Getting Back on the Healthy Snack Bandwagon

9 Aug 2012

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Food for Thought
Carla
by

getting back on the healthy snack bandwagon

I’m a believer in the saying pride goeth before a fall.

I’ve learned its veracity the hard way.  For that reason, even when things are chugging along happily for me in the health & fitness realm, I no longer let myself become, well, prideful.

Weight loss maintained for a while? Careful whatcha brag about as that’s precisely the time you’ll hit a road-bump and encounter a struggle.

On the workout streak to end all workout streaks? Tooteth your horn not.  Trust me, just as the final BEEP emerges from your mouth, all exercise-mojo of yours will disappear. Been there.  Tooted that. Lost the motivation.

I now prefer to simply keep doing what I’m doing and help as many others as I can along the way.  I’ve found the ‘cheering on’ I do for others can come back to help me in unexpected ways.

When people seek my help, it’s often during the explanation process I realize I’m no longer doing what I’d thought I was or living as healthfully as I could.

What’s my point with all this?

Had you asked me if my family and I were rocking the healthy snacks I would have answered with a resounding YES.

When my sister asked me for tips for healthy snackage for her family I realized, as I listed and answered, we’d gotten off-track.

Way.

Gone were the probiotic foods.  Vanished were the organic graham crackers and readily-accessible-in-fridge raw veggies.

I went through the inevitable internal-realization process (shock-denial-guilt-acceptance-readyforchange) and emerged with a three pronged plan for getting our family (and my sister’s) back to the healthy snacks.

  • I revisited past success(ful snackage).  Sadly the summer has derailed my family’s healthful habits.  Happily all I needed to do was to STOP, recall a time we were healthy snackers, and remind myself how that looked.  I enlisted the husband & child’s help and we created a long list of snacks.  The more we brainstormed, the more we remembered healthy snacks we LOVED.  If you feel you’ve never been ‘on track’ think about how you imagine a week of healthy snacking might look like for you? Get a pen and get creative with your list.
  • I asked for help.  My sister turned to me.  I tend to look to social media friends when I need ideas or tips.  Email, tweet, use Facebook, write a blog post—-lean on your healthy living tribe for both ideas and accountability.
  • I STARTED.  Immediately.  This is the most important piece.  Don’t wait till you can go to the grocery and do a kitchen overhaul.  Don’t get paralysis by analysis searching for healthy snack perfection. Begin consciously making healthier choices today.  You can always tweak/change things later if you discover foods that work better for you or your family.  Remember: any choices made *today* with an eye to healthier snacking are better than what you’d have done before (writes the voice of experience).  This fact in itself is a major victory.

Has the summer and its proliferation of sweet, sugary treats derailed you?

 

Or are you as healthy a snacker in the summer as you are the rest of the year?

 

What’s your current go-to healthy snack? (I’d still love ideas please and thank you.)

 

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Carla

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