Do I eat snacks? Yep!
A reader recently asked "Do you eat snacks, or only 3 meals a day? If you do snack, what snacks do you have?"
The answer is that yes, I do sometimes have snacks. And I'm also pretty consistent about eating three meals a day, even while working.
(Is my lunch break kind of late sometimes? Yes. But I DO always take it at some point.)
Ok, so, about snacks: I think it'll be easiest to run through this for work days and non-work days, since my two worlds are so different!
Work Day Snacks
On work days, I eat my breakfast very early in the morning, and I take my lunch break fairly late, even on a good day (something like 2 pm).
This means that I most definitely need a snack in between. My common practice is to take a few minutes to eat Aldi's version of an Rx bar. These are dense little bars that are made of mostly whole food ingredients (egg whites, dates, nuts), so they are much less junky than a lot of protein bars on the market.
Sometimes I will opt for a grass-fed beef jerky stick from Aldi instead, or one of their chocolate peanut butter protein bars, which have 10 grams of protein.
As hospital workers know, there are often boxes of donuts and cookies at the nurse's station or in the break room, and having a more nutritious snack available helps make those a little less tempting.
After my late lunch, I am rarely hungry for the rest of my shift, and when I get home, I eat a quick dinner and then shower and go to bed.
So, there's no time to be hungry for a snack!
Non-Work Days
When I'm not working, I usually hit the gym and go for a walk in the woods first thing. I typically don't eat anything beforehand; I just have a water bottle with me.
If I wake up super hungry, though, I sometimes eat a banana with peanut butter.
When I get home from exercising, I shower, get ready for the day, and then make breakfast. By then, it's usually mid-morning, so I do not need a snack in between breakfast and lunch.
My at-home lunches vary a lot, depending on what's in my fridge and pantry and what needs to be used up. If I have a rather light lunch, I do sometimes get hungry before dinner.
In that case, I might eat:
- Aldi's version of Triscuits (100% whole grain, no sugar) + some cheese slices, such as Swiss
- Aldi's cheddar popcorn
- Aldi's jalapeno protein puffs (the other flavor is terrible, in my opinion)
- Aldi's cheese crisps (just freeze-dried cheese)
- a bowl of cottage cheese with some fruit
- a bowl of yogurt with some fruit
- a sliced apple with cheddar cheese
Then I eat dinner, and even on non-work days, I'm not usually awake for a lot of hours post-dinner. Thus, I rarely feel the need for a snack before bed.
So, I guess my two main snack times are:
- between breakfast and lunch on work days
- between lunch and dinner on non-work days
A word on snack choices: when I choose a snack, I'm looking for something that will not make me feel crappy, and that means I'm picking something that has some protein and/or whole grains vs. something with sugar and refined grains.
Cookies are so delicious, but they are not a snack that makes me feel great! 😉
I try to choose snacks that are basically a kindness to myself, you know? I ask, "What can I eat that will make me feel awake and energized?" This way, my food choices feel like self-care, not self-deprivation.
(As we have already established, I hate food rules!)
What are your go-to snacks?
P.S. Here are ten frugal and filling snack ideas. And here are ten more.
