I wanted to make a quick post on some healthy snack ideas. It’s a common question I get asked all the time from my Challengers. We should know by now that we need to eat every 2-3 hours to keep our metabolism running efficiently. Doing so will have us eating 5-6 times per day. Mostly 3 meals and 3 snacks, for me personally I eat 7 times per day which include 3 meals, 3 snacks and 1 post workout shake. I’m sure a lot of people are not accustomed to eating this much or this often. I feel snacking is where a lot of people get it wrong and lose results. I know it’s where I had struggled in my own nutrition. With faithfully tracking my nutrition I now have a set of snacks that I go to daily and a few others I plug-in from time to time for a little variety. Snacking is what is going to keep our bodies running in between meals so we need to make sure we do it correctly. But what kind of snacks are actually healthy and will help us reach our percentages of Protein, Carbs and Healthy Fats.

Here are just a sample of some of my favorites:

Shakeology

OK, so Shakeology is a “meal replacement shake” but in its base form for it’s only 160 calories and loaded with nutrients. So for me I categorize this as a snack. I add in a scoop of whey protein to my Tropical Shakeology and about 3 frozen strawberries. After all is said and done this shake is about 264 Calories – 26 Carbs – 36 Protein and ONLY 2 grams of Fat.

Protein Bars

This is one of my favorite healthy snacks of the day. I was turned onto the “Pure Protein” bars from another Beachbody Coach and absolutely love them. Plus they contain only a few grams of sugar which is almost unheard of in terms of Protein Bars. My wife says the taste has to be acquired, but I disagree and really like them and enjoy one every day. The Beachbody Protein bars taste amazing but have a little more sugar than I want at this point. I pick up my Pure Protein bars at Publix, but they have them in just about every grocery store.

Turkey Jerky

Turkey Jerky is a great snack that’s high in protein and low in fat. Need more protein? These beauties hit the spot. I personally like the “Jack Links” brand the best. I have tried others and they seemed a little tougher than the Jack links. You can pick these up at most grocery stores. I like to grab and go with these.

Almonds

I go nuts over these things. Ha Ha! Sorry for my poor sense of humor. The best almonds are the natural unsweetened ones. These are your healthy fats. Need more grams of fat in you daily nutrition, here ya go! For me this is where I go a little off kilter and get the “Low sodium” Sea Salted ones. Absolutely love these! I only eat them in moderation, most days it’s less than 1 oz. More like 1/4-1/3 oz. but you don’t want more than 1 oz per day.

Low Fat String Cheese

These are another great source of protein with low carbs. They do carry some fat with them so make sure they fit into your goals. I like the Publix brand low-fat ones. Lately I have tried the Frigo Brand (pictured) and they are really good too. The nutrition facts is similar in the two.

Sugar Free Jello

This is a great one for those of you who really need that sweet tooth fulfilled. They only run 10 calories and despite what you may think they actually do taste great. I personally haven’t been eating these lately but have in the past and they are great, just no real nutritional value.

Fat Free Yogurt

The best ones to get here are the Fat Free Sugar Free, but in my case I havent been able to run these down locally. So I have been getting the Sugar Free Low carb ones by Dannon (Light & Fit). At only 50 calories these carry 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of carbs with only 1 gram of fat. I don’t tend to eat this very often. Once per week would be the most for me, not a huge yogurt fan.

Fruit

Got to love fruit. I mostly eat strawberries and banana’s, but obviously there are many others you can use. Try to stay on the low glycemic side if at all possible.

There are a ton of other snack options. Like cottage cheese, greek yogurt or maybe even carrots, but the list above is what I enjoy. These are just the one’s I use most often and my plugged into MY FITNESS PAL nutrition diary. I’m sure in the future I may update this list but for now I’m happy and that’s what counts. These are quick and easy to add-on a daily basis. Each of these are nutritious and do taste really good. The key is to find snacks that will work for you. Let’s stay focused on our nutrition so we can get the best results possible.

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