Healthy Snacks for Work

I talked about 5 Ways to Eat Healthy at Work here.  I believe the key to eating healthy on a consistent basis is variety.  Not many people will eat the same thing every single day just because it's healthy.  You have to actually ENJOY what you're eating.  It also has to be EASY.  Preportioning and prepackaging are my best friends.  I hate to do anything in the mornings but put my lunch in my box and go.  As much as I can do
ahead of time the more likely I am to stick with it.  So, in order to help you enjoy your food more, here are some of my favorite variations to my every day work snacks.

As a side note, I put seeds and/or nuts in just about every snack I eat.  Not only do I love the taste and crunch, they're a healthy source of fat, protein, and nutrients.  Try to get the ones that are the least amount processed with no added salt.

Cottage Cheese - I may be the exception here, but I can eat it plain.  That, however, is not my favorite way to eat it.  Most people put some kind of fruit in it.  My favorites are mandarin oranges or peaches.  For a different twist, try adding one or more of the following: raisins,sunflower seeds, almonds, honey.
Yogurt - We try to make our own yogurt at home.  With our busy schedules, this happens about 50% of the time.  If I'm not eating homemade plain yogurt, I buy Greek yogurt (organic if I can find it).  I love the added protein in the Greek yogurt as it helps me stay satisfied longer.  Since the yogurt is plain and  unsweetened, you can add a wide variety of items to it.  Since I keep raisins, sunflower seeds, and almonds at my desk all the time, this is my go to addition.  If I want it a little sweeter, I add some honey.  I also love ripe bananas and seeds/nuts.  Fruit is always an option with yogurt, but you might have to add some honey as well, depending on the ripeness/sweetness of the fruit and how sweet you like your yogurt.  I wasn't at work today, but I had my yogurt with fresh pineapple and my favorite pumpkin flax organic granola.  YUM!  I've pretty much weaned myself off of any added sugar at this point and I still love it!
Raw Veggies - This is the one that gets old quick for me.  I've had to learn to like raw veggies, so that's probably why.  I try to eat them at least twice a week at work, that way I feel like I'm doing good, but I
don't get burned out on them either.  I also alternate them with salads.  I precut and preportion the veggies in a glass container with a lid for my lunchbox.  I also have a travel case that has a place for dip built right in to the middle for when I'm on the road.  It's not glass, but I'll sacrifice that for the convenience of this item.  Since I've had to learn to like raw veggies, I have to have something to dip them in.  Some kind of dressing is an obvious choice, and you can vary the type of dressing you use, but I also enjoy them with pesto, hummus, salsa, and guacamole.  Hummus and guacamole can both be made in advance and frozen in snack size portions.  I suppose you could freeze the salsa the same way, I just haven't tried it.  Good ole' Ants on a Log is great too (celery with peanut butter and raisins), or homemade pimento cheese (cheese, pimentos, mayonnaise, salt, pepper) and celery.
Fruit - Personally, fruit does nothing to satisfy my hunger.  If I eat an apple I'm hungry 20 minutes later.  I do, however, tend to get a sweets craving a few hours after lunch.  So, I've started using the fruit to conquer my sweets craving and just add some protein to keep me satisfied.  Apple/peanut butter, banana/peanut butter, cottage cheese/oranges, cottage cheese/peaches, apple/cheese, etc. 
Salads - When I bring a salad, I usually eat it around 2:30 as it holds me over wonderfully until dinner.  I put all kinds of things on my salads.  Veggies, cheese, nuts, fruit, what ever I have in the fridge that needs to be used.  I also love to mix dressings with balsamic vinegar.  My current favorite is Vidalia Onion dressing or French.  I love the mix of sweet from the dressing and sour from the vinegar.  It also helps cut calories because you're not using as much dressing.  Sometimes I will use this as my meal by adding some chicken salad, tuna salad, or nitrite/nitrate free lunch meat.
Cheese - I buy a 2lb block of cheese and will cube it about 1/3 a block at a time.  It lasts a while that way.  I can have the cheese with my salads, fruit, eggs, on crackers, or just by itself.
Boiled Eggs - These are something that we tend to keep around at all times.  I keep one in my lunch box and replace it when it gets eaten.  I eat them in my salads, with cheese, or by themselves with a topping.  I'll dip them just like the veggies in salad dressing or our homemade flavored mayonnaise (yum!).

I hope I've inspired you to try some new healthy snacks for work.  Creating the habit is the hard part.  Once you do that, you can move on to your next goal!  I love sharing tips and ideas.  How do you eat healthy at work?

5 Ways to Help You Eat Healthy at Work

We're trying very hard to change our diet at home.  Trying to get away from prepackaged foods as much as possible and moving to whole foods, organic, and non-processed.  While it's much easier to accomplish this at home, I've set up some steps for myself to accomplish this at work as well.  Right now I have a desk job, but I used to work in the field.  These tips can be adjusted to fit any type of work with just a little brain power and want to.

1.  Set limits and goals - This was the first step for me.  I had to realize what my goal was and what steps I needed to get there.  Offices are notorious for candy dishes, sweet goods for breakfast, monthly birthday cake and ice cream, etc.  My first goal was to limit or eliminate what I partake of in those departments.  In order to do that I had to give myself choices of things to eat instead....things I WANTED to eat.  It doesn't do any good to look longingly at the doughnuts on the table and go back to your desk with a piece of fruit if what you really wanted was the doughnut.  Trust me, you'll end up eating both.  Find things you ENJOY eating, then the doughnut won't look quite so tempting.  Yes, it still takes will power, but not quite as much.  Then, if you just can't take it and indulge anyways, cut the doughnut in half, only get one piece of candy instead of four, or just get ice cream instead of cake AND ice cream.  Don't beat yourself up about it.    Enjoy your little splurge and tell yourself that you can do better next time.  Habits take a while to make, and realizing that will help you to forgive yourself and move on.

2.  Plan ahead - This one takes a little practice.  Once you decide what you want to eat, a little planning goes a long way.  Precut and preportion your veggies and put them in a resealable container for grab-n-go snacks.  Boil half a dozen eggs for quick protein boosters.  Make a big batch of hummus and freeze it in preportioned bags.  When putting dinner away, go ahead and make your lunch plate for the next day.  Little things make a big difference in having the "time" to eat right.

3.  Stock up - I'm thrifty....ok cheap.  I make periodic trips to Big Lots for groceries and stock up on sale items.  Eating organic is expensive.  Heck, eating healthy is expensive.  If I find a shelf stable item that's on sale or at a discount store I stock up.  There are a few things I keep at my desk at all times, so I stock up when I can.  Boxes of soup (we try not to get anything in a tin can), regular oats for my morning oatmeal, nuts, seeds, raisins, protein or snack bars, peanut butter, honey sticks.  By keeping options at my desk (or in the car if I'm traveling), I'm less likely to go out to eat or pick up an unhealthy snack or meal.

4.  Bring leftovers - This one is kind of a no brainer.  It saves money and allows you to know exactly what's in the meal you're eating.  We try to always cook extra so I can bring leftovers the next day, sometimes two days.  We will also make our own freezer meals with leftovers for times when there's nothing in the fridge for me to take to work.  I just grab a freezer meal and I'm off!  Since I already have healthy snacks at work, my day is set.

5.  Snack wise - This one takes some brain power.  I'm constantly trying to think of healthy things I can  snack on at work.  Since I usually bring leftovers for lunch, snacks are my hardest category to fill.  My list of shelf stable items is above under "Stock Up."  Items I bring on a rotational basis include cottage cheese,  Greek or homeade yogurt, veggies & hummus, cheese & fruit, and boiled eggs.  Protein is important for helping you stay full longer, so I try to include some protein with my snacks.

I know some of the items above may sound a little bland or boring, and eating the same thing all the time can get old fast.  Variety is the key to keeping your healthy eating habits alive.  You can view recipes for some of the above items and give you lots of ideas for mixing up that healthy menu here...

I'd love to hear your tips for healthy eating at work.  Do you have any to add to the list?

Why I Started this Blog...

I don't know how many blogs are out there....probably over a million.  Why is mine different?  Because it's me.  You know how sometimes you read something and it's just like you could have written it yourself?  You just connect with the person that wrote it, on a deeper level it seems.  I hope that you get that from reading my blog posts.  Sure...there are plenty of blogs out there on all of the topics that I'm passionate about, and many of them are wonderful and have helped me heal from one thing or another.  I hope I can be that healing help for someone else, or a laugh, or "Yeah, I can relate." if nothing else.  I hope to open someones mind about something they might not have known anything about, or that they had mixed feelings on previously.  And, I'm not gonna lie, writing is therapeutic and healing for me sometimes as well.  Sometimes it just feels good to get things off of your chest.

So, my journey begins here....