snack attack!

This one goes out to the top of the Kinder Class - Thanks for the continual inspiration Lou!

Below are snacks for mid-day and life: They are focused on good fats, high protein, and complex carbs to keep you full longer and nutrient rich.

Snacks between 100-200 calories

Choose one or mix the following snackable fruits and veggies:

- Veggies: Celery/carrots/ bell pepper/ jicama/ cucumber sliced : broccoli/cauliflower floretes

- Apple/pear/grapes

Eat with : 1 tbsp almond butter, 4 tbsp hummus, Meso dip (1/2 tbsp meso, 1/2 tbsp tahini or almond butter, 1 tbsp honey), Beet hummus , creamy vegan "ricotta" dip, Vegan Ranch Dressing, Sesame Dip, Guac or Avocado Dip, or salsa. You can also use your favorite salad dressing or nut butter.

Use between 1/2 a fruit to a whole bell pepper - Obvi the more you use the more calories but to keep it between 100-200 use 1 tbsp nut butters/avocado and 4tbsp hummus's, as much salsa as you want, and 2 tbsp salad dressings. Great tiny Tupperware are awesome for the dips and ziploc sandwich baggies are great for the fruits/veggies (you can get all of this at Target)

-Protein Powder (whey, rice, pea, casin, egg) 100 cal = 18-20 g protein, and unsweetened almond milk (40 cal per 8 oz serving) in a shaker.

-Hard boiled eggs with salt and pepper and sliced apples or with the below mentioned crackers/bread

Snacks between 200-300 calories

-Turkey slices with one of the following:

• Cranberry sauce and lettuce- wrap a slice of turkey in the lettuce with cranberry sauce inside - you can get organic cranberry sauce from berkeley bowl or whole foods made with less to no sugar.
• Avocado and lettuce - again wrap in lettuce

-Canned tuna with 1 tbsp of each - lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar or mustard: add in one of : rellish/pickles/celery/cucumber/ kim chi/ sauerkraut/ capers - spice with Dill, Tumeric, Cayanne pepper, celtic sea salt and pepper. Eat with Celery, vegan-gluten free herb crackers, Cranberry almond loaf (gluten free), rosemary fig crackers (gluten free)

-Almonds or Walnuts and unfiltered-raw Honey ; just dip the nuts into the honey - I usually don't measure but to make it 200-300 cal you will want to use about 14-20 almonds/walnuts and a tbsp of honey.

-dried fruit/nut/seeds:

• Sprouted Seeds from Go Raw (whole foods or berkeley bowl)
• Sprouted Nuts (why sprouted? because it breaks down the cellulose wall to release more protein and nutrients)
• Mixes: GoHunza mixes are the best because they use super foods like gogi berries. Most dried fruit has sulfur and sugar added to preserve color and increase taste - both of these are bad and negate the value of the food - also dried fruit is not filling and lots of calories because they use large chunks which shrink to bite size pieces - it would be better to eat real fruit or limit it to super-fruits (gogi, mullberries, golden raisins, unsweetened cherries/blueberries) - you could also mix freeze-dried fruit with nuts that would be crunchy and good - freeze dried fruit is less calories and without the additives -still tasty

400-500 Calorie Snacks (perfect for meal replacement or post-workout breakfast)

-Gluten free bagel (sans milk - substitute the milk in the recipe for coconut milk or almond milk) with almond butter and honey/jam OR sunny side up egg and turkey breast OR Lox and Soy/Milk free Cashew Cream Cheese.

-1-2 slices Cranberry almond loaf with 1-2 tbsp almond butter, 1 sliced banana and 1 tbsp honey, sprinkle with cinnamon.

POST WORKOUT

-Berry Delicious Green Shake 350 cal:

• 1 frozen banana,
• 1 c frozen berries,
• 8 oz unsweetened almond milk,
• 1 c H2O,
• 1 scoop Protein Powder (your choice: whey, egg, casin, rice, hemp, pea)
• 1 scoop spirullina
• 1 tbsp flax seed oil
• 1 tbsp agave nectar or honey if you want to sweeten it (OPTIONAL)

Granola bars:

makes a whole 9X18'' glass casserole dish - cut up into 2''x1'' for 200 cal (taking all of the below into account) -

• Oats : 2 cups
• Rice crisps (the cereal that you make rice crispies out of) 1 cup
• raisins/dried cherries/or Gogi berries OR chopped nuts of your choice (OPTIONAL)
• Date rolls (these are in the bulk bins at whole foods/berkeley bowl - it is a roll of date covered in coconut shavings with or without a slice of almond on top) about 10 rolls
• Almond butter (whole jar)
• Agave Nectar or RAW honey (1 cup)
• coconut oil (1 cup) OPTIONAL
• Chocolate chips/ coconut shavings/ carob chips etc. OPTIONAL - you can get grain or unsweetened which is best.
• Protein powder (10 servings)
• Hemp seeds/flax seeds 1 cup
• Spirullina (5 servings)

on the stove warm (not boil or over heat) coconut oil, almond butter, agave nectar, date bars.

in a dry large bowl mix : cereal, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, protein powder, seeds, spirullina.

When stove top mix is fluid and warm add to the dry mix and mix completely. If the mix is too dry add more agave/honey/OR Almond butter. If the mix is too wet add more cereal/oats. You want the consistency to be like a bar. Place into the glass dish and put the in the fridge - keep in the fridge and cut into 9 servings which you can put in ziplock bags and take with you - in the fridge it will last about 2-3 weeks - outside the fridge it is good for about 2 days.

My FAVE bars to purchase

22 days - "it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, by the 22 day you have found the way" vegan, high protein bars (10-15g/bar - hemp/rice/pea protein). Omega fats. 250 calories a bar

Standard Processes - made 40/30/30; whey/egg protein. Coco crisp and coco cherry crisp are the highest protein. 200 calories a bar.

YouBar - design your own bar, cereal, shakes, and cookies - typically 180 cal per bar - can make high protein

NOTES and COMMENTS

• Pre-practice you want to eat mostly carbs 80% carbs, 20% protein and whatever fat just happens to be there - fat and fiber can upset your tummy before a practice because of the longer digestion and its laxative effect on you GI track. Therefore options for PRE practice should be carb rich - fruit with lower fiber - bananas and grapes. Yams are great pre practice food. A carb drink (check out anti-inflammatory page) - like fruit juice). Date rolls or just dates are great pre-practice. Coconut water. Oats/granola.
• Post-Practice you want to eat mostly protein and carbs - BUT you need fat! You need to get your body the nutrients it needs to re-build - for a practice less than 1 hour and a heart rate in steady state you do not need to eat anything - but if you do high intensity work or anything over 1 hour you need to eat protein, carbs, and fat after. All of the above snacks would work. You also need to eat this within 30 Min of getting out of the boat - as soon as you stop training the clock starts and the longer you wait - each min that goes by is a % of nutrient assimilation lost - so the sooner you eat the better. A super easy option is something like Chocolate milk but that is not dairy - like whey with coconut milk is ideal - you get the carbs, fat, protein.
• Snacks are great because you want to eat many small meals to keep your metabolism up and your blood sugar level - incorporate 1-4 of these snacks into your daily routine to help decrease weight and keep your physical well-being high.