Too often I find myself “hungry” in the middle of the day; usually between lunch and dinner. By “hungry”, I’m talking about when you’re:
a. suddenly not busy and looking for something to do
b. looking for a new flavor or taste to occupy your mouth, or
c. just feel like eating for no apparent reason.
It takes willpower not to submit to the temptation of the mind to eat when you don’t need to. It’s a battle between the brain and the body. Mindless eating is a dangerously easy habit to get into, which is why mindful eating is very important to understand and get friendly with.
I’ve heard multiple time that 6 small meals are better than 3 large meals, but I’m of the belief that 3 meals with a small nutritious snack in between is totally acceptable, and a healthy habit. Some of the best snacks are nuts. They are full of nutrients and good, natural fats, and extremely filling. One handful of almonds (skip the jalepeño/honey roasted/hickory smoked additions for best results) will alleviate any case of the nibbles. Personally I go for cashews because I think they taste the best, though they have the most fat (definitely a correlation there). Another prime snack is fruit, dried or fresh. Be wary of dried fruits with extra sugar added and preservatives. Apricots and mango are a good example of where this happens.

My favorite way to combine these power snacks is in trail mix. Do you ever get trail mix and end up with a bunch of peanuts, or raisins at the bottom of the bag? Trail mix is so easy to put together and so customizable that, well, why would you pay more money to buy a prepackaged one? While snacking shouldn’t be constant and should be nutritious, it must always be enjoyable, right? I like to add corn nuts/snacks/fried nothings for some crunch, and dried soy beans for flavor. For the last batch, along with these fillers, I used lightly salted cashews and raisins.

With this combination of individual snacks, you get the 1. filling effect 2. natural sugars 3. yum-ability. Other non-reversible trail mix bits you can add are dark chocolate chips for sweetness and anti-oxidants, other dried fruit, any nuts without crazy flavors,  and pretzels! I love adding pretzel stick chunks to a trail mix for a different variety of salty crunch.

 

It’s super easy to make. Here’s a “recipe”

2 cups each of what you want to add: chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, etc.

Throw everything in a big tupperware container, for plenty of room for shaking around. Shake the contents of the tupperware, and serve.

 

Any tips for mindful eating? Share below, and happy snacking!