Ever heard that “abs are made in the kitchen” Or that “exercise is only 50% of the equation?” While exercise is definitely better than no exercise, the energy we fuel our bodies with is also important. We really struggle to find snacks. My wife and I both work 8-5 desk jobs, and sometimes you need a break in the monotony, and what better way to do that than snacks? But how do you find snack food that doesn’t equal junk food? I’m going to breakdown what we do to find our snacks and figure out if they’re worth eating or not.
Nutrition Labels:
Full disclosure: my wife is definitely that person in the grocery store who stops in the middle of the grocery aisle to compare the labels of two different products. She starts with the macronutrient breakdown: protein, carbs, and fats. Is it balanced? What are we going for in the snack? If it’s a morning snack, we’re ok with a few more carbs on the label, if they’re from complex carbohydrates like whole wheat. When buying things like turkey bacon or chicken sausage (thank you, Costco!) we make sure that there is a good protein to fat ratio. If the grams of fat are more than 2/3 compared to protein, we usually don’t buy it. If you’re counting macros it’s especially good to check things before you buy them. If calories are important to you, this can also be a good thing to look at.
Sugar content:
While a food may seem like it’s a good option, for a snack and the macros check out, we make sure to always check how many grams of sugar are in a serving. If it’s more than 10 g for a snack, we usually don’t buy it. We used to be Nutrigrain bar junkies. They were good for pre-work snacks, convenient for breakfast on-the-go, until we looked at the nutrition label and saw there were almost 15 g of sugar per bar! That was not good. Now, we opt for Nature’s Bakery Fig bars. Made with whole wheat, and 5 g less of sugar, they’re a better option.
Another big sugar problem we have is with Greek Yogurt. A lot of brands advertise, zero fat, zero artificial sweeteners, and zero added sugar, with an asterisk of course. Make sure to read the fine print! There’s hidden sugar in everything these days. Recently we have resorted to buying plain Greek yogurt in bulk at Costco, as this has good protein, low fat, and low sugar, and then we add a teaspoon of honey for sweetness since honey is natural sweetener and much better for you than the alternative.
Ingredients:
Fun fact, ingredients are listed on labels in the order of the highest content. If high fructose corn syrup is first, then there’s more of that than anything else in the snack. If whole wheat or whey protein blend is the first ingredient listed, and that’s what the snack is being advertised for, then you know what you’re getting is legit.
Our favorite snacks:
Some of our favorite and most convenient snacks have been hard to find but we have staples that are always in our cupboards.
One Protein Bars
These are by far one of our favorite brands of protein bars. The best part is they don’t usually taste like chewy, grainy protein or leave a weird aftertaste. 20 g of protein, 8 g of fat, and 1 g of sugar. My favorite flavor is almond bliss because they taste like an almond joy and my wife loves the peanut butter pie flavor. Pair these with some fruit and you’ve got yourself a decent on-the-go breakfast.
Quest Protein Chips
These are a MIRACLE. I love crunchy snacks and I hate raw vegetables. It’s quite the dilemma. We found these while browsing at Vitamin Shoppe one day and now we buy them in bulk. They taste like BBQ chips but they’ve got 21 g of protein, only 4 g of net carbs, and 3.5 g of fat. They also have a chili lime and ranch flavor and they are both awesome.
Premier Protein Chocolate Shakes
We buy these out of convenience because they’re super easy to grab out of the fridge and run out the door. The flavor is good, no weird aftertaste, and you 30 g of protein. You can also buy these in bulk at Costco so that’s a double win.
Making Marriage Fit 