Wellness Wednesday: Snacking

Does your work have a vending machine filled with buffalo chicken flavored Dorritos, double stuffed Oreos, mini frosted apple pies or "healthy" candy filled trail mix?  It may be time you give yourself a snack rehabilitation.  Healthy snacking throughout your day can make a huge difference in your energy level, metabolism and weight management.

They key is preparing snacks is to choose items with very few ingredients, think the less steps it takes to get to your mouth the better.   Also, plan ahead and prepare your snacks in advance so that you can just grab and go.  Turn your briefcase or backpack into a mobile healthy vending machine.  But keep in mind that too much of anything is not good, so mind serving sizes and create some variety.  Here are some healthy and tasty snack ideas:

• Baby carrots
• Hard boiled egg
• Cucumber salad-1 cup of chopped cucumbers, 1/2 tsp of rice vinegar, sprinkle with red pepper
• Roasted seaweed
• Apple slices
• Raw almonds
• Serving of pistachios
• Low fat string cheese
• Can of Sardines
• 1 low sodium brown rice cake and 1 tbs of almond butter

There are so many options!  Share your favorite healthy snack.


 

Wellness Wednesday: Calories don't matter? Whaaaat?

Love what the experts at Equinox have to say about nutrition.  Instead of focusing on counting how many calories you consume, put more emphasis on nourishing your cells and eating nutrient rich foods.  Sure there are 100 calorie chocolate chip cookie packs, but will eating cookies really help you achieve your wellness goals?  I'll answer that for you, "NO!"  Remember if you want to see a younger, healthier (and we bet, happier) self, you must have a metabolic system that hums (Q Editors).

Read more at Q By Equinox

Photograph by Getty Images from Q By Equinox

Wellness Wednesday: Granola alternative

If you are like me, then you could probably house a pound of granola each morning.  The only problem... WAY TOO MUCH SUGAR AND BUTTER!  So instead of ditching my beloved tasty oats combination I created a "healthy" version of the toasted breakfast treat.  Behold, quinoa and oats granola!  Protein packed quinoa mixed with gluten free oats.  Instead of using butter or olive oil, I used virgin coconut oil to help it all stick.  If you are still craving sweet, simply add a half of a teaspoon of raw honey to top it off.  The result, yum.

1 Cup red quinoa
2 Cups of gluten free oats
1/4 cup of cinnamon
1tsp of nutmeg
1/4 of virgin coconut oil

Mix all of the above ingredients together and place in a glass cooking dish
Roast in the oven on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, turning the mixture every 15 minutes

Optional add on's

1 tsp of Acai powder
1tsp of raw honey
1/2 cup of nonfat kefir