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4 Healthy Snack Ideas to Keep You Energised On-The-Go

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healthy snack ideas - sugar snap peas

Hack your Snacks to feel energised

It can be a real challenge to choose healthy snacks when your schedule is crazy or you’re commuting a lot.

But I’m going to give you four great ideas for healthy and quick snacks to eat wherever you are.

The whole concept of snacking is relatively new in our culture, and has been made much more acceptable by clever marketing from the big food companies.

Just to add to the confusion, there are as many professional opinions on snacking as there are flavours of tortilla chips.
The eastern philosophy of Ayurveda does not advocate snacking and teaches a more ‘fill your boots’ approach to set day time meals.
And yet, supermarkets, mini marts and service stations are stacked with endless varieties of snack foods to keep us going during our hectic schedules.

Because many of my clients come to me with low energy and hectic schedules, snacking can be a tricky area to get right.
My most prevalent approach with clients is:

If you feel you really need to, eat healthy snacks.

Also, bear in mind that what works for you now may not work in the future. Keep checking in with yourself and make adjustments.

Let’s do a quick snack audit:

  • Have you ever been en route to an important appointment and just knew you wouldn’t get through it without an extra hit of energy?
  • Did you stop by the mini-mart and grab a bag of crisps or chocolate to see you through? Or maybe a vending machine coffee or energy drink?
  • Did it do the trick? You got through the meeting/class.
  • Were you either depleted or buzzed for hours afterwards? Neither is good for your body!

If your answer is “yes” to any of the above, it’s time to hack your snacks and make choices that will keep you energised without the unwanted buzz long after you needed it or the frustrating slump that often follows.

Because these on-the-go pick-me-ups can be transformed into an opportunity for healthy, natural sustenance and it really doesn’t take much extra work – Just a dash of inspiration and a little forward planning.

Here are 4 of my clients (and my own!) favourite, healthy on-the-go snacks.

I call them Snack Hacks ;-)

Bell peppers

healthy snack idea - bell pepper

Healthy Snack Idea – Bell Peppers

If you are not sensitive to nightshades, bell peppers are a really convenient snack food – you don’t even have to cut them up, just grab it whole and crunch your way through it.

As a woman, I really like the fact that eating a bell pepper whole won’t leave me with a tide mark of lipstick on my face the way that biting into a big, round apple often does!

While we’re comparing them to apples, they are easier and less messy to eat and even have a built-in handle ;-)

They also win out in the vitamin C stakes in comparison, having a whopping 117mg of it compared to an apple’s average of 4mg per 100grams.

Boiled Eggs

healthy snack idea - boiled eggs

Healthy Snack Idea – Boiled Eggs

These are the perfect protein snack to keep you sustained between meals, but also if you have an early start and breakfast was sacrificed.

Just put them on to boil while you’re getting dressed then wrap in a clean tea towel to grab and go.

They are self-contained in their own handy packaging, and I can often be seen in a car park before a meeting just peeling my egg into the tea towel and munching it in a couple of bites!

 

Home-Made Trail Mix

healthy snack idea - home-made trail mix

Healthy Snack Idea – Home Made Trail Mix

Instead of grabbing that not-so-healthy, secret-sugar-laden ‘Energy Bar’, take a few minutes to throw some raw ingredients into a zip-lock bag.

This way, you can choose your favourite flavours and get great nutrition when you need a lift.

These are some great ingredients to choose from:

  • Nuts (except peanuts) – protein and healthy fats for sustenance and brain power
  • Raisins/sultanas – natural sweetness and fibre
  • Goji Berries – energy-boosting superfood
  • Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, etc – healthy fats again
  • Dried apricots/dates – natural sweetness and fibre
  • Raw cacao nibs – energy-boosting superfood and a natural chocolate hit!
  • Fennel seeds – great flavour, breath freshener and reputed to satisfy appetite quickly

Pre-Packed Veggies

healthy snack idea - packs of vegetables

Healthy Snack Idea – Packs of Vegetables

With just a little imagination, you can steer yourself away from the candy counter and look at the pre-packed veggie offerings in a whole new way!

This is a really easy way to increase your raw food intake and benefit from nutrition in its most natural form.

Look for stir fry packs and individuals such as sugar snap peas or baby corn, which incidentally will satisfy a sugar craving too.

 

So, are you up for the challenge to turn your snacks into healthy energy boosts?

  1. Please post a comment and tell me your favourite snack – healthy or not so much.
  2. If it isn’t so healthy, what could you swap it for that would help you toward your health goals?
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Gluten Sensitivity – Are You Making This Rookie Error?

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Are Gluten Free Products Keeping You Sick?

gluten free packaged foods

gluten free packaged foods may be harming your health

 

Being diagnosed with gluten sensitivity was like a saviour and a curse at the same time.

It was such a relief to finally know that gluten sensitivity was making me sick and what I needed to do in order to get better.

But… never eat soft, doughy bread again??? Really???
Not another Big Mac? Like, not even just one? Ever?

The only thing that made this whole gluten sensitivity thing easier to bear was learning there were some gluten free foods such as breads and pastas available (this was 10 years ago, the supermarket shelves were not heaving with them!).

Phase One of my post-gluten life consisted of trying every gluten free bread, pasta and cake product I could find. I scoured supermarkets and specialist websites. I became an authority.

Phase Two came when the packaged offerings had all been tried and I was fed up with sandwiches reducing themselves into breadcrumbs in my lunchbox. I wondered if I could re-create my favourite bready products myself? With the help of the internet, of course.
My kitchen became a laboratory. I tried to perfect that delicate balance of unfamiliar flours, eggs, vinegars, thickeners… It was the culinary equivalent of a historical re-enactment; trying to capture that elusive elasticity of gluten using fancy new saviours such as xanthan gum.
I was obsessed like Frankenstein working desperately to bring his monster to life.
My gluten free baking experiments were often a horror story too!

I spent a year in my kitchen.
And you know what I learnt about recreating gluten free versions of favourite foods?
Don’t bother.
Because not only will they never taste as good as your memories, you will likely delay the healing in your gut.

And healing your gut is the key to recovering your overall health.

Those cocktails of rice flour, maize flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, guar gum, etc, are not doing your damaged intestines any favours. In fact, they are likely to be keeping you sick.
Those flours may be technically gluten free (although this is debatable and another blog post on its own), but they are still concentrations of finely ground starchy carbohydrates.
They are spiking your blood sugar and keeping you in a vicious cycle of energy depletion. Not to mention the increased risk of diabetes, a condition closely associated with gluten sensitivity/coeliac disease.
These grain flours and concentrated extracts can still irritate your intestines, preventing healing and compromising absorption of nutrients. This again leaves you bereft of energy and also keeps your body under-nourished, unable to repair itself.

These are just two of the many reasons why you will not fully heal and recover until you get over your obsession with gluten-like foods.

This is the reason why so many gluten sensitive and allergic people do not get better on a gluten free diet. If you just replace your old favourites with gluten free substitutes, you are simply replacing gluten with a cocktail of other irritants.

What is the solution?

Real, whole foods. Forget the white powders. Eat real food instead.

This way, your gut can begin to heal the damage, your blood sugar can start to regulate itself and your body will feel safe. When your body feels safe, your whacked-out immune responses will normalise. Only then are you on the road to recovery and reducing your risk of developing further auto-immune diseases.

And you know what? In a short time you will adapt. Your taste buds will recover and you will enjoy the taste and texture of foods other than soft, doughy-ness. You will forget what your old favourites tasted like and you won’t miss them (honest!). If you approach this with the right attitude and celebrate your recovering health, the thought of ‘cheating’ will never feel worth it.

And you don’t have to feel denied. You can enjoy food that actually tastes of something instead of simply being a carrier for other flavours or a method of packaging fillings.
You can enjoy healthy, guilt-free versions of your favourite treats in the knowledge that your body still feels safe and satisfied.

And we all need a little treat every now and then!
That’s why I created this new recipe for grain-free, guilt-free chocolate brownies.
You can enjoy a treat that gets its sweetness naturally from real foods that retain their fibre content. That fibre will keep your blood sugar stable and also means you won’t feel the need to binge on them – you will feel satisfied with less.

gluten free grain free chocolate brownies

sign up to get this grain-free choc brownie recipe

Bake up a batch of these and keep them in the fridge all week. Like people, they get better with age ;-)

This recipe is one of five smart swaps for starchy carbs that I have compiled in my latest free ebook.
You can sign up here for a free download of the book:
No Pasta? No Bread? WTF Do I Eat Instead?! EBook Download

Take Action Now

  • Sign up for your free copy of my EBook
  • Share this post with anyone who needs to know that eating packaged gluten free foods will not make them feel better.
  • Comment and tell me if you plan to try the Grain Free Guilt Free Brownies recipe.

 

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