I enjoy eating snacks and treats. I've eaten far too many of the wrong kind for decades. But I knew myself well enough to know that I wasn't about to give up snacking completely. It was obvious that I could not continue to eat the prepackaged cookies and candies I had been consuming because of the chemicals and additives they contain. But the truth is I was trying to find a food plan I could live with for the rest of my life. On a practical level, I knew I did not have the time or the inclination to make every single thing I eat from scratch.
I use some packaged foods. I have become an avid label reader. The things I buy tend to contain only a few ingredients. The brand of dried cherries I buy has one ingredient: cherries. I stay away from items that contain dyes, preservatives, trans fats, and other harmful chemicals. I have found that if I eat whole foods 95% of the time, I can tolerate some packaged foods the other 5% of the time. You may discover a different formula that works for you. I got well and I have stayed symptom free on this plan.
Some day I may decide to make my own bread, mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles, chips, dried fruit, granola, yogurt, and almond butter but right now these are things I purchase that someone else has made.
I had to learn to think a new way and be creative in my choices. Being willing to change was a key factor for me. I'll admit that I had a serious internal struggle with this. It was six months from the day I first read about chemicals in the environment and processed food as a possible cause for fibromyalgia to the day I finally decided to go for it and alter my lifestyle. I felt so miserable and hopeless by then that I was willing to try anything to get better. Today my fibromyalgia pain is gone. My debilitating chronic fatigue symptoms are gone. And now I wonder, why in the world did it take me so long to decide to do this?
Here are some snack ideas you might want to try:
Wash and freeze grapes. Take out a handful to munch on at night while watching TV. They are a cold, crunchy treat. Red or dark purple are my favorites. Fresh pineapple is also delicious frozen.
Sprinkle organic granola over a cup of Greek yogurt. Add walnuts, almonds, and dried cherries.
Have an apple, banana or an orange. Drizzle with raw honey. Sprinkle with nuts and a spoonful of crunchy almond butter.
Spread chocolate almond butter on a graham cracker. Most graham crackers contain some partially hydrogenated fats but no other harmful chemicals. I do well with them as long as I eat only two at a time and do not eat them too frequently.
Have a single serving size bag of potato chips. Read the ingredients label. I eat chips that list three ingredients: potatoes, oil, and salt. Some brands also list food additives, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, food dyes, and other chemicals as ingredients. I steer clear of those
Make ginger cookies with molasses and freshly grated ginger. My favorite recipe makes about 100 cookies. Ginger is a main ingredient and it is an anti-inflammatory food.
I love chocolate. Occasionally I make homemade brownies with walnuts. Walnuts are on my good foods list. I bake and freeze the brownies and defrost only one at a time. I do the same thing with the cookies.
These are the four key points to my snack attack plan:
Limit refined sugar
Read the ingredient labels on every single package
Eat plenty of whole fruit
Find healthy substitutes for unhealthy foods
What is your favorite healthy snack food?
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