If you’re trying to be healthy or are newly vegan or vegetarian and want some snacks on the go that will keep you full and energized (but also won’t make you gain unhealthy weight), keep reading for my 7 healthy snacks on the go.
- Power Balls / Power Snacks / Energy Bites. These are basically combinations of dates, nut butters, nuts and seeds. Some are no-bake, some you can bake. They kind of taste like granola bars, cookies or a combination of the two …but healthy! They’re so much better than just going out and buying a granola bar because those are usually so processed.
You can buy these (Navitas Coffee Cacao Organic Power Snacks is a good one), but they’re also so easy to make on your own. It can be as simple as almond butter + chia seeds + vegan chocolate chips. Get creative- you can add protein powders, raw espresso beans, anything.
These aren’t always perfectly food combined, but when you’re eating plant-based, you really don’t have to worry about being 100% food combined all the time.
Cook a huge batch and keep them in the freezer. You can grab them for breakfast, give them to your kids …everyone will love them!
- Raw Snacks. When you’re eating raw, it’s so much better for your gut and a lot healthier for you. It’s difficult to eat a fully raw diet (I can’t), but I always say that when you can eat raw, do it. Raw crackers or nuts and seeds are great. You want to get them raw so that you digest them better. Oftentimes, when you aren’t digesting something well, it leads to bloating, and that can lead to what you might THINK is weight gain, but is really just bloating. Go Raw makes Zesty Pizza Sprouted Flax Snax, which has such simple ingredients and is also nut-free (those of you with nut allergies).
- Avocado. I’ve always told you guys that I travel with an avocado in my purse on airplanes. Some people think it’s difficult because it’s messy to cut open. PRE-SLICE your avocado to make your life easier.
Let’s say you’re working a late night shift at a hospital and they have a really basic salad bar, adding some sliced avocado to it would make it a lot more filling. Or maybe there’s just random fast food places- you can find some plain rice and put some avocado on it. Maybe you find crackers at a gas station- dip them in your avocado for make-shift guac. Just adding avocado can make anything more fulfilling, make it taste better, add so many nutrients and give you a really good boost of energy (healthy fats = instant energy). You can even eat it on its own.
- Veggies. I want to introduce to you a different kind of veggie snack. Veggies aren’t just carrots and celery sticks …there are so many amazing veggies that taste so good. I like raw green beans (they don’t just have to be eaten boiled!), cherry tomatoes, snow peas, sugar snap peas and mini bell peppers. Bell peppers are my favorite because one cup of chopped red bell pepper contains nearly 3x the amount of vitamin C than an orange. Honestly, you can never have too many vegetables. You can even dip your veggies in your avocado to make it more interesting :).
- Celery & Cream Cheese. This is a snack that I’ve loved since I was a kid. I wasn’t vegan growing up, but now I am, and I’m SO GLAD that I found the brand Kite Hill because it’s the only vegan cream cheese that doesn’t have soy. (The more you can limit soy, the better. I do have some soy in my diet, but where I can cut it out, I like to.) Kite Hill makes plain or chive cream cheese – both are absolutely delicious.
Some people don’t like packing all the tupperware, so if that’s the problem, go get those disposable salad bar dressing containers …no excuses.
- Oatmeal. When it comes to money-saving, I like buying things in bulk, so I always buy a big thing of steel-cut oatmeal. But when it comes to snacking, this is where I recommend buying little individual packs of oatmeal. Always get plain, and YOU be in control of how you want to sweeten it (stevia, cinnamon, etc.). Pack these packets, add some water and that’s it – such an easy, healthy midday snack.
- Chia Seed Pudding. This might be my favorite. It takes a little bit of preparation, but nothing that crazy. I’m going to show you the most basic way to make it, and you can go in so many different directions from here:
6 tbsp chia seeds + 2 cups plant-based milk
Stir this up, stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or overnight) and you’re good to go. My go-to flavors that don’t add any calories (just health benefits and flavor) are cinnamon, vanilla and stevia. After this, sometimes I’ll add cacao powder, organic maple syrup, coconut, etc.
Chia seeds hold water, are fiber-rich and high-protein, and keep you full because they expand in your stomach. Amazing for a snack any time of day.
