5 Ways to Snack Smarter in the New Year
By
Holley Grainger |
Published:
Jan 12, 2018 | Latest updated:
May 6, 2019
Learn to snack smarter in the new year and satisfy your hunger with nutritious, convenient options that taste great (without spoiling your dinner!).
Thank you to V8 for sponsoring this blog post!!
We all have the best of intentions to snack smarter, but then that mid-afternoon craving hits and you grab whatever’s easiest—whether that’s fries from a drive-thru or candy from a vending machine. The easiest way to avoid the 3pm slump is to have a plan for snacking so that you satisfy your hunger with nutritious, convenient options but don’t spoil your dinner. Here are a few of my favorite ways to snack smarter:
5 Tips to Snack Smarter
- Before I head out of the house, I pack what’s convenient to throw in my bag and easy to snack on in the car. A V8 is super easy to sip on-the-go and the 5.5oz can fits easily into any bag. I feel full, get a dose of vitamins, and can mark a serving of veggies off my to-do list for the day.
- Don’t ban “bad” snacks. The easiest way to up a craving for a snack is to make it forbidden. If you want to snack on something sweet, indulge in a square of dark chocolate. If you crave salt, go for a handful of your favorite nuts. If crunchy is your thing, skip the chips and try crisp veggies with hummus instead.
- It’s not just mid-afternoon that can be a problem; late night snacks can be so tempting. It’s easy to end up mindlessly eating an entire multi-serving bag of snack chips while binge-watching your favorite shows. Opt for a V8 when the post-dinner snack cravings hit. I like to pair it with a crisp veggie like celery sticks, bell peppers or even jicama lightly sprinkled with salt and a spritz of lime juice to quench my need to crunch.
- So many times we think of snacks as prepackaged, dry, or bland road-friendly items. While it’s great to have grab-and-go style snacks on hand, it’s also ok to break the mold and make something a little heartier for those days when you or your kids need it and when you have a bit more time. Quesadillas and sandwiches are a good, fast option, but go one step further and try afternoon nachos. Try a delicious no-cook option like these Greek Nachos or freshen up traditional nachos by broiling chips, cheese and sturdy veggies like beans or corn for about two to three minutes (really!) then top with fresh avocado, salsa and cilantro. These snacks are quick and feel like a real treat.
- Enlist help at the grocery store. Each week I ask my girls, what fruit should we get this week? What vegetables do we want to try? Slice or dice them up and serve them with different dips, like yogurt, guacamole or hummus, to see what’s a hit and what’s a “learning experience.” Exposing young taste buds to a wide array of healthy flavors, and allowing them to have a voice in what they eat, helps shape the foundation for great food habits for later in life.
Snacking smart is just one way I’m approaching 2018 the Cleverful Living way. For more Cleverful Living ideas, sign up for my NEW newsletter below and always stay in the know.
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