Almost every day someone asks me for snack ideas. I don't generally recommend snacking at all, if it can be helped but sometimes it is better than crashing the whole train into the wall! Also, I would say that most fruits and nuts should be consumed only in moderation. That being said I do have a great deal of sympathy for those of you who are trapped in this rut! The tendency for people to feel a need for snacking comes from both the ingrained habit as well as the hormonal response to the types of foods we eat. There are "trigger foods" that can cause a person to eat even when they are full. These foods generally consist of carb or sugar-laden foods because of the large swing in insulin and leptin from eating them. The more you eat these foods, the less sensitive your body is to the signals of leptin and insulin so your natural "full" response to eating will get dulled forming a cycle of apparent need - "jonesing" for sweets or carbs late into the night! I speak from experience, I'm the guy who looks in the pantry fifteen times per night even when I know there is nothing in there. I'll eat a whole box of gluten-free cookies if we have them in the house. You will probably notice that these cravings are also mostly at night and at times when the brain is not engaged and challenged ie; watching T.V. This is a further sign of hormone disregulation and brain chemical imbalances. If you follow a natural paleo-style diet you will stand the best chance of balancing these various systems and getting rid of the cravings to a large degree. Here are the guidelines I follow for eating, my "diet" if you will, it is based on Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution diet and writings by Loren Cordain, Mark Sisson and Nora Gedgaudes as well as many more nutrition experts.
1. No white carbs, ie: bread, pasta rice.
2. 5 hours between meals.
3. don't drink your calories, ie: beer, fruit juice smoothies but drink plenty of water.
4. Don't eat fruit, a handful of berries is OK.
5. Eat good quality protein and fat at every meal.
6. Eat as much "above ground" veggies as you want and make sure you eat a lot!
7. No processed oils or vegetable oils and trans-fats. Only animal fats and fish oil, coconut oil and olive oil.
8. If it could not be killed, picked or pulled out of the ground, it is not food!! Don't be fooled by "natural" or "fat free" or "healthy" labels.
9. No food for 3 hours before bed
The more I eat this way, the less I crave food in between meals and sometimes I only eat two meals per day even when I am slinging drywall in the day, followed by boot-camp and Kickboxing classes at night.
It takes a little more planning at times to eat right when you are out a lot for work or travel or even training. By planning I mean, cooking an extra portion the night before to bring to work the next day and stocking the fridge and cupboards with items that are not going to cause problems.
Now, here is a list of some snacks that you can try to incorporate into your daily plan. I hope this helps. I will also keep adding as I find new ideas and I will post them here and at Coach Toby Combat Systems facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/coachtoby/?ref=ts
1- Cook up some beef, chicken or prawn skewers the night before and bring them to work, it's like jerky on a stick!
2- Cut up lots of veggies and fruit to keep in the fridge but store them in a bowl of water with lemon juice or spray some lemon juice on them and cover this will keep them from going brown.
3- Use lots of seasonal squash and pumpkins for your stews and dinner side dishes and wash the seeds, bake them on a pan with coconut oil and sea salt to keep in paper bags in the pantry for munching later.
4- Mmmm... trail mix! Mix nuts, seeds, dried berries and a little dark chocolate nibs, use your imagination.
5- Pepperoni chips - , your kids will love them! Cut into thin slices a whole bag of firm pepperoni sticks and cook them in the micowave until they are hard. Eat em like chips!
6- Pop sorgum seeds like popcor, oh yah!
7- 85% cocoa or above chocolate seems to take away most sweet carvings with the least amount of damage.
8- Roll up strips of cheese into slices of roast beef and eat them like roll-ups.
9- A teaspoon of coconut oil in your coffee or tea gives your body what it really needs for energy but dampens your hunger and helps to adapt your metabolism to run on fats.
10- Smoked salmon and beef jerky are good stand-bys.
11- Kale baked in the oven with oil and sea salt makes great chips.
12- If you like pickles you can but naturally fermented pickles and Kim Chi and sauerkraut at farmers markets like Langley F.M.. These you can also make yourself - look up the how-tos on youtube, there are tonnes! Naturally fermented foods are very healing to the gut and have been known to help with many auto-imune issues.
13- How bout a simple boiled egg?!?
14- Full fat yogurt, non-sweetened ( you could throw in some vanilla stevia for taste)
15- Smoothy - can of coconut milk, 2 to 4 eggs raw, yogurt or Kefir and sweeten with stevia.
16- Remember pork rinds? Turns out they are not all that bad for you!
17- Coconut flakes (big ones) You can add this to your trail mix or eat by themselves.
18- Cosco has a gluten-free quinoa crackers that are very thin and low in carbs, slap on some almond butter or some goat cheese and liver pate and you got some good eatin'!
19- For snack or sometimes desert I like seasonal berries in heavy cream or coconut milk.
Try this recipe for chocolate cake! I stole it from the blog - http://paleospirit.com/2011/chocolate-paleo-snack-cake/
Ingredients;
10 medjool dates, pitted (I buy mine in bulk at Costco)
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce (or one ripe banana)
3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine celtic sea salt
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
Instructions
Place the dates in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed.
Add applesauce (or banana) and continue to pulse until pureed and combined with the dates.
Add the fruit purée to the bowl of a stand mixer, add the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and coffee and mix on low-medium speed until well combined.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed, scraping down the sides, until you have a smooth batter.
Grease a 8×8 glass pan with coconut oil, pour in the batter and smooth it with the back of a spatula.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.
Here is a recipe for rolls that are gluten free ass well as carb free and they are good for dinner or desert! I stole this one from this blog - http://blog.yourlighterside.com/2009/05/gluten-free-low-carb-buns-aka-oopsie.html
3 large eggs
pinch of cream of tartar (1/8 tsp)
3 ounces cream cheese (Do not soften)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Separate the eggs and add cream cheese to the yolks. Use a mixer to combine the ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff (if you're using the same mixer, mix the whites first and then the yolk mixture). Using a spatula, gradually fold the egg yolk mixture into the white mixture, being careful not to break down the whites. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and spoon the mixture onto the sheet, making 6 mounds. Flatten each mound slightly.
Bake about 30 minutes (You want them slightly softer, not crumbly). Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes, and then remove to a rack and allow them to cool. Store in a loosely open sack and allow to rest on the counter before use (otherwise they might be too moist). Can be frozen.
Notes: If you are making these to be savory (for burgers) you can add dry mustard and dill or other seasonings to the yolk mixture. If you want a more sweet roll, add a very small amount of stevia natural sweetener to the yolk mixture.
Nutritional information per roll: Calories:85 , Carbohydrates: .6 g, Fiber: 0g, Net Carbohydrates: .6g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 7.5
Finally, here are some ideas from Mark Sisson of "The Primal Blueprint" - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/snack-solutions-primal-alternatives-for-non-primal-snacks/
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