Have Healthy Snacks Ready

That “snacky feeling” can creep up on you. But in general, it’s no big surprise. So have some healthy, helpful snacks at the ready for those impulsive moments.

Lonely mouth

Midday snacks are quite fun and exciting. They don’t need to tick as many boxes, and often just need to settle a more “emotional” hunger than an actual one. Have you heard of the Japanese term “kuchisabishii” (口寂しい)? It pretty much translates to “lonely mouth”. That feeling when you’re not hungry, just snacky. In Norwegian as well, you can be “fysen”. You’re not hungry, you don’t want a meal, you’re just “fysen” for something, something quick and tasty.

It can be hard to predict exactly when these snacky moments will happen, but it’s not hard to predict that they will. And that’s totally cool. The only small danger with giving in to these snacky moments, is that you can go for things that don’t fit with what you are trying to provide your body with. If you are doing a really good job at cutting down on salt and sugar and preservatives in all your meals for example, and are feeling better as a result, it would be a shame to take steps back with your snacks. An overly sugary snack can have the unfortunate effect of giving you a bit of a sugar rush and then you hit an energy low, and the rest of the working day becomes much less energised than it needed to be. Same with salty snacks, if you’ve cut down on salt in your cooking, but you’re forgetting about the salt in your snacks - it can be frustrating because you feel like you’re making a big change but your body is not feeling much better.

So you can put yourself in the best position and make sure you stack up your fridge and cupboards with helpful, healthy snacks. I’m sure I am not alone in feeling like I can resist going to the shops and buying something that’s bad for me, but the ability to resist simply opening a cupboard door is much harder.

And yes, I’m bringing it up again: planning. Just a bit of planning will make things much easier, and more pleasant for you throughout the week. Because if you have predicted your snacky moments, you won’t have to do anything other than opening your cupboards - because you’ll find amazing snacks in there!

The first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself. What kind of snacks do you usually crave? If you fancy a soft, gooey bit of chocolate brownie, cake, fudge or a macaroon, then try to make something that will scratch that itch. I have found that my super energy nut balls really do it for me when I want something sweet and sticky, but actually, all that’s in there is nuts, nut butter and some healthy sweetener. If you want to push it a bit further towards a dessert, you can have a few dipped in melted dark chocolate. It’s a bit more of a sweet, but still not too terrible for you. As you probably know, dark chocolate has some great qualities for your body too! Or maybe a peanut butter, banana and oat cookie would do the trick? There are so many lovely, super sweet snacks you can make with ripe bananas, and you’ll get your sugar fix in the very best way.

If you are more of a salty snacker, and want a bit of crunch - find ways of avoiding the salties, deepest fried crisps and tortilla snacks on a regular day. There are all sorts of great ways of getting your crunchy fix; it might not sound that exciting, but some ready chopped carrots, cucumber and celery sticks and a hummus in the fridge can really help this craving. Maybe try my parmesan baked courgettes? Not crunchy, but they have a lovely salty topping. You can quite easily make some quinoa crackers, which will live in your cupboard for quite a long time! Even if you don’t make something from scratch, just having some quinoa and rice cakes ready, and maybe spreading some peanut butter on them will be so lovely and satisfying, but you haven’t just filled your body up with something deep fried and overly salty.

Maybe have a list of ideas ready and hang it up inside one of your cupboard doors? You can even have two columns: “If you’re craving A / Try B!” Help yourself make choices that will feel great for the rest of the day, without leaving your mouth lonely.

What is your favourite midday snack? Do you have a healthy, tasty option that you love and want to share? Post on Instagram and tag me @TheFromScratchBody and use the hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!