Snacking the Right Way

- Pizza Bites- Black pepper Triscuits with a slice of Turkey Pepperoni then sprinkle with fat free mozzarella. Microwave til melted and dip in marinara.


- 2 Light string cheeses and a piece of fruit (I like light Sargento brand)

- Tuna with fat free miracle whip on Melba toast

- Bake at 400 whole wheat pita bread slices with a spritz of olive oil and salt and eat with dip:
     - Cottage cheese, small amount of milk to consistency of dressing, and ranch seasoning packet
     - Cottage cheese, (half as much as the cottage cheese) fat free sour cream, and hot salsa whipped in the blender

- Cottage cheese with frozen blueberries. I stick it in my lunch box and by snack time it's all cold and soft and delicious

- Frozen blueberries or raspberries and a couple packets of Slenda with half of a vanilla flavored low-carb protein shake (I like CarbAdvant by Myoplex available at HyVee, Bakers/King Soopers, but the cheapest I have found is at Target). Blend until thick and mostly smooth. Scoop into Popsicle makers or paper cups with a stick and freeze. (I have a horrible sweet tooth). Just remember that if you buy this kind of protein shake to eat some carbs in the same meal to balance out the snack.

- I like to buy these protein snacks off a website. The snacks are a cheaper generic version of snacks for people on Slimgenics, Slim-4-Life, or similar. They're surprisingly tasty so it's a good munchy snack.  Pretzels     Snack bites (both flavors are great)     Chocolate Crisps    

- Protein bars. A general observation that I have had since I began shopping for protein bars, is that it is TRICKY picking the right protein bars. Did you know that there are "healthy bars" out there with over 300 calories?   How does that even happen?! I don't get it. I like Luna bars. They just taste good and are available anywhere. They're not the highest in protein and high in carbs, but in a balanced day I don't really care and eat them anyway. Plus the Lemon Zest ones are delicious. The Myoplex lite bars are great too. When I eat a protein bar though, it counts as a full meal. It's not a lot of quantity for what calories you're intaking, I have found, which is helpful if I'm not real hungry, but not such a great plan if I'm starving. And they definitely count as a protein and a carb.

Oookkay what else do I like to snack on....

-Shrimp with cocktail sauce (I buy them frozen, stick them in lunch box and by snack time nice and soft)

- I like the already chopped chicken breast (sold by the deli meat) that's like fajita flavored or Southwestern flavored. I just eat it cold on crackers.

- Peanut butter is delicious and living with Lindy and my mom, I've come to appreciate it as a pantry staple. The problem? Super high in fat (monounsaturated kind though which is the good kind). It's just REALLY easy to overdo any kind of nut. Body for Life says get in 1 serving of healthy fat a day. So I like 1 spoonful on an apple (ymmmm)

- Wrap up a whole wheat tortilla with a small amount of fat-free cream cheese, then put in spinach, lettuce, deli meats, fat free cheese,  whatever you like.. then wrap tight and cut into pinwheels. Good for dipping. I like with a little cream cheese, lots of turkey and spinach and then dip in a little fat free Caesar dressing.

- Hard boiled eggs, natures perfect little protein snack.

- Pitas are one of my newer favorite things too even though I have a hard time finding the whole wheat one sometimes. But keep them around and there's always something to throw in them! Eggs and turkey bacon in the morning, deli meet in the afternoon, put some turkey pepperoni and fat free mozzarella then dip in marinara, cut up leftover chicken breast with fat free miracle whip and halved grapes with spinach or lettuce... anything really!
- I guess that's all I can think of for now... but stay tuned, more to come!