Fast Healthy snacks
You know you want to eat healthier, but how in the world can you do this when life is so busy?! In today’s world there is a misconception that in order to eat healthy we need to spend time making these elaborate health conscious meals. I am here to tell you that you can eat healthy with spending little to no time putting your meal together. In this blog post I am going to cover:
What is a healthy snack?
How often should I eat and what portion size?
Best grab and go foods
Snacks with little prep
Meal prepping with spending zero extra time
So let’s talk about what a healthy meal really is
A healthy snack consists of food that has nutritional value and aids in the fueling your body and helping it perform at it’s most optimal level. Healthy snacks make us feel energized and satisfied. Your body should have a positive reaction to a healthy snack, rather than a negative one, such as bloating, indigestion, upset stomach, and fatigue that can be caused by unhealthy and processed snacks.
How Often Should I Snack and How Large of A Portion Size is A Snack
Depending on your personal healthy issues there are a few ways to snack healthy. You can eat only snack sized portions all day long, say every 2-3 hours; or you could eat 3 larger portioned meals with 2-3 healthy snacks supplementing those meals. If you have digestive issues or you are looking to lose weight snacking throughout the day with no larger portioned meals is the healthiest way to go.
So what is a snack sized portion? A snack sized portion is going to be a meal that is about the size of the palm of your hand. This could be a handful of nuts, a few spoon fulls of Greek yogurt, or a cut up apple with some peanut butter.
What are the Best Grab and Go Snacks?
Here is a list of some of my favorite grab and go snacks that take no effort:
A handful of nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, etc. Can be a nut mix as well)
A Greek Yogurt
Any fruit that you do not need to cut (Apple, banana, peach, berries, etc.)
Small bowl of granola (add your fav nut milk and enjoy, just make sure there are no added sugars!)
A square of dark chocolate (yes believe it or not chocolate can be a healthy snack!)
Spoon full of nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, etc.)
Easy to grab veggies (Carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc.)
Healthy snacks with little prep
Below is a list of snacks that take very little prep to enjoy:
Overnight oats (Click here for recipes if you need help!)
Smoothie bowl (Click here for recipes if you need help!)
Celery or Apples with nut butter
Avocado toast
Cucumber or Pepper bites (top sliced cucumbers or peppers with hummus or cream cheese)
Of Course a salad is on this list! (Pro tip: put your toppings in mason jars for easy quick access)
Frozen yogurt covered berries
Greek yogurt with honey/nuts/granola on top
Homemade healthy granola (Click here for a good healthy granola recipe!)
Microwave sweet potato with honey and cinnamon on top (This is one of my absolute fav snacks!)
Homemade veggie crisps (Click here for recipe!)
Veggies and hummus
Frozen fruit popsicles
Meal Prep For easier snacking!
If you are someone who likes to eat a couple larger meals in the day try making your left overs into healthy snacks for the next day. Some examples of this would look like this:
You have left over grilled chicken from dinner. Put it in a tupperware container with spinach and lettuce and tomato..whatever you like on a salad and BAM! There is your salad for tomorrow. Just add whatever dressing you want.
Did you make rice with your dinner? Throw the left over rice in a bowl and top with a few veggies. Microwave the bowl the next day and add some of your fav sauce (just don’t go overboard on the sauce!)
A lot of times you can repurpose your food for a slightly different healthy snack and it becomes a win win…no throwing out and wasting leftovers and you have a premade healthy snack waiting for you!
I hope you were able to learn a lot about healthy snacking from this blog. If you are looking for more healthy recipes or healthy snack ideas, please click on the link below to take you to my recipes section of my website. Happy snacking everyone!
