The art of healthy snacking is a delicate thing, and one we must cultivate carefully.
The best way I have found to stay on track when it comes to snacking wisely is to have lots of healthy snacks in my kitchen at all times.
Which leads me to the next very sad, however, obvious rule to follow. Remove all forbidden snacks from cabinets, pantries, and refrigerators pronto. And yes, that includes any errant munchies stashed under the bed.
Make it easy to grab a healthy snack by having them prepared ahead of time. It is downright near impossible to follow the art of healthy eating when one's stomach is in the throes of hunger pains. So it is imperative to have safe snacks ready to grab at all times in one's kitchen.
15 awesome foods to have ready before you are hungry
1. Hard-boiled eggs
2. Pretzels
3. Salad - washed and mixed with your favorite salad fixings. Just add oil&vinegar.
4. Turkey Jerky
5. Cut Watermelon
6. Carrot sticks
7. Homemade Baked Zucchini Strips. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Cut a zucchini into thin slices, then drizzle olive oil, sea salt, and pepper on them. Sprinkle with paprika and bake for about 30 minutes.
8. Cottage Cheese
9. Canned salmon (or cook salmon and have it cut up in the refrigerator) - Use in a salad, or put salmon on crackers for a tasty treat.
10. Crackers
11. Pickles. Lots of pickles.
12. Black beans and salsa. (yum.)
13. Lean turkey slices, veggie burgers, or lean chicken cut up. Eat with a scoop of cottage cheese, or make a wrap with lettuce.
14. Peanut Butter (delicious with sliced apples)
15. Low-fat Popcorn
Finally, we must remember that healthy snacking also requires munching in moderation. Snacking on crackers does not mean eating half the box at one time.
And as much as we may like to, we cannot smear oodles of peanut butter on a couple of bagels or bread with jelly.
The good news? Pickles have no limits.