Healthy Snack Ideas and Kitchen Exorcisms

A couple of weeks ago I sent out a list of my favorite breakfast recipes and I received a lot of requests to make a list of healthy snacks as well.  These are the meals you eat between your main meals (b-fast, lunch, and dinner).  These are extremely important meals and cannot be skipped.  I often hear people say they missed a meal because they just didn’t know what to eat.  Well, after reading this, that should no longer be an issue.  So, without further adieu…here is a list of some of my favorite healthy snacks.

Cottage Cheese and a Fruit/Veggie Mix
½ cup low fat or fat free cottage cheese
Fruit of choice (i.e. apples, berries, banana, etc)
Veggie of choice (i.e. carrots, broccoli, etc)

Leftovers
When you are eating 5-6 meals a day there really is no distinction between snacks and meals even though they are called something different.  For mid-meal snacks I often just eat leftovers from the day before.  Don’t be afraid to do the same.

Nuts, Turkey Slices, Triscuits (here you get healthy fats, protein, complex carbs)
Handfuls of Almonds, walnuts, etc
4-5 Turkey slices
5-6 Triscuit crackers

Hard Boiled Eggs and Fruit
2-3 hard boiled eggs
Fruit of choice

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita Chips and Hummus
Cut whole wheat pita bread into small triangles.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Bake in the oven at 450 degrees for 5 minutes.  Dip in hummus.  For added protein you can have a low fat cheese stick, turkey slices, lean ham slices

Some other ideas to consider
Low fat cheese sticks and fruit, Protein shakes and fruit, Peanut butter and low sugar jelly sandwich (go light on the jelly)

Hopefully that gives you some ideas.  These are only a few of your options.  Feel free to experiment and come up with your own healthy recipes.  When you do, pass them along!

If you are serious about getting lean…you must exorcise the demons!

You may be wondering, what in the world could I mean by exorcizing the demons?  What do demons have to do with my physique?  Where can I find these demons???  Well, all you have to do open your pantry, cupboard, or fridge and the demons will be staring you in the face.  That’s right, the demons I am referring to are those unhealthy foods that we inexplicitly keep in our house even though we KNOW that they are keeping us from accomplishing our goals.

Even if you have kids or your husband is John Goodman, there is no good reason to have a house full ice cream, cookies, and Doritos.  This is especially true if you have a weakness for these foods.  If you have a soft spot in your heart for ice cream, more often than not you are going to forego the cottage cheese and fruit for several spoon fulls of Chunky Munkey.  So why live with the temptation?  Life is hard and stressful enough as is.  There’s no need to try to resist those creamy delights when you get hungry.  That’s just miserable.

But, what if those foods weren’t around?  What if when you got a craving for chocolate chip cookies, there were none in the house?  I’ll tell you what…you wouldn’t eat them!  Those who are truly successful at fat loss are the ones who do not continue to surround themselves with crappy yet delicious foods.  We are not super heroes after all.   We will all give in after a while.

And did you know that eating a few chips, a cookie, and couple of pieces of candy in a day can add 500 calories to your day?  That’s 3500 calories a week and 182,000 in a year.  That is an incredible number.  It is also senseless.  A few chips, cookies, and a piece of candy may not seem like a lot…but as you can see it is.  But if these items weren’t in the house then that would be 182,000 fewer calories you would eat in a year.  How much fat could you burn if that were the case?

So, if you are serious about fat loss and you really want a body that won’t quit this summer, perform a kitchen exorcism today!  Get the junk out!  And don’t worry about what your children or spouse will eat because guess what?  They don’t need it either!!  There are plenty of healthy snacks out there that your family will eat.  They may resist at first but over time they will thank you!

Some of you reading this will ignore the advice and continue to keep the bad food in the house but please know that you do so at your own peril.  Unless you have unworldly will power your body will never transform and you will never look how you always dreamed!

***If you are considering performing a kitchen exorcism but feel guilty about throwing out food, then take the food to a food bank or your local church.  This way you can get fit and feed the hungry at the same time!!

Quotes of the Week
Processed foods not only extend the shelf life, but they extend the waistline as well
-Karen Sessions
Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it
-Unknown

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

Jason

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