Ahhh snacks. My mini-meal between meals. My fuel after a workout. My pick me up after a long meeting. My savior, my light at the end of a tunnel…Ok let’s keep it short: I just love to eat. And although I was once ashamed of this horrible habit, I’ve learned to accept that snacking is just a part of me. Because the most important step to change is to acknowledge the issue at hand.
I decided to educate myself about what I was eating, exploring what types of foods different companies were putting in the store for us to consume. And the more I looked, the more I realized how much C.R.A.P. (I’ll talk more about this later) was in my food I was eating! Refined sugars, food coloring, preservatives, chemicals, aspartame…I was disgusted.
It was when I visited my first Whole Foods years ago that I realized it doesn’t always have to be like this. My first visit was comparable to a child visiting Disney Land for the first time. I wandered the aisles fascinated (but also a bit overwhelmed) by all the options. I spent hours squatting in the aisles, scanning nutrition facts and skimming through ingredients…Words like sustainable, organic, local, sprouted, vegan, gluten-free, and fermented jumped out at me left and right.
It was here that my inspiration for this blog sparked.
While eye-opening, my trip to Whole Food (or any health food store) can be quite mind-boggling. As much as I enjoy scanning labels, there is only so much time I can spend in the grocery store. I mean, I know kale chips are good for me, but how many brands of kale chips can one store carry?? The answer: A LOT. It seems like every day there is a new brand, a new addition to the “healthy snack” market.
That being said, I created this blog to bring light to a specific product. Each week, I’m going to write a new post highlighting my favorite new discovery. The hope is that I can make it easier for people to find delicious and healthy snacks, and maybe open your eyes about the benefits of knowing what is in the food you eat.
So, why would I use the ” ” around the word healthy? Well what does that word actually mean? According to dictionary.com it means, “Conducive to good health.” So then what does that mean? Snacking inherently isn’t a “healthy” thing to do (or is it?). Plus, what’s considered “healthy” really depends on each individuals diet. What do you consider “healthy”? Raw? Organic? Vegan? Gluten-free? Paleo? At the end of the day I choose products with no preservatives and simple ingredients that I can read. That’s not asking for much right? Apparently it is because so many brands out there add so much C.R.A.P to their foods. (Caffeine, Refined Sugar, Alcohol, Preservatives)
The point I’m trying to get across is that the foods I list here aren’t a green light to binge and divulge compulsively into a certain food, but rather a suggestion to a potentially better alternative. If you’re still reading, it means you care about your health and are conscious of what you put in your body.
The hope is that next time you walk into the pantry, instead of grabbing a Snicker’s bar, you’ll opt for the Aloha Superfood Chocolate. Instead of your beloved Pringles chips, you opt for the yummy Rhythm Superfoods Beet Chips. I know, beets instead of Pringles? Trust me, it’s a trade worth making.
Snacking Through Life 