Snacks – Good or Bad?

Most of us aren’t used to intentionally planning for — and eating — multiple small meals every day. Before our commitment to get healthy, our diets may have looked a lot like this:

Morning — skip breakfast.

AM snack — none or some junk food.

Lunch — PIG OUT on high fat, high carb food.

PM Snack — no need (too lethargic from the monster lunch we had at the mexican restaurant!)

Dinner — whatever is on the menu at home that night.

Late night snack — Oh yeah, break open the cupboard and freezer!

That was my routine prior to the X!! Look familiar?

But now we are talking about Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, PLUS 3 other snacks. What does that even look like? What should we do for these snacks while we are likely at work or on the go and not able to spend much time fueling up?

We need quick, on-the-go fuel that will give our body what it needs to keep firing on all cylindars. It can’t be Snickers or a 5-hour energy. It needs to be GOOD STUFF! What are HEALTHY, wise choices that are P90X approved? If you are tracking your calories each day, you will know what snack choices you should go with to keep your % in the proper range of protein, carbs, and fat. Below are some of my favorites:

• Turkey Jerky or Beef Jerky (you can get this at Walmart — very high in protein and low in carbs and fat)
• Almonds (protein and “good fats”) (get the kind that aren’t cooked in oil. I get a big bag that are roasted with sea salt from Walmart)
• Protein bars (Pure protein, also from Walmart, have the best ratio of protein to sugar with 20g of protein and only 2g of sugar in the Chocolate Deluxe version). I also like the P90X Peak Performance protein bars (Chocolate Fudge and Chocolate Peanut Butter are my favs).

• Sugar Free Jello (only 10 calories and gives you a little something sweet with no sugar) (no real nutritional value so don’t overdo it)
• Fat free / No sugar added yogurt (good protein and carb source). Greek yogurt really packs the protein, but you need to be careful about the yogurts that use a lot of sugary syrup for flavoring. You are better off getting the plain flavor and then adding some fruit.
• Low fat string cheese (good source of protein but will have some fat and carbs as well)
• Fruit! I love apples, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and bananas. (note = bananas spike the insulin levels more than the others so don’t eat those too often — one per day or less in my opinion)
• Veggies! I love baby carrots. I eat a ton of those! Cherry tomatoes are great too.
• Flavoring packets for water (for those of us who don’t like drinking plain water, these can help us resist pop or other drinks we should be avoiding).
• Cheerios.  These help curb the munchies without adding sugars or many calories to your day.  A little baggie with a cup of Cheerios is good for on the go, and it has nearly no sugar and about 100 cals.
• GoLean. This cereal has some extra protein in it, and although it looks like twigs and sticks, the taste grows on you! I’ve come to really like it!

There are many other snack options available in the P90X nutrition guide, but the above list comprises basically all of the snacks I consume. They are easy, nutritious, relatively affordable, quick, and keep my body fueled. Pick snacks that work for you, but make sure that you know what’s in them and how they will affect your total calories and percentages. Remember, nutrition is 80% of your results. This is important!!

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