These are a Few of My Favorite Things

I love snacking. Especially when I'm driving. Or watching Chopped, Property Brothers, or Survivor. However, even though I love snacking, my body doesn't. Well I guess my body does, but my weight doesn't. Anywho. Here is a list of my go-to for snacks:

Popcorn 

(Kettle, Simply Salted, Movie Theater- you name it! Relatively few calories for the volume.)

Snap Peas

Banana Chips 

(Careful- super easy to overindulge!)

Jello

Pudding

Cantaloupe

(Can seriously eat 1/2 a melon in one sitting)

Frozen Crinkle Carrots

(Cooked, you cray cray!)

Frozen Vegetables, in General

Quaker Mini Rice Cakes

(Caramel, Cheese, Apple Cinnamon are Faves!)

Apple Slices dipped in Yogurt
(Sprinkle some Cinnamon on the Apples for extra taste!)

Chocolate-Banana Protein Shake

(See Recipe on Other Post)

Trust me, these are not all the snacks I eat. To be honest, I should eat more of these snacks and less of the ones I do (I can't give up trail mix yet- I'm an addict!). 

Most of these snacks follow the concept of Volumetrics: you can eat a higher volume of these foods while still consuming a lower number of calories. To apply this principle to all of your meals, choose foods with a higher water and fiber content. AKA Fruits and Vegetables. Soups are also a fantastic choice. Did you know Progresso light soups are delicious?! Talk about Potato Bacon Soup for less than 200 calories. Wow. You can fill up on these foods without going over your caloric needs. Sound too good to be true? You better believe it! 

Chocolate Banana Shake

Want the Chocolate Shake without the guilt? Welcome to using Bananas as your creamy component. I seriously love this shake because it has almost no fat, is lower in calories, has protein, tastes awesome, and satisfies that sweet tooth! Enjoy!

Photo Cred: Allproscience.com

Chocolate Banana Shake

1/2 Banana

1/2 cup Skim or Almond Milk

1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder

4 to 5 Ice Cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender or Magic Bullet and mix. Adjust liquid and ice to match your desired consistency.

Nutrition Info:

Serving Size: 1

190 Calories

1.4 g Fat

20 g Carbohydrates

26.1 g Protein

You can also add a scoop of PB2 Powdered Protein- so good! Add about 22 calories per scoop of peanut butter used. Adjust calories for Almond/Soy Milk.

I use EXOS Chocolate Whey Protein Powder. 100 calories per scoop and 21 grams of Protein with hardly any sugar. Good Quality!

Giving in: The Dessert Dilemma

I'm addicted to Sugar. It's a thing. It's not like I add table sugar to everything I eat (in fact, you'll notice on my Overnight Oatmeal recipe, there is no additional sugar added- yay me!), but the struggle is real. The main culprit: doughs and batters. Cookie dough, peanut butter bar dough, cake batter, brownie batter. All DELICIOUS.  Last week I made Cake-Cookie dough with the intention of baking them and taking them to neighbors. Didn't happen. No cookies were baked.

One trick that I have found that helps satisfy my need for sweet (fruit usually doesn't cut it when I want that desserty-sugary-sweetness feeling) is sugar-free, fat-free pudding. It works. It sooo works.

Also how they have so many delicious flavors. I love vanilla, pistachio, butterscotch (heaven help me), and chocolate. Sometimes when I make the chocolate pudding it gets this awesome kind of skin on top that tastes a lot like chocolate cake batter. It's awesome. And delicious.

Best part? When made with skim milk, it's 70 calories for 1/2 cup. AKA 140 calories for 1 cup (because let's be real- you're not going to eat just 1/2 cup). Compare this to 150 calories for 1/2 cup of ice cream (if you are lucky!) and 140 calories for one cookie. Pudding is the gift that keeps on giving- without giving you extra inches around your waistline. Note: do NOT make with almond milk. Just don't.

I'm not one to tell you to cut out your desserts- I don't work that way. Also I will probably always eat cookie dough if it's available. But pudding is a great way to save a few calories!

Spinach Salad

I've been obsessed with salads lately. You can make some DELICIOUS salads. So yummy. And also totally low calories and nutrient-dense. Here's one of my current salad obsessions:

Photo Cred: Foodista.com

Spinach Salad

Chopped Spinach

Chopped Mushrooms

Chopped Strawberries

Craisins

Glazed Walnuts

Raspberry Vinaigrette

What I love about salads is that there are no exact measurements involved. You just combine what you have and it usually turns out alright. The generic pattern I usually use is:

Base of Lettuce, Spinach, or other Leafy Vegetable

2 Additional Fruits or Vegetables

Crunch or Chewy Factor (Nuts, Seeds, Dried Fruit)

Sweet or Salty Factor (Cheese, Nuts, Dried Fruit)

Dressing (Creamy, Vinaigrette, Zesty)

Voila! Pattern for a delicious Salad. 

 Here is something interesting to note:

We are often obsessed with having low-fat dressings and cheeses. However, fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) actually need to be digested with fat in order to be absorbed effectively. Fruits and Vegetables are rich sources of these vitamins but we may not absorb them well if there is no fat consumed during the same meal. So I feel like having ranch dressing with your salad isn't a sin. I think the low calorie count of the vegetables allows for the extra calories in the dressing and then you are also (hopefully) absorbing more of those crucial vitamins!

Good Mornings: Overnight Oatmeal

Have you ever done a Jillian Michaels workout? They kick your trash. But also I love them because a lot of what she says during the video is exactly how we talk to each other. Like when one of her models is doing a move wrong, Jillian is like... "That's not hot." Amen, sister.

One of the moves she does in her workout is called "Good Mornings". Let's be real. You don't feel like you are having a good morning when you do the move. BUT the concept of the phrase "Good Mornings" is what I want to focus on today.

I can't emphasize how important it is to start your day with a good meal. Too often I've eaten a bowl of cereal and then cookie dough for breakfast. Not ideal. Also I just feel a lot more focused on my health when I consciously make a decision to eat something healthy and sustaining. Here's the "recipe" for my latest favorite breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal.

Photo Cred: simplyblissfullife.wordpress.com

Overnight Oatmeal

Chocolate-Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Instant Oats

1 tbsp Powdered Peanut Butter

1/2 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder

1/2 cup skim milk

Mix all ingredients together the night before and let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Nutrition Info:

263 Calories

21.1 g Protein

4.6 g Fat

38.8 g Carbohydrates

6.3 g Fiber

8.3 g Sugar

104.1 mg Sodium

A few notes: basically the ratio is 1:1 of oats and liquid. The recipe I found online suggested 1/2 cup oats to 1/2 cup liquid. Any liquid should work. Water might be nasty crap, but I've tried Almond Milk and it works great. Of course, adjust calories for different ingredients. 

Also you can basically add anything you want to these oats. Bananas, chocolate chips, real peanut butter, etc. Make it delicious! I like this simple recipe because the craziest thing is just the powdered peanut butter.

Speaking of Powdered Peanut Butter. I was a skeptic. Peanut Butter taste with only 45 calories per 2 tablespoons? Too good to be true. Nope. It's awesome. I have never tried to make actual peanut butter by adding water, but it is awesome in shakes and overnight oats. I bought it at Target for about $6. Not Crazy considering it's lasted me several weeks using it every morning. 

Also Protein Powder. I started eating this meal because I felt like I wasn't getting any nutrition in the morning, especially protein. I use EXOS chocolate whey protein powder because it is only 100 calories per scoop (some protein powders can get up to 160 calories per scoop- yikes!) and the sugar content is low. Also I get EXOS nutrition products at a discount, so that always helps.

Try out this Overnight Oats recipe and see if it can help you have a "Good Morning"!