Oh, to be 4 years old again.

I. LOVE. SNACKS. 

If I had half a chance, I’d probably skip meals and eat just snacks instead.

While everyday is a good day for snacking in my book, you have to be careful that you’re not accidently going overboard. Especially when you’re stuck in sedimentary places like the car or in a movie theatre with free reign over the snack bar or those pesky gas station convenience stores.  

Over the weekend, I was able to make a few more observations about some better snacking choices and was actually pretty impressed at the truck stop I went into!  In addition to the usual suspects (candy, chips, etc), they had apples, bananas, freshly cut fruit (it was paired up with a Carl’s Jr), and cups of sliced veggies!  Talk about making life easy!

Some more tips for snacking smart on the road or on the go: 

• Plan ahead! If you’re uncertain of your path for the day, don’t go unprepared and hope for the best.  The worst thing that can happen is the snack gets eaten at a later time. 
• Go with easy finger foods.  Skip things like “a small salad” or “mini pita sandwiches” and go for easy…bananas, carrot sticks, hummus and pita chips…your car will thank you! 
• Protein! It sounds cliche, but protein does help you stay fuller longer.  Eating a king sized bag of m&ms, while tasty, will burn all that sugar and leave you wanting even more things to snack on.  I find almonds or cashews are my most common choice…honey roasted it I’m feeling crazy.  Look at your ingredients, the less weird stuff the better!
• Drink smarter coffee!  I am addicted to coffee. It is delicious.  So naturally if I head out on the road early, it’s what I want…which is fine, but make sure to pack WATER.  I’m a firm Americano drinker which is 90% water anyways, but the coffee will counteract the hydration water would normally offer.  Also, opt out of buying those bottled coffees from the case the are PACKED with sugar and find a coffee box or drive thru instead so you can have a little control about what’s going in your brew!  Fan fav: 20oz Americano, 1″vanilla soy + 2T raw sugar and cinnamon powder.  

So snack away!!  If you have any other tips, I’d love to hear them 🙂

Happy Trails,

A