Yep, I’ admit it. I’m a snacker.

There was a time in my life when I would snack so bad that I couldn’t stop eating sometimes. We would be watching one of our many favorite TV shows, and I honestly could eat a whole bag of chips in one sitting. It was so subconscious. It was horrible.

That was a major hurdle for me this past year. Learning how to either not snack at all, or to snack more healthy.

I have pretty much eliminated snacking at home. If I do, I grab a yogurt, or some strip-cheese. Every so often I’ll binge on a good pint of ice cream or some cookies, but it’s few and far between.

So now my problem was me snacking at work. I mean in a 12hr shift, nurses exert and use up a CRAP LOAD of energy. And… getting a formal lunch break is unheard of these days with the staffing shortages that have no end in sight. So I of course solved the no lunch problem by eating throughout the day. Yep, snacking.

So I had to figure out how to satisfy my hunger pangs at work, without shoving too much crappy food down my throat. I mean I take a great leap forward with my home habit and then fall 10 steps backward by eating nothing but candy and junk at work.

So I thought I’d share some of the ‘more’ healthy things I eat at work that get me through the day. Now by no means are these things the picture of health. In fact most have a good bit of fat content. But they have a great taste and aren’t as horrible for your body as that Hershey’s Chocolate bar, or a bag of M&M’s. Which I find are so readily available to nurses working in a hospital.

So in no particular order here is what I snack on throughout the day to keep my metabolism in check at work.

Hostess Mini Muffins- great for the on-the-go breakfast snack

• 15g Fat
• 32g Carbohydrates
• 3g Protein

Quaker Oats Oatmeal To Go(sorry for the blurry pic)- also a great breakfast item. I actually eat a lot of these. It’s also a great way of reducing your cholesterol!

• 4g Fat
• 44g Carbohydrates
• 4g Protein

Kellogg’s Special K Bar – this actually surprised me how good they taste

• 1.5g Fat
• 18g Carbohydrates
• 1g Protein

Nature Valley Roasted Peanut Crunch Bar – another surprise on how good these taste

• 12g Fat
• 14g Carbohydrates
• 7g Protein

Cutie Pie Snack Pies- sorry these are just darn good, portable and great tasting. Yep this is the one snack that’s just all around not healthy, but a vice I’m willing to live with. The funny thing is these has less fat than the Peanut Crunch Bar.

• 10g Fat
• 28g Carbohydrates
• 1g Protein

(Once again, none of these are the epitome of health, but they are also not candy bars!)

Let us keep in mind, the more weight you lose, and the more muscle you gain, the higher your metabolism gets. So your body will burn calories way more efficiently and your hunger pangs will be more frequently. I have trained my body to have a snack or eat a small meal every 2-4hrs these days. So I’m not only keeping my metabolism at a steady level (instead of the roller coastering effect most of us have) but I’m not STORING any of the fat. I burn it up throughout the day due to my frequency and size of my meals.

Even if only one of these items helps, it’s better than nothing at all.

Baby steps folks. Baby steps.

Carpe Diem