Your Emergency Snack Drawer Do’s and Dont’s
June 10, 2014Imagine this: It's the birthday of your coworker. Hooray! Someone brought in a cake.
What you say aloud: Awesome!
What you feel inside: Sigh. If only you had something else to nosh on that would make avoiding that cake so much easier!
Or perhaps this is this more like you: You are such a diligent and hardworker that you can't possibly fathom time to get up and grab a snack any further than your desk (not that you're on facebook or reading your fave blogs at work right?) You're starving and know you need a snack but it needs to be convenient, quick and ideally healthy.
While these two situations are very different, the outcome is the same. You need food that is convenient, quick, and (fingers crossed) healthy. The health coach in me wants to tell you to pack your lunch and all of your snacks everyday, but the realist in me understands that sometimes life gets a bit crazy and plans don't always work out that way you intend them to. That doesn’t mean they can be used as an excuse, it just means you have to have an emergency plan. In this case my number one suggestion is to create a snack drawer.
What is a snack drawer? Well it’s easier to tell you what it’s not. It doesn’t include Special K cereal bars or sugar-laden granola or mini-chocolate bars. And just because Oreo Thinsations are only 100 calories doesn't mean they should be coming anywhere near you or your coveted snack drawer.
The reason we have snacks are to fuel you and to give you energy to get through the day, so that means the snacks you eat need to have nutritional substance. In a perfect world, all of your snacks would have lean protein, healthy fats and nutrients from fruits and/or veggies but you're human and can't always have a mini-fridge strapped to your back so here are some easy ideas that you can bring and leave at work for an extended period of time (except for some of the fridge items). I've grouped them by storage location....from pocket to the frost-filled work-freezer.
Pockets:
Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, homemade candied pecans (make sure you pre-portion these bad boys), clementines, pre-packaged protein bars (my personal favourites? Quest Bars, Elevate Me! - gluten free, Simply Bars - dairy and gluten free & Phytoberry bars - nutrient rich)
Drawers:
Homemade trail mix (nuts, seeds, homemade granola - steer clear of dried fruit - you're not doing yourself any favours because dried fruit is pretty much glorified sour patch kids), apples, nut/coconut butter portable packets, container of protein powder to mix into almond milk or greek yogurt or plain oatmeal, cans of tuna/salmon
Fridge:
Homemade Protein or Breakfast Bars, cut up fruit & nut butters, lettuce wraps w/ avocado, veggies and/or turkey, high protein crepes, plain greek yogurt, strawberries filled with goat's cheese.
Don't forget! Always try to include protein and/or fat in your snacks - that's what will keep your blood sugar steady and keep you satisfied until your next meal!
If you can, eat REAL food (i.e. nothing from a package) but if you are in a bind and that’s all you have available to you, make sure you opt OUT of the pre-packaged sugary garbage (including the ones that appear 'healthy' like Fibre 1 bars but are actually sugar bombs) and your midday mood and future body composition will thank you.
 | ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rachel Girardi, MsC graduated with a Masters in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario in 2007. Her philosophy is that fitness, nutrition and lifestyle cannot be looked at in isolation. She combines her love of fitness and good food to help her clients improve their health and the quality of their lives. Her main goal is to figure out how to fit “healthy” into your life while still letting you live it.Read more articles by Rachel! |
