How to Snack Well

With all the fairly recent hype about healthy eating, one of the most common suggestions you’ll hear is to eat 5-7 small meals throughout the day, rather than relying on 3 large, heavy meals. Essentially, the idea is to eat three smaller “meals” (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) separated by at least two bouts of serious snacking. The reason for this method of eating is to keep your metabolism working throughout the day, instead of letting it sit idly by, storing unwanted fat, in between having to work overtime processing a huge meal every 5 or 6 hours. Makes sense, right? Well, one problem with this theory that I’ve come to notice is that it is very hard to find a large variety of snack suggestions out there (or they’re not as well advertised as they should be) that aren’t full of unnecessary sugars, fats, and other ingredients that knock your healthy habits back a step or two. I know it’s nearly impossible to compile a fully comprehensive list of every snack suggestion available, but I thought I’d at least offer a little assistance to boost your healthy decision-making skills. Let me know if I miss anything!

1. Don’t buy something that’s bad for you. This goes along with the general idea of, “out of sight, out of mind.” You can’t eat something you don’t have, so why tempt yourself? Make sure you account for healthy snacks when you plan out your grocery list and don’t deviate! Write down delicious foods that fuel your body and that you know you’ll enjoy, and keep on walking when you see the “Cookies and Crackers” aisle at the store.

2. Don’t distract yourself. Just as you shouldn’t eat dinner while watching TV, you shouldn’t snack while reading, watching Real Housewives, surfing the net, or talking on the phone. You should be 100% conscious of what you’re putting in your mouth at all times. This way, you’re completely aware of the signals your stomach is giving your brain and you’ll know when to stop, instead of being distracted while you eat, which causes you to consume too much. It’s easy to fall into the habit of mindless snacking, especially because you’re not eating a full meal, so “a couple more chips won’t hurt, right?” Hold yourself back and savor the amount of food you are eating, rather than concentrating on something else instead.

3. Plan your snacks too. Do you plan your meals for the day when you get up in the morning, or do you just kind of wing it? If you’re one of the “wing it” folks, I’m going to take a guess that you probably grab the most convenient and tasty food to eat for snacks, yes? I used to do this all the time, but do you know what helped me stop? I started planning out my foods each day. Instead of eating what sounded good right then and there, which often led me to make unhealthy choices, I began deciding everything I would eat after I woke up in the morning. A brief example would be: a bowl of oatmeal with almond butter and dates for breakfast, 2 plums for a mid-morning snack, a veggie wrap (hummus, lettuce, tomato, avocado, pickles on a whole wheat tortilla) and an apple with almond/peanut butter for lunch, carrot sticks dipped in hummus for mid-afternoon snack, and kale pesto with spinach penne pasta for dinner followed by a bowl of cherries for dessert. You don’t have to get that detailed when you first start planning your day’s food, but try and make sure you at least have an idea of what you’re going to eat throughout the day. This helps you avoid reaching for a bag of chips in the afternoon or a stack of Oreos after dinner.

4. Pack the night before. If you’re not going to be home all day, snacking becomes a little harder, particularly if your only choices at work or school come from a vending machine. Therefore, why not make it easy on yourself? Before you go to bed at night, pack a plastic container or two with your snacks for the next day. This way, all you have to do is grab them and go when you’re headed out the door in the morning! You can also use this method for your lunch, if you don’t get to go home or have limited options for a healthy mid-day meal.

5. Don’t eat from the bag. I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, but I’m going to reiterate it once more: you’ll eat less if you fill a bowl with cherries than if you eat them straight from the packaging they came in. A similar concept is usually suggested for eating your meals on smaller dishes rather than hugely oversized plates and bowls. You can trick your mind into accepting the portions before you, and you’ll end up not overeating! It’s very easy to eat too much when every time you put your hand back in the bag, there’s still food in it. Next time you have some trail mix, for example, pour it into a small bowl and see if you end up eating less than usual.

6. Listen to your cravings. Sometimes it’s okay to change your meal plan for the day. If you had planned to eat some broccoli as a mid-afternoon snack, but 3:00 rolls around and you really want some cashews instead, have some cashews! Usually a craving is your body’s way of letting you know it needs a certain vitamin or mineral that’s found in that food you really want. As long as you’re not replacing grapes with cake or whole grain crackers with greasy potato chips, you shouldn’t be afraid to branch out from your day’s plan a little.

7. Only eat if you’re hungry. When all is said and done, even if you have every bit of food you're going to consume planned out, it all comes down to listening to your body. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat. There’s no reason to feel guilty or like you’re cheating your body by not eating a snack today. If you ate a larger lunch than you’re used to, or your breakfast has kept you full throughout the morning, it’s okay not to eat a snack that day. You obviously shouldn’t starve yourself, but you also shouldn’t force yourself to eat if you aren’t hungry. That being said…

8. Know what “hungry” means. Many times, people confuse hunger and thirst. If you’ve been eating a healthy amount of meals with decent portions, but somehow you feel like you’re starving at 2pm one day, try drinking some water before you reach for a granola bar. The sensation of being hungry is often felt when we’re actually dehydrated, so just drinking a glass or two of water might make you feel better without forcing you to eat more than you need. Another thing to keep in mind is, if you start to get those sharp hunger pains in your abdomen, you’ve gone too long without eating. When that happens, your body is going into “starvation mode,” so whatever you eat will likely be stored immediately as fat. To avoid this scenario, the signal I like to look for is when my stomach feels empty but not in pain – that’s typically when I know I’m actually hungry.

To conclude, I’ll leave you with a list of healthy snacks I typically eat on a daily basis. You can always tailor these to your needs or preferences; so don’t feel obligated to follow my list exclusively. I hope these tips help you explore snacking in a healthy way. Let me know if you have a suggestion I forgot to mention!

My Typical Snacks:

• an apple, sliced into chunks, served with nut butter
• a peach
• a pear
• 1 medium (or 2 small) plums
• 1 cup cherries
• a handful of baby carrots, sometimes dipped in hummus
• 1-2 stalks celery, served with nut butter
• 1 cup of homemade trail mix with almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, raisins, and dried cranberries
• 1 cup of store-bought trail mix (if you don’t buy in bulk, make sure you read the ingredient label to avoid excess sugar and sodium especially)
• a handful of whole grain crackers (homemade or a brand like Kashi is good)
• a banana
•  2 slices of homemade bread (banana, pumpkin, zucchini, etc.)
•  3-4 dried, pitted dates
• 1 cup strawberries
•  about 1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews, almonds, or peanuts
• 1 homemade breakfast bar, like my Cherry Date Breakfast Bars (if you buy granola/energy bars pre-packaged, make sure you read the ingredient label!)
• 1/2 tomato, sliced, with a pinch of salt sprinkled on top
• 1 slice of bread, toasted, topped with 1/2 an avocado
• a cup of yogurt (non-dairy for me) with a handful of berries tossed in
• 3-4 lettuce wraps (1 wrap is: sliced tomato, sliced avocado, and a pickle or two, wrapped in a leaf of lettuce, usually with a bit of hummus spread on the bottom)

How to Transition to a Plant-Based Diet

There's a lot of stigma behind labels these days. Most people feel the need to categorize themselves and others into neat little boxes of definition when, in reality, the world works more like a Venn diagram (does anyone even use these anymore?) than mutually exclusive squares. Math references aside, I'm thinking specifically of dietary lifestyles. Beyond the most general terms like "omnivore" and "herbivore," we can very easily get caught up in the world of "pescatarian," "pollotarian," "lacto-ovo-vegetarian," "ovo-vegetarian," "lacto-vegetarian," "vegan," "raw vegan," "100% vegetarian," "flexitarian," "fruitarian," and "microbiotic," to name a few. One thing to remember, though, is that labeling yourself limits yourself.

No two people are the same, so no two people have exactly the same lifestyle tendencies. Don't get me wrong; sometimes it's easier to explain to people that you're "vegan," even if you do eat honey, or that you're "vegetarian," even if you still eat fish. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't feel the need to fit yourself into one particular genre. Find what works for your specific body and live it up! This is why I prefer to use the term "plant-based diet" to describe the vast number of variations found among lifestyles, whether you occasionally eat red meat or you only eat uncooked fruits and vegetables. The most important point I want to emphasize is to be aware of what you're eating. Therefore, I hope this list of tips helps shed some light on making the transition to a plant-based diet, if that's the route you choose to take.

Quick disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, a registered dietician, nutritionist, nurse, or doctor. If you have any questions or concerns about making any lifestyle changes, I would recommend talking to your doctor first. This is simply a compilation of tips I have procured from my own experiences.


1. Make it personal. Before you start to make any changes with your food intake, do some research. Figure out why you want to make these changes and get passionate about it! The worst thing you could do is decide to eat a plant-based diet because someone else told you to do so, or because you just feel like trying out something new, but really aren't that into it. I guarantee it won't last. With most things in life, you have to decide why this is important to you and let that be your motivation to change. Otherwise, it will be very easy to slip back into your old ways. Whether it's for ethical, health, ecological, or financial reasons, that's up to you, but find a reason to want to change. To educate yourself, I recommend watching a few documentaries (Forks Over Knives is a fantastic one, as well as Fresh, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and Food, Inc. if you have a strong stomach), reading some books (Veganist is the one that Oprah read!), and checking out some online articles (like here, here, here, and here). Hit up Google and read/watch as much as you possibly can, preferably from as many different sources as you can find. You'll notice there are people that try to scare you into a plant-based diet, but you'll also find that there are many people who take a practical look at all healthy lifestyles. Get out there and learn!

2. Don't go cold turkey. One of the worst ways to transition to a plant-based diet is to skip the "transition" part and just jump right in. Weaning yourself off the foods you've been eating for years is something that has to happen slowly, just like any other addiction. Start by replacing one meal a week with a meatless alternative, gradually increasing the number of meatless meals at your own pace. For example, say you're planning on making spaghetti for dinner tonight. Instead of browning the ground beef for the sauce, skip it. Try making a delicious spaghetti sauce by adding spices instead of meat! I would also suggest not throwing out the meat you already purchased. If you've completely cut out red meat from your diet, make a dish to bring to a friend or family member. Then, the next time you head to the grocery store, simply avoid the meat counter. Challenge yourself to find new, exciting recipes that don't include animal flesh.

3. Try out some recipes. Many people who decide to stop eating meat tend to lean towards the processed meat alternatives instead. I won't lie -- I did it too! Morning Star is a great company that makes delicious alternatives to ground beef, sausage, and chicken. They even make frozen dinners and you can find them in just about every grocery store (including Wal-Mart). However, any processed food, whether it's made from vegetables or not, is not a healthy option. Therefore, don't be afraid to try some recipes out in your own kitchen! Believe it or not, cooking vegetarian/vegan food is actually a lot easier than cooking with meat. You don't have to worry about food poisoning from undercooked meat, plus the food doesn't take nearly as long to cook, and you'll save a lot of money not buying meat. Some really great cookbooks I recommend you try (check your local library if you can't afford or don't want to buy them): Veganomicon, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Super Natural Cooking, Super Natural Every Day, The Kind Diet, Fresh at Home, The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Don't forget blogs either! There are some really fantastic (and free!) sites out there that cater to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, including: 101 Cookbooks, Sprouted Kitchen, Green Kitchen Stories, Mighty Vegan, Happyolks, My Darling Lemon Thyme, Choosing Raw, Post Punk Kitchen, have cake, will travel, Not Without Salt, Pure Vegetarian by Lakshmi, Roost, No Meat Athlete, and Two Spoons.

4. Get colorful. An easy way to make sure you're getting enough vegetable variety in your meals is to rely on color. You should try to strive for a plate that has a lot of green (dark and light), some orange, some red, and a little bit of yellow, white, or brown. A trap that many people fall into is relying too heavily on carbs such as pasta, bread, and rice, to make up for the lack of meat in their meals. Try using whole wheat pasta, quinoa, and whole wheat bread (homemade is great!) instead, and eat them in moderation, as with all things. As for adding leafy greens to your menu, it's much easier than you might think. Add some Romaine or green-leaf lettuce to your deli sandwich, chop up some kale and throw it in your salad, or add some spinach leaves to your scrambled eggs or breakfast burrito.

5. Try some new snacks. Okay, so you've got the whole meal part down, but what do you do about snacks? It's so easy to grab a bag of chips or a couple cookies to tide you over until dinner, but those choices kind of ruin the whole "eating healthy" thing. Instead of snacking on foods that are high in sodium, fat, and sugar, start replacing them with fruits and vegetables. An apple with some nut butter (almond, peanut, sunflower, etc.) is a great choice, or if you like the nut butter idea, why not have some with celery? Instead of eating dessert, eat some fruit, such as bananas, apples, oranges, peaches, strawberries, mangoes, or melons! Carrot sticks are another great snack, as long as you're not dipping them in fatty salad dressings. Try some cheese with your carrots! Or if you want something salty, you can get all kinds of nuts and seeds in bulk at your local health food store (like Whole Foods, Earth Fare, and Fresh Market); just make sure you get them unsalted, so you can add however much salt you want. Usually the pre-salted nuts have way more sodium than your body needs. Don't keep unhealthy snacks in the house either. You know that saying, "out of sight, out of mind?" It definitely works in this case. If you don't have sweets and fatty snacks to tempt you, you'll find you'll stop craving them.

6. Find out what your body likes. We live in a world where dairy and meat alternatives are plenty. This is super helpful for anyone who doesn't want to make their own nut milk or cultivate their own soybeans and turn them into tofu! As far as finding the right alternatives, especially where dairy products are concerned, it's important to try different kinds so you can decide what you like. The three most popular dairy-free milks are soy, almond, and coconut milk. Some great brands to try are Silk soy milk, Almond Breeze almond milk, and So Delicious coconut milk. So Delicious also makes scrumptious non-dairy coffee creamers, yogurt, and ice cream! It's a little trickier to find cheese alternatives that don't taste weird, but Lisanatti makes some great "cheese" out of almonds, and Daiya is another good choice. As for meat alternatives, tofu, tempeh, and seitan are the most commonly found options. You should try out Nasoya tofu, WestSoy seitan (or you can easily make some at home!), and Lightlife tempeh.

7. Don't forget your protein. One of the questions people following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle most often face is, "don't you get enough protein?" A common misconception is that plant-based diets don't provide enough protein for your daily intake, but in all actuality, Americans eat way more protein than their bodies need. This site offers a great breakdown of the necessary daily protein intake for vegetarians and vegans, and here's some more awesome protein information! An easy rule I try to follow is to make sure I include one serving of protein in every meal, whether it's peanut butter, cashews, tofu, almond "cheese," or beans, for example. It's actually pretty easy to make sure you have enough protein, and not using meat to fulfill the requirements means less cholesterol and fat, too. Win-win!


I hope this post has helped open up your dietary perspective a bit. If nothing else, I hope you give some of these tips a try. Plants are delicious and good for you! You really can't go wrong. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know if there's anything I left out or if you have any questions. I'd love to hear your thoughts!