I’m back for part 3 of this quick series on how to get more nutrition into your day – real-world, practical tips that I use daily to have the most energy, recover from my workouts (and training y’all) effortlessly, and make it easy, like autopilot easy, to eat the “superfoods” that do our nutritional heavy lifting. I’ve covered breakfast and lunch/dinner tips, and I’m back to handle snacks!
My hope with this series is to nudge you toward incorporating more nutrient-dense fruits and veggies, helpful seeds, and other supercharged add-ons to give you all the health benefits you deserve from your meals. I’m keeping this simple like the prior posts so you can take action ASAP!
No matter where you’re starting…
- Start to detach from the idea of a snack being a bonus food, something that has to come from the snack aisles, a cheat or treat, or a throwaway tidbit, and start thinking of your snack as a very necessary fourth meal or mini-meal! Most people need to eat 4 times a day and do better with 3-4 hours between eating times than they do with grazing, so if you’re hungry all day long, chat with me or another professional who can help you pump up your meals so that they stay with you longer
- Know that your snack size will be based on your personal nutrition needs – there’s no moral victory in sticking to 100-calorie packs, I promise!
- Try to include a serving or two of fruits and veggies
- Consider a supercharged beverage sometime during your day like golden milk, a green juice or smoothie, or a beneficial tea…
- Consider including 4oz of tart cherry juice in your after-dinner routine to improve your heart health and your sleep quality all at once
If you’re starting from packaged foods…
- Find prepackaged, portable whole foods that can travel with you without any prep time. Baby carrots, single serve yogurts, apple fries, whole fruits like apples, citrus, and bananas, and string cheese can be combined into no-prep meals on the go
- Find the “better” option that contains more nutrition. Some examples:
- Swap your crackers for a whole grain cracker that has a short ingredient list. Simple Mills, Craize, and Mary’s all make good options, but there are many brands that work!
- Swap your current bar for something made with whole food ingredients like an RX Bar or Kind Bar, or for a pre-packed serving of nuts and/or dried fruit (look for unsweetened dried fruit)
- Swap your chips for something made from whole food ingredients…since we are sticking to pre-packaged foods in this list, consider switching to a string cheese and whole grain crackers, or find chips that have a short ingredient list and contain high quality oils (expeller-pressed)
If you’re making the snack yourself…
- Remember that a snack is just another meal! A sandwich (or a half sandwich, depending on what your day needs) with a side of fruits and veggies can be a great snack, or a serving of leftovers
- Make it a little fancy – a yogurt or cottage cheese parfait travels well and can be made ahead, and it can be balanced to meet your macros by including different nuts and seeds, dried or fresh fruit, and even protein powder
- Don’t forget protein – egg salad, cubed baked tofu, turkey, chicken…you get the idea
Some combos that might inspire you (adjust the serving sizes to fit your day, of course!):
- A charcuterie plate with 2 hard boiled eggs, some cherry tomatoes, a few feta cheese cubes, some blueberries, and a handful of almond flour crackers
- A lettuce wrap filled with turkey, cheese, avocado, and a drizzle of ranch (bonus points for pickles!)
- Cubed tofu and avocado, plus some baby carrots or cucumber sticks, wrapped up with sheets from a seaweed snack
- Half of a pbj (use fresh-ground peanut butter, a real fruit spread, and high-protein bread if you can!), a green juice (I really mean green – less than 10g of sugar per serving), and 2 squares of dark chocolate
- A kind bar, a string cheese, and a crisp fall apple, because it has to be fall again sometime, right?
- 3-4 dates stuffed with almond butter and mini chocolate chips, plus a high-protein beverage
What about pretzels, sweet potato cheese puffs, ice cream, Snickers bars, protein chips…?
This series is about super-charging your nutrition, not making a list of yes and no foods or mandating that you “eat clean”. I think almost any food can have a place in your life, but its place depends on your current goals and needs. I generally believe that what you do 300 days out of the year is more important that what you do on those other 65, so if you are eating nutrient-dense foods most of the time, you probably have a lot of freedom to add other foods if you really love them. But sometimes magic happens when you see how good your body feels when it’s getting all the nutrients it needs…have you noticed yet?
I hope this short series has helped you look at your pantry and fridge with new eyes. Food has the power to really energize us and protect our health…or to be something extra that our bodies have to break down and figure out. I will hold out hope that the grocery store will become a more straightforward place in our lifetimes, but meanwhile I will be here to help you figure out how to make simple upgrades to your regular grocery purchases so you can feel your best and see your progress as quickly as possible!
And speaking of progress…cardio is helpful, you know! I’ll see you…
- Sunday 9am Zumba (free, meets at Levy Park – 3801 Eastside)
- Monday 6:30pm Zumba (free, meets at Levy Park – 3801 Eastside)
- Wednesday 7pm Zumba at Jerabeck Athletic Center (free; second floor dance studio, street parking)
- Saturday 9:30am Zumba at Montrose Collective (free; 888 Westheimer, street/garage parking, stay for brunch if you want)
