Nothing Like A Good Snack..

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  I'm so lucky to have such wonderful women in my life especially my mom.  I wouldn't be the healthy and active person I am today without her in my life.  What better gift than a yoga mat for her on this beautiful day :)

After a wonderful day celebrating,  I spent quite a while in the kitchen preparing meals for the week.  There's nothing better than having that all done and just having to worry about grabbing and going.  If I don't take the time to do this, I tend to spend a lot of extra money buying food on the fly when I already spent plenty on groceries that would last me the whole week. 

Good wholesome snacks are what get me through days where I don't have much time for anything but work.  I try to pack 'real food' snacks for myself to ensure I'm making healthy choices throughout the day.  When I say real foods, I mean foods in which I know every ingredient in them...I can spell them, pronounce them etc.  The more processed the food, the more likely you're going to see more ingredients that are hard if not impossible to pronounce.  How do you know what is actually in something and how it effects you if you don't even know what it is.  So many aisles in the grocery store are stocked up with food that is processed with additives, preservatives and artificial sweeteners that are not good for your body.

So I've compiled a list of good snacks ideas to help you stay full and keep you fueled throughout your busy days.

• banana or apple with 2 tbsp. natural peanut butter (peanut butter should have two ingredients, peanuts and salt.)
• 1 serving of carrots and cucumbers with 2 tbsp. hummus. 
• 1/4 c. mixed nuts and 1/4 c. raisins (make sure the only ingredients are salt and the different kinds of nuts in the package)
• Larabar (only if you're in a hurry.  I like the cashew cookie or peanut butter cookie...the only ingredients being dates and the nuts)
• hard boiled eggs
• 2 rice cakes with 2 tbsp. peanut butter...if you have a sweet tooth, you can add some honey
• 1 serving cooked edamame.

Now get in the kitchen and get those meals prepared for the week.  I promise you a smoother, less stressful week if you decide to do so.  Besides my lovely snacks, I have baked cod, salsa chicken made in the crockpot, tabouli and portabella mushrooms mixed in spaghetti sauce with quinoa or bulgur instead of pasta on my menu.  Be creative, mix it up and be a food label reader this week :)