shares
Looking for quick and easy self care snack ideas? Here’s a list for you, plus a cheat sheet of how to easily put together a healthy snack.
How is your emotional self care? Take a quick self assessment to determine if you take care of yourself first before others. Self care for women can be so tricky, but having a daily self care checklist is important.
Practice self care by starting with these healthy, quick self care snack ideas. They’re all super healthy recipes that take seconds to whip up.
What do I do to feel good every day? My self-care routine involves oh-so-many things, including healthy eating and exercise.
And of course, as a registered dietitian nutritionist, good-for-you snacking is of huge importance to me. So read on about why I consider snacking a must, then grab my easy, nutritious mix-and-match snack list!
Thanks to the folks at Sunsweet for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own, as always.
Why I snack
Hi, I’m Amy, and I’m a snacker. I can’t go through a day without snacks. You see, these snacks keep me from getting hungry and hangry—and they help keep me fuller for longer in between meals.
This is important because staying satiated means I don’t feel the urge to snack all day long!
My snack times are strategic. I have a couple of well-planned-out snacks each day—usually a mid-morning snack and a late-afternoon snack.
So what do I snack on? Well, since you asked, I’ll share my favorite self care snack ideas. I find that it really helps to create a self care snack plan.
What is a self care snack?
A self care snack is a mix of ingredients that I know will keep me satiated and full––and that make me happy and feel taken care of.
I tend to mix and match my snacks, pairing a source of fiber (such as fruit or veggies) with a protein (such as string cheese or even a latte) and/or a healthy fat (like olives or avocado). Scroll down to see my full list of snack suggestions!
Here’s why I plan my snacks this way. The combo helps keep me fueled so I won’t be hungry again in minutes.
Fiber, protein, and healthy fat all help to slow down the speed at which food is digested. Fiber also does amazing things for your digestive system. Hang on a sec, and I’ll tell you more about those benefits.
One of my current favorite snacks is prune juice. If you’ve never tasted it, the juice is surprisingly naturally sweet, and I love it chilled on the rocks. One 8-ounce serving of Sunsweet Amaz!n Prune Juice is a good source of fiber, providing 3 grams.
This fiber is super important for the microbiome, the part of the body that’s made up of billions of beneficial bacteria that can help your health.
Plus, the prune juice provides vitamins and minerals that help maintain healthy digestive health. These nutrients include potassium, riboflavin, copper, niacin, and vitamin B6.
Grab-and-go self care snacks
When it comes to self-care snacks, it helps to have an easy list on hand. Reach for these ideas:
- Vegan Chocolate Prune Smoothie
- Banana Nutmeg Smoothie
- Healthy Vegan Energy Bars with Prunes
- Chocolate Almond Butter Protein Balls
- Gluten-Free Power Balls
- Roasted Red Pepper Greek Yogurt Dip
- Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip
- Healthy Coffee Muffins
- Sunrise Orange Banana Muffins
- Cottage Cheese Dip with Sweet Chips
- Homemade Mexican Salsa & Baked Flatbread Chips
- Pistachio Candied Nuts Recipe
Easy mix-and-match snacks
Now, here’s that mix-and-match list of quick self care snacks that I promised you, including other fave snacks like prunes, roasted chickpeas, and Greek yogurt dip.
Simply pick one snack from the fiber food list and one from the protein or healthy fat list. Then eat these two items together for a healthy, balanced snack!
Choose one food from list A and one from list B or list C for a filling, fueling, and healthy snack. For instance, if you pair a slice of whole-grain bread with ¼ avocado, you get avocado toast! All of these healthy snack ideas are super easy to put together.
And click on the hyperlinked text for easy self care snacks. While you won’t see potato chips or ice cream on this list, you could have a fruit-based nice cream with lemon juice.
If you need to add a little flavoring to your snack, skip the maple syrup or sugar and go for a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg instead.
List A: Fiber foods
- 1 apple
- 1 cup grape tomatoes
- 1 cup baby carrots
- 5 prunes
- 1 cup Sunsweet Amaz!n Prune Juice
- 1 cup berries
- ¼ cup dried fruit, such as dried cherries
- 1 slice whole-grain bread
- 5-10 whole-grain crackers
List B: Protein foods
- 1 piece string cheese
- 2 hardboiled eggs
- ½ cup roasted chickpeas
- 2 Tablespoons hummus
- 1 cup low-fat milk
- 12-ounce low-fat milk latte
- ½ cup Greek yogurt dip (store-bought is OK!)
- 5 ounces low-fat plain Greek yogurt
List C: Healthy fat foods
- 10 olives
- ¼ avocado
- ¼ cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
- 2 Tablespoons nuts
- 1 Tablespoon nut butter (such as peanut butter)
- 1 ounce dark chocolate
How Do You Snack?
Now that I’ve shared with you what I do to feel good, Sunsweet and I would love to hear from you!
Throughout the next month (until February 15), share your self-care routine on social media with the hashtags #ToFeelGood and #Sweeps, and you’ll score a chance to win awesome prizes, including $1,000 in cash and a year’s supply of Sunsweet products!
You can post about your feel-good routine on Facebook or Instagram, using #ToFeelGood #Sweeps—or you can enter directly here.
And here’s the best part: Sunsweet will make a $1 donation to the National Osteoporosis Foundation for every person who shares his or her experience on Facebook or Instagram! Prunes for osteoporosis prevention? Absolutely!
Self care ideas
What you share doesn’t need to be about snacking.
It can be about your weekly or even monthly rituals or routines, your wish list for your daily self care checklist, the exercise you embrace, the recipes you love, or even the shopping list that makes it easier to eat healthy. What type of self care is the most important to you?
Here are more ideas for self care, beyond snacking:
- Breakfasts #ToFeelGood
- Snacks #ToFeelGood
- Recipes #ToFeelGood
- Drinks #ToFeelGood
- Whole Foods #ToFeelGood
- Ingredients #ToFeelGood
- Tips #ToFeelGood
- Exercises #ToFeelGood
- Rituals #ToFeelGood
- Routines #ToFeelGood
- Shopping Lists #ToFeelGood
- Songs #ToFeelGood
Spread the word: Share what YOU do to feel good on social media, using #ToFeelGood and #Sweeps.
I’d love to hear from you! Which of these snack checklist ideas are you going to try first? What’s at the top of your self care checklist? What are your favorite healthy snacks?