The Snack Hack

One thing that I definitely struggle with is snacking. I LOVE snacks. I love to eat food in general. One of the goals I have in my health journey is to not feel like I have to "go without" so to speak. I do not want to feel hungry or limited all the time. One of the ways this is done is by having a smaller slice of cake at the birthday party, or opting for a salad over alfredo pasta at Olive Garden. But this doesn't conquer my love of snacking. So I have been trying to find replacements for my favorite snacks and go to that are still convenient but a little healthier.

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Popcorn
Oh Popcorn, my vice! I love it so much! So what do I replace these crunchy tasty snacks with? Popcorn. Now I am not talking butter basted salt covered microwave popcorn. And I also don't think you should haul out your air popper. I am woman of convenience. So this is my popcorn hack!
You can microwave popcorn kernels! I am not kidding. There are two options. You can take a glass bowl and put 3 tablespoons of kernels in it with no oil or butter at all. Then you cover the bowl with a plate and I usually put in for two minutes. What I love about this is that it is WAY less expensive, and there is no waste. Any unpopped kernels can be place back in the microwave to be popped, or back into the bag. The second method is to use a specific microwave popper. I like this one for $6  from Walmart. It's easy to use and works the same. Then your popcorn is oil and butter free. Sometimes I eat it plain or I put a little I can't Believe It's Not Butter on it with some salt. But even if you do use butter you can ditch the preservatives as well as measure the amount of butter you use and control the calories.

Cookies
I am a major cookie fan. I love pretty much all kinds of cookies (as long as there are no raisins in them). I used to always make little bite sized soft and chewy snicker doodles for munchies, and I needed a sweet replacement. So I tried the Snickerdoodle Dippers from Graze. Now Graze is one of those food subscription services that send all kinds of healthy treats. I love their Kern Pops and Nut Mixes, but their Snickerdoodle Dippers are to die for! You can get them here! They remind me of those long biscut crackers you used to eat as a child with a cheese dip. Except they are a delicious whole grain cinnamon biscuit with a delicious cinnamon dip reminiscent of cookie butter. They are prepackaged so they are easy to put in lunches and to grab for snacks. They also have all nutritional info and calories on the packaging!


Candy
I love to eat pop-able candies. I love skittles, starbursts and sour patch watermelons! I love something I can throw into my mouth and chew on while watching a movie, or riding the commuter train home from work. So what so I do instead? I use frozen grapes. I will admit that I do usually sprinkle a little sugar (or stevia) on the grapes first, but you literally just freeze them in little baggies and they are so dang good! Once again, if you put them in snack baggies it helps with portion control and makes it convenient for lunches or quick snacks.

Chips
Do I need to start by saying how much I love chips? I love all these snacks, and I suppose chips is no exception. There are SO MANY healthy chip alternatives out there though, truly. But chips are usually fried in a lot of oil (including pals oil) and your fingers are coated in grease after eating. It's great to get baked chips as an alternative, but taking it one step further would be a chip that is made of healthier ingredients (because in case you didn't know - potatoes are actually not very good for you), and cooked with oils that are good for you! To the right you have pictured Jackson's Honest Sea Salt Chips. These are made with potatoes, but use simple ingredients. Their classic chips are made with only three things, potatoes, sea salt, and organic coconut oil. But I am not a fan of coconut, and you can't taste it at all on these chips. They are preservative free, gluten free, GMO free and certified organic! You can buy them online here, or click here to find out if they are in a store near you! Two other options are the Food Should Taste Good brand chips and crackers. They have whole grain tortilla style chips as well as my favorite sweet potato chips and more!

They also use simple ingredients and are all gluten free, GMO free, and certified organic. You can click here to buy them online or click here to find where they are in a store near you! The last is pictures on the left, and those are Harvest Snaps! They have lentil beans and snap peas that have been air cooked into a crispy puff of delicious and are so tasty! My favorite are the pictures tomato basil, but they are all really good! And they are super inexpensive too! Click here to buy them online and here to find them in a store near you!