Healthy Snacking Ideas
We have all felt it – the ‘stomach growling, headache looming, body exhausted’ feeling – it’s the dreaded 3pm hump! Right around this time of day, many of us go out in search of a snack that will help carry us through the day. Sadly, this is when vending machines filled with processed foods containing tons of sugar and unhealthy fats, get used most often. Processed foods aren’t great at giving us energy to carry us through the rest of our day, what we really need are whole foods – veggies and proteins.
I understand that most people don’t have time to pull together healthy snacks; it’s largely due to this lack of time why vending machines are still around. To help you stay away from junk food snacking, I’ve provided you with recipes for 3 of my favourite healthy snacks that won’t take you more than 3-5 minutes to pull together, so give these a try!
3 Healthy Snacks
1. ‘Kinda’ Greek Salad: Cut up 3 coloured peppers, 1 green pepper and 1/2 a cucumber. Toss in a 1/4 cup of feta cheese, 1 can of beans (I used Navy beans, but any kind will do) and 5 tablespoons of Greek Salad dressing (I like a light coating of dressing, you may want to add more) and voila – you have a veggie filled, high fibre, healthy snack.
2. Sweet Potato Toast: Slice a regular sweet potato quite thin (~1/2 a centimetre), and put it in the toaster a couple of times (I put mine in 3 times because I like it toastier). The sweet potato dries right up, no goop comes out to impact your toaster. Top this healthy snack with whatever you like to spread on bread – I love mine with a little peanut butter; avocado & lime juice is a great topping for the afternoon.
3. Homemade applesauce: Toss the following ingredients into a blender for food processer: 6 apples cored, 3/4 cup water, 2 tablespoons of shelled flaxseeds, 1-3 tablespoons honey (depending how sweet you like things), 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, 1-2 tablespoons of cinnamon. This fruity, healthy snack is filled with healthy omega-3 fats and fibre, and it’s ready in 2 minutes!
All it takes is a little planning!
I think you call all agree that these 3 recipes only require a little planning a head (to make sure you have the ingredients on hand) and less than 5 minutes to prepare. If you like any of these ideas, please share them with your loved ones. Let’s do away with vending machine snacking once and for all!