the two and make a career out of them. I’ve given it a lot of thought and come up with so many different ideas of things I could do; going back to school being a big one. After reading stories such as the three I mentioned above I’ve realized I need to be proactive, figure out exactly what I want and go for it (even if it will take a lot of work) and in the end I will be much happier! With all that said, the big part is still figuring it all out… so I guess I’ll be adding that to my TO DO LIST!

Have a lovely weekend everyone and don’t forget to snack if you’re hungry.

- Brittany