People are always asking me what makes good pre- and post-workout snacks and so I am always on the lookout for them. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to see that
MSNBC recently did an article on the
best fuel for your workout and they are:
Before the workout:
- A banana with yogurt.
- A whole-wheat toasted bagel with fruit spread.
- A quick bowl of instant oatmeal.
For a quick refuel after the workout, just .
After the workout:
- A peanut butter sandwich.
- A small handful of walnuts or almonds.
- A fruit smoothie with some protein powder.
Of course if you have time you can always try the
eggs and toast breakfast or just a glass
of chocolate milk.
Do you have any great pre- or post-workout snack ideas.
People are always asking me what they should eat before and after working out and the math is simple: aim for a high-carbohydrate, moderate protein, low-fat meal or snack. The problem comes in when trying to figure out what snacks and meals fall into those basic guidelines. I did a fun little
quiz on foods for working out a while back, but recently
Weight Watchers has summed up their favorite pre- and post-workout snacks/meals.
The Super Bowl seems to be a lot about snacking, and it's easy to eat mindlessly when there are munchables right in front of you. So if you're throwing a Super Bowl party or attending someone else's, forget the cheesy nachos, buttery popcorn, and creamy veggie dips. Make some homemade hummus instead.
While I try to avoid eating less than three hours before bed, sometimes a girl just gets hungry. Luckily there are some snacks light in calories that make great bedtime snacks because they could actually help you fall asleep.
Here are some great suggestions from
Joy Bauer for
snacks that could help you improve your sleep:
Eat a light snack before bedtime to help produce serotonin (the calming hormone).
After posting about
Twix's 100-Calorie Bars, user
chrissy00 shared a great little snack idea that you can make on your own.
"Why not make your own healthy twix bar. I take 2
graham crackers (whole wheat), layer with sugar-free, low-carb (
walden farms makes a great one) caramel, and sugar-free chocolate that is melted.
Even though it may be cold outside, I still crave ice cream (it's one of my downfalls). Store bought frozen yogurt is so much healthier than ice cream but many can contain a lot of added sugar. Instead, I like to whip up a batch of frozen yogurt popsicles with fresh fruit.
Want to see my recipe.
Sometimes healthy snacks can get boring and it's nice to have some easy to make snacks on hand for anytime your tummy starts rumbling and you've already eaten dinner.
eDiets has found the
best healthy snacks to keep in your freezer and since I love almost everything on this list, especially Skinny Cow Ice Cream, I wanted to share it with you.
- Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies: One entire bag has less than 200 calories.
- Skinny Cow Ice Cream: These delicious ice-cream sandwiches are 97-percent fat free and have only 140 calories
- Sugar-Free Popsicles: They are low in calories and sugar-free!
- Edamame: These soybeans are low in calories and easy to make -- all you have to do is boil some water.
- Gardenburger: These are delicious and hearty and have around 100 calories per patty.
- Kashi Go Lean Frozen Waffles: Each waffle has 8 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, and only 3 grams of fat!
What about you.
After a heavy Thanksgiving meal, many of us are craving meals on the lighter side the following week — especially those of us who are trying to make it through the holidays without the inevitable weight gain. So for something lighter, make a salad with plenty of fresh vegetables topped with cubed or sliced leftover turkey.
Other ingredients to consider are dark purple salad greens, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, celery, leftover peas, chopped almonds, and hard-boiled eggs.
Top with a cranberry salad dressing that you can make on your own by mixing some leftover cranberry sauce with olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar.
Why I love this salad:
- Turkey is high in protein, and I have a lot of it lying around.
- Cranberry is among our list of favorite seasonal foods.
- Mixed veggies provide you with a natural source of fabulous nutrients like vitamin c and lycopene, to name a few.
- Olive oil and almonds are great sources for monounsaturated fat (aka the good fat).
Fit's Tip: Love cheese on your salad. Cheese is a great source of calcium but can be high in fat, so try topping with a cheese that is a little bit lower in fat naturally like Parmesan or Sap Sago (made from whey).
Due to the
frozen pizza recall last week, we've been forced to get our pizza fixes other ways. Being that most frozen pizzas are not healthy, the silver lining was that this was a good opportunity for all of us to rid our freezers of them anyway.
User
steen, not willing to tempt fate by buying any more frozen pizzas, found a fabulous recipe for
Power Pizza Bagels from
Parenting.com that was too good not to share with everyone!
To see the recipe, just
Good for You Pizza Bagels from
steen
I found a great recipe on
parenting.com for pizza bagels.
I've been a big Joy Bauer fan; she kind of has a tough love approach to eating. In her book,
Food Cures, she gives great tips and tidbits on how to eat right, easily.
Joy has a little column/blog on
Yahoo health, and her most recent entry about finding inexpensive, healthy snacks was right up my alley, particularly since I am always
complaining about how expensive it is to be healthy.
Here are
highlights:
Afternoon Snacks:
- 5 cups air-popped popcorn (2 tablespoons Jolly Time kernels) = 5 cents
- 1/4 cup raw almonds = 20 cents
- 1 Polly-O string cheese (from a large bag at a wholesale club) = 16 cents
- 1 apple = 50 cents
- 1 Nature Valley granola bar packet (from a large box at a wholesale club) = 16 cents
For some inexpensive and healthy meal ideas, just
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and English Muffin = $1.20
Two scrambled eggs cooked in nonstick spray; serve with toasted whole-grain English muffin topped with 2 teaspoons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
Lunch: Taco Bell = $1.98
Two "fresco style" healthy chicken or bean tacos (extra salsa)
Dinner: Pasta with Marinara Sauce and Shrimp = $1.70
2 oz dry Mueller's whole-grain penne (1 cup cooked) with ¾ cup marinara sauce and 3 ounces frozen shrimp.
Source
