TN50#3, Snappy Snack Shack, 18 January, 2021
Hi Team,
Happy Monday and welcome to TN50#3.
The following is nothing I am super proud of but it is the ground truth. When I open my snappy snack shack at my desk, or I throw some meal replacement options in my bag or Land Cruiser, the items in this picture are my staples. I can tell you from wearing a constant glucose monitor (CGM) none of the items pictured cause a blood sugar spike in me but everyone is different, Confessions regarding my love affair with nut-thins and cheese in a future download, Carly, my lovely bride, asked why they are not in the picture, obviously nothing in this picture requires refrigeration – duh!
A question I have been getting recently is what snacks I like. Before we get into my list, I have a couple rules of thumb that go like this:
“Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail, plan your EAT just like you would any other part of your day” – I always have at least some of these items on hand.
“Do B Minus Work – Do not pass up a decent meal to wait for a perfect meal” – Of course a well-balanced whole foods meal would be better than a Quest bar and half a cup of macadamia nuts but a Quest bar and half a cup of macadamia nuts is better than McDonalds #1: Big Mac, Large Fry and a Coke, IMO!
When you add these two heuristics together you get the picture I have above. The things in the picture meet the following criteria:
- Things I enjoy eating (this isn’t saying much as I have honestly enjoyed MRE’s and other Army Chow opportunities during a 25-year military career)
- Things that I can easily combine for a high fat/moderate protein nutrient-dense meal replacement
- Things I can get easily, I can get all this at Kroger, except the FAST Bars, which I bought off of Amazon (more on those later)
- Things that travel/store well (ok so not the pork rinds but if you are home and you’re craving something salty and crunchy a few of these will do the trick with ZERO Carbs).
What about the beverages?
I added the Topo Chico and Bubly to the picture because they fit into this discussion. Craving a soda or looking for something to replace that daily “Its 5 pm Somewhere” drink? Grab a bubbly water. Topo Chico is my favorite, but I sneak into the kid’s Bubly stash as well.
The Bottom Lines:
- These items are on my personal list, I am not saying you should have them on yours, but you should be able to develop your own Snappy Snack Shack list (system) based on the principles I outlined from my system.
- Adding these high fat, calorie dense items to a Standard American Diet (SAD) may be a recipe for disaster! If you are eating a lot of high-calorie, highly-processed food currently these probably aren’t the snacks for you. If you mainly eat: low carb, moderate fat, moderate protein and you find yourself looking for some ideas on “easy button” additions to your Snappy Snack Shack some of these items might be useful adds.
Have a good one, Alex
