Are you often looking for easy and healthy snacks for you (and your kids!) especially when that sugar craving hits, but end up most often just grabbing an apple or banana, or a pack of crackers, a granola bar or muffin?
Do you wish you had more ideas of healthy, simple, whole-foods based snacks – that are easy, filling and delicious?
What you NEED to know is that all of these typical snacks, even that banana (and especially those packaged crackers/cookies/bars, etc. that are filled with sugar and preservatives) can lead to a large glucose spike. And this is something we need to minimize if we care about our health and our weight! Even for our kids with sturdy metabolisms, we have to pay more attention given the onset dramatic increase in childhood diabetes, and for the adults, it’s crazy how blood sugar issues are on the rise and driving so many other health issues.
So yes you are right, it’s time to get better snack options!
I know it’s hard and can sound “easier said than done” when you’re in a rush; I can relate! When I worked in an office for 9 years, my go-to snacks were often a banana, a muffin or some granola bars marketed as healthy (that I later realized were all packed with sugar and unhealthy additives). No wonder I ended up with serious hormonal issues after a few years of these snacks and bad habits (that I thought were healthy)!
And then with my daughter, at first it took me a while to figure out what homemade snacks I could have ready for her, to stick in her backpack, that didn’t take me long to prep, that were healthy, and that she’d like!
Today I’m sharing with you 5 of my go-to healthy, easy “sweet” snacks - for both me and my toddler.
NOTE: For all of these sweet snacks, in order to support blood sugar regulation, I add two KEY INGREDIENTS:
ALMOND BUTTER (or peanut or cashew or any nut/seed butter) *please make sure to adapt for any allergies, for example for nut allergies, you can still use sunbutter and/or pinch of flaxseed
a pinch of CINNAMON, always.
Why? By adding a nut/seed butter, we add some healthy fats, fiber and protein, which is key for avoiding a glucose spike. And the creaminess is something both my daughter and I love! Just ensure your almond or peanut butter doesn’t have added sugars, and ideally no added salt nor seed oils either. Also, I like to add a pinch of cinnamon as it has proven to help stabilize blood sugar and lower your sugar cravings!
Five of my favorite, easy, go-to snacks for me and my toddler include:
A small apple (or banana) with almond butter (+ pinch of cinnamon) (and I sometimes try to sneak in a sprinkle of ground flaxseed, too!)
2. My vegan coconut yogurt (or unsweetened Greek yogurt) with almond butter and berries (+ pinch of cinnamon)
3. Chia pudding with almond butter and a low-sugar granola (I make both my chia pudding and granola with cinnamon)
4. A slice of seed bread (I make a gluten free one, but any organic seed bread or Ezekiel sprouted grain bread works great) with a little almond butter (+ pinch of cinnamon)
5. One medjool date filled with almond butter + 1-2 dark chocolate chips (+ pinch of cinnamon) *option to omit the chocolate for your toddler!
These 5 nut butter and cinnamon snacks are EASY, healthy, yummy, kid-friendly, and promote stable blood sugar, so add them to your meal prep list ASAP!
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