Healthy On-the-Go Snacks You Can Take With You Anywhere

Are you food obsessed?

Don’t feel bad answering yes (most people are, to some degree).

I am, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I think about food constantly. Just ask my husband — I’ll be finishing breakfast, lunch, or a mid-afternoon snack when I’ll suddenly ask him, “so, what should we have for dinner?”

I can attribute this food obsession to three things:

1. Low blood sugar.

Being hypoglycemic means I need food often.

In fact, if I don’t eat every two to four hours, I get dizzy, light headed, and CRANKY. Anyone who knows me knows that if I say I’m hungry, I need food right now.

2. Being vegetarian.

Especially as a kid, there weren’t many options available to vegetarians outside of making your own meals.

At restaurants, all I’d often be able to eat was salad and bread. At friends’ houses, the parents would often try to shove meat down my throat, disbelieving that a child could make her own decision about what she puts into her body.

As a result, I developed a slight (or maybe not so slight) anxiety about getting enough substantial food.

3. Biology.

In the time of the caveman (and woman), there weren’t grocery stores and cafes on every block.

Instead of ordering takeout, humans had to work for every ounce of food they got. As a result, they had to think about food constantly, or risk not surviving.

Anyway, I’ve found that I become much less food obsessed and anxious when I carry the right easy-to-pack foods with me.

Here are a few of the snacks I have with me at all times:

• Protein bars (I’m partial to Zone bars but there are lots of great ones out there, just make sure you get one that has at least 12-20 grams of protein)
• Hard boiled eggs (packed with protein, easy to transport)
• Apples
• Oranges/mini oranges like clementines
• Trail mix (I like to make my own, and usually put walnuts, almonds, cashews and a few cranberries in a bag)
• Bags of carrot sticks

Having healthy snacks with me helps me be less worried about food… and it also significantly decreases the chance that I’ll buy something unhealthy (a cookie, ice cream, donut) when I’m out and about.

What other healthy snacks do you like to bring with you when you’re on the go?

Image credit: Calaf