A Tale of Two Loves

I go back and forth between being a snacker and sticking to 3 meals and no snacks. Sometimes I feel like when I eat between meals that I tend to overeat and spend all day thinking about my next snack. Other times, when I don’t have snacks on hand I find that I’m visiting the candy basket all day. (It’s a BIG basket full of Reese’s, York Patties, Snickers, and Twix – some of my very favorite candies.) And sometimes, even when I do have snacks, I won’t eat them because I just am not excited about them…mostly because I try to be too healthy (like carrots or something).

SO. I’ve been working on getting snacks that are healthy and that I actually want to eat. I love pretzels but they don’t add much to my diet from a nutrition standpoint. Neither do Twix bars. Below are my current favorite snacks when I’m at work. I’ll blog about what I snack on at home tomorrow because I feel they are distinctly different types of snacks.

At-Work Snacks

When I’m at the office, I choose things that require no refrigeration mostly because I know I’d forget about the snack if I didn’t keep it in my desk drawer. My favorites are below.

Prunes

Maybe I’m 80 years old, but I LOVE prunes. I always have, even as a kid. They are like candy to me. 6 prunes has 110 calories, 0 grams fat, and 3.5 grams of fiber. They satisfy my sweet tooth (usually ) and the fiber keeps me full. I buy them in the bulk section at Whole Foods, but I also love the Sunsweet brand that regular grocery stores carry.

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Microwave Popcorn

I much prefer stove-top popcorn (which you’ll see tomorrow) but at work, I can’t exactly bust out a hot plate and a pot at work. Orville Redenbacher recently sent me some Smart Pop! Popcorn and it’s really good when I can’t have stove-top. Plus, I like the Pop-Up bowl  because I don’t get my hand covered in the buttery stuff reaching inside  a bag, and it’s much easier to share with coworkers. And if you work in an office, you know that the smell of popcorn tends to attract people. Or repulse them. But people repulsed by popcorn worry me and I try to avoid them anyway.

Popcorn, like prunes, has tons of fiber. The entire Pop-Up bowl serves 2 and after sharing with coworkers, I end up eating about 1 serving which has 120 calories, 2 grams fat, 4 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein! If you ate pretzels or potato chips as a snack, you’d get about 1 g of fiber. Fiber keeps me full so I try to choose snacks that have fiber or protein, and popcorn has both. BAM. Plus, I like that popcorn is a whole grain. It feels “cleaner” to me than eating crackers, even wheat crackers.

Walnuts

I always have some type of nut stashed in my drawer. Usually pecans, almonds, or walnuts. The only thing I don’t like about snacking on nuts is that the calories add up quickly for a very small portion. For example, 14 almonds has the same amount of calories as 6 cups of popcorn. But, (the right kind of) nuts provide healthy fats and protein. And they are just plain tasty but I have to be more conscious about my portion control.

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Adora Disks

When I really want to turn to the candy basket, I hit my Adora stash first. The folks at Adora recently sent me some samples and they are really good! They taste like legit chocolate, especially the dark chocolate ones. However, I have to be careful that I don’t eat too many because I don’t want to overdose on calcium. But these will usually keep me away from the Reese’s. Usually. Two Adora disks have 60 calories, 4 grams of fat and 1000 mg of calcium (the daily recommended amount).

And when I’m snacking, I always have hot tea to go with it. I drink black tea in the mornings (Earl Gray) and green tea in the afternoons. And I ALWAYS drink loose-leaf tea. It’s so much better than the pre-bagged varieties. And having tea with a snack makes it feel just a little more special.

What do you snack on during the day at work or during school or between kids’ naps?

Tagged as: snacks

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