Store Bought Snack Recos

Ahh snacks.

Everyone does them a little differently and how you snack is totally up to you. I’m always a fan of self experimentation. But with a combination of these recco’s for store bought snacks, you can be sure they’ll serve their snacky purpose as they are all low in sugar, low in carbs, and contain fibre and protein to keep you full and satisfied.

I love making my own snacks of course. You can find all my snack recipes here, but I also appreciate that not everyone has the time or patience to be this prepared. So for those times, I’ve put together my favourite low carb, low sugar snacks that can be bought from supermarkets and eaten on the go, no cutlery or crockery required. These are the things I turn to when I’m travelling, road tripping, or when I’m feeling lazy and don’t feel like washing dishes.

I do, however, think it’s important to evaluate your snack habits first, to ensure a few things. First that you aren’t eating because of boredom or because it’s just there, and second that you aren’t under-eating in your regular meal times, and third that you actually consume normal meals (as apposed to just living off snacks all day).

I really believe that for most people, we should be eating enough at our main meals such that we don’t need to snack. If you are ravenous three hours after you eat a meal, this is a good sign that there’s some tweaking required in your food choices.

That said, I’m not against snack food, in fact I enjoy all of these foods. I personally like the concept of a “mini meal”, something that’s bigger and more substantial than a snack, but isn’t exactly a massive bowl of veggies, avocado and fish.

I also love dessert! I’m normally stocked up with sugar-free treats in the fridge, but when I’m not I love having one of these “snacks” as a little dessert with a cup of tea after lunch or dinner (yes I’m a big believer in lunch dessert).

But when it comes to snacks or mini meals, this is how I do them: I ensure they are larger than most snacks in both volume and energy value (if I’m actually hungry, a few almonds isn’t going to cut it), and I also ensure to have a decent source of protein (somewhere around 10-20g). Protein is the most satiating nutrient, and thus if the purpose of a snack is to keep us full in between meals, it’s an important one to consider.

This means that for some of these recos, I wouldn’t have them alone, I’ll generally pair a few of these together, and combine them with some of my go-to recipes (post coming soon), to make a snack plate or mini meal.

For me personally, I practice what some call intermittent fasting, so my first meal is normally closer to lunch time. And my next proper meal won’t be until dinner. Since there’s about a 7 to 8 hour window in between these, I incorporate one of those mini meals I was talking about earlier at around 4pm. I generally like to wait at least 4 hours in between eating, and I find this works really well for digestion. Constant grazing is a pattern I see a lot in friends and clients, and when I pair things back to allow proper meals and a decent period of time between eating, time for the food to actually digest, I see a lot of benefit in digestive symptoms.

But however you like to snack, let’s get into the recos.

Bars

Most bars, even those that are marketed as super healthy, are really just a bunch of dates or rice malt syrup smooshed together with a few nuts. Stay away from these, as the sugar content is so high you may as well just eat a standard candy bar.

If you are going to eat sugar, keep it for desserts and treats and special occasions, not snack bars.

And that is why these recommendations are so important. It’s hard and expensive to make bars that are low in sugar, but these companies (and specifically these products) have nailed it!