Clean and Healthy Snacks!

The key to maintaining a good, healthy diet, is healthy SNACKS! Seriously.  When I let myself get hungry, all bets are off, and I can really do some damage. So the key, for me at least, is to always pack healthy snacks to take with me.  The moment hunger strikes, I eat something, and I know I'll make good choices, b/c I already made the choice to begin with!

I was speaking with some friends of mine recently, and we decided to share snack ideas.  Here's some snacks that I like to keep on me:

• 1 piece of fruit, Apple, Orange, Plum, etc. Remember the Clean 15, and the Dirty Dozen rules. Anything with a thick skin is ok to buy non-organic, because the pesticides can't get through the skin (i.e. Oranges).  Anything with a thin skin, you're going to need to go organic!
• Mixed Veggies: Carrots, Tomatoes, Celery, etc.  You can dip these babies in a some hummus or low fat dressing for added flavor. But don't overdo it!
• TBS Peanut Butter.  I LOVE Peanut butter.
• Hard-boiled egg
• Almonds, Pistachios, Cashews, etc. 
• Trail mix. This follows with the last post, but sometimes I mix it up with some dried cranberries.
• Half a haas avocado.
• Greek yogurt.  
• Tofurky (or Turkey) roll-ups.  slice of tofurky, slice of provolone, and a pickle spear rolled up.
• Frozen berries and fat-free Coolwhip.
• Air-popped Popcorn. 
• Cottage Cheese with fruit or tomato slice.
• Laughing Cow cheese slice and Cucumbers.
• Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon.

Be on the look out for updates to this list.  I will add frequently as I discover new snacking ideas.  1 thing I try to stay away from when I'm snacking is added Net Carbs.  No breads, pastas, etc for my snacks.  We eat enough of those during meals that I don't need the added junk during my mid-day snack.

If I have two snacks throughout the day, I never have fruit twice.  The sugar is natural and good, but I don't need too much of it in my diet.  

What is a net carb?  Basically Carbs are made of Sugars and Fibers.  Your net carbs are the amount of carbs in an item minus the fibers in that item.  Basically it's the sugar we're counting here, but sometimes the Sugar and Fiber in the item don't seem to add up to the Carb Total, which is why we subtract the Fiber from the Carbs to get our Net Carb Total. :)  Happy snacking!