10 Simple Healthy Snack Ideas ~ With Printable List!

Ah, snacking--although it sometimes stirs up visions of potato chips and buttered popcorn on the couch, but snacking--HEALTHY SNACKING--is actually essential to a healthy, well-balanced nutrition plan. After eating a meal, your blood sugar levels rise, but then can quickly decrease...which can be a reason for fatigue (that 3:00pm feeling..know what I mean??!) Snacking can help combat this decrease and tide you over until the next meal.
A few of my rules of thumb when thinking about healthy snacks:

• Snacks should ideally be high fiber and high protein. This will not only keep you full, but boost energy levels. They are also slow to digest so your blood sugar levels won't take a nosedive 30 minutes later. Staying away from carb heavy snacks (think potato chips, Cheese Its AKA: empty calories) will help keep you satisfied longer.

• Portion size matters!! Snacks should be just that--SNACKS--not entire meals. Aim for between 100-300 calories per snack. It's just something to tide you over until your next meal, not completely fill you up.

• Drinking 12-24 oz. of water with each snack will help tremendously with digestion and just that overall "full" feeling. You want a snack to to satisfy you for at least 2-3 hours..not make you feel more hungry. Water definitely helps with this.

That being said, I present to you 10 of my absolute favorite healthy snacks! ALL of these snacks are on my rotation every single month! They are all super simple, and readily available--no weird food here, peeps!

1. Celery + peanut butter: Roughly 5-10 celery sticks and 2 teaspoons PB.
2. 3/4 Cup Cottage Cheese + 1 cup berries (strawberries, blackberries, etc)
3. 3/4 Cup 2% plain Greek Yogurt + drizzle of honey + 10-12 almonds
4. 2 hardboiled eggs + a little salt and pepper
5. 1 piece of whole wheat toast + 2 teaspoons almond/peanut butter + 1/2 sliced banana
6. 10 whole wheat crackers + 1 mozzarella cheese stick
7. 10-12 almonds + 1 small sliced apple
8. 1/2 toasted whole grain bagel + 2 teaspoons ricotta cheese + drizzle of honey
9. 1/2 mashed avocado + 10 whole wheat crackers
10. 3/4 cup cottage cheese + 1 cup sliced red pepper and cucumber + salt/pepper

Here's the printable list!!! Click -- 10 Healthy Snacks