Snacking is something most of us cannot avoid. What we can ensure, though, is to eat healthy so that rather than a lot of empty calories that our tongues appreciate, we take in nutrition that our bodies will appreciate.
The thing is, no matter what we do, our energy level tends to wane in the latter half of the day. Could be stress at work or too much to do. If your body is low on fuel, it can make any activity sound tiring. Exercise time becomes something we want to avoid because the mere thought of it brings on fatigue.
What to do?
Most people tend to go long hours without eating anything and this can cause tiredness, a cranky mood and that sense of feeling spaced out. It is vital to develop the habit of eating healthy small snacks rich in protein and carbohydrates so that your energy levels remain balanced all day. The ideal choices are snacks that do not take too much preparation time and make great on-the-go breakfast ideas. Does that sound impossible? No – it is not. Consider these choices:
- Sliced apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter.
- A peach or pear with low fat cottage cheese
- One hard boiled egg and one piece of your favorite fruit
- A one thirds cup of almonds with a one fourths cup of dried apricots
- A smoothie made from yogurt and fruits
- A one quarter cup of hummus and baby carrots
- A cup of low fat yogurt and strawberries
- One baked sweet potato and low fat cottage cheese
- Five whole grain crackers with 1.5 ounces low fat cheese
- Tortilla chips (baked) with half a cup of low fat bean dip
- Peanut butter (one table spoon) and banana sandwich on one slice of whole wheat bread
That was easy, wasn’t it? I personally like the ones with peanut butter (crunchy) because it tastes so yum. I am also a big fan of yogurt.
You will start feeling more energetic when you snack healthy. Just take care to see you don’t snack too close to exercise time. Ensure that you have your snack at least an hour before workout time so that your energy levels are high.
Do you have some high energy easy snack ideas? Please share – and I’ll add them to this post.
Stay healthy!
4 comments
Great snack ideas! More of that connection: crunchy peanut butter snacks are some of my favorites too! Apple slices with peanut butter often make up my lunch which keeps me full for hours. Yogurt and nuts are some of my other favorites.
My kids love it when I microwave a sweet potato for them. I peel it and slice it after it’s done and they gobble it up plain. They love fresh bell peppers too.
Thanks for more great ideas!
Hi Paige! Thank you for your comment. Sweet potato baked, is very good for children. It is a standard must-have here in South India. Also, fruits as snacks were a way of life when we were kids. My son’s crazy about peanut butter and often jokes that he can eat a couple of spoons straight from the jar (no washing up :-D). Of late, he’s begun to enjoy Nutella and am not sure I should worry!.
I love how peanut butter – especially the crunchy kind keeps you full for hours – same here. Almonds and pistachios are better than cashew. We do a regular “trail mix” with all these. I try to incorporate as many healthy options as possible in my regular cooking. In a way, I am lucky my family enjoys steam-ed, pressure cooked stuff.
One of my all time favorite snacks is salads and soups.
I’m using more yams. I bake them with coconut oil and then have them ready for snacks anytime. Food has become more interesting since I started eating whole food.
I’m simply amazed at how addictive processed food is! It’s really hard some days not to become one of those people who tries to impose my eating habits on everyone around me! 🙂
Jt..I completely get what you are saying. It is easy to get addicted to processed food, especially when life is hectic and it is so simple to grab it from the supermarket. But as you said, whole foods are equally addictive 🙂 as I also discovered. There is joy in cooking simple recipes and then, one wonders what took one so long to lean more on this. In our house, we have a habit of cooking everything from scratch, so processed foods were really not a problem. But there are days when the workload is heavy, and it is easy to indulge.
😀 I like telling people too – how easy it is!