Snacks, the key to balanced eating

It is scientifically proven that eating every 2-3 hours keeps your blood sugars level, metabolism pumping and keeps you from over eating at meals. Doing so has made a huge difference in my own ability to make better food choices and maintain a healthy weight.
 
Having a snack in my car when I get in after a workout, or an apple on the counter when I get up from my computer in the afternoon I’ll eat that and be good to go till my next meal.
 
When there’s not I am likely to eat the whole jar of peanuts, or stop to buy a candy bar at the drug store on the way home...not healthy choices. Having a properly portioned snack in a little baggie keeps me in line. Go figure. And my family is learning portion control too.
 
Variety is the spice of life, eating the same snack everyday just won’t do. So watch for more snack posts in the near future, I managed to rein myself in and just give one recipe with a bunch of options in this blog post.

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Today I’m sharing the simplest “homemade” snack I know, it’s a favorite of mine and my kids gobble it up too. Trail mix with just 4 ingredients that is ready in 3.2 minutes. I typically use dark chocolate (I stock up the day after any holiday, hence the Christmas packaging), unsalted or light salted nuts and sunflower seeds only if the kids haven’t seen them in the pantry and eaten them already. Look for dried fruit without added sugars or your calories go through the roof.

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Super Simple Trail Mix
1 ½ cups salted  peanuts
2 cups raisins
1 cup chocolate hard shell candy
1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds

1. Measure ingredients.
2. Toss into a bowl.
3. Mix them up.
4. Scoop 1/3 c into each snack size bag.

Nutrition Facts
    16.66 Servings
    Amount Per Serving 1/3 cup

• Calories 246.4                                   Cholesterol 1.4 mg
• Total Fat 13.0 g                                  Sodium 13.3 mg
• Saturated Fat 3.0 g                          Potassium 300.6 mg
• Polyunsaturated Fat 4.6 g              Total Carbohydrate 30.0 g
• Monounsaturated Fat 4.0 g           Dietary Fiber 2.9 g
• Sugars 21.3 g                                     Protein 5.8 g

 PRINT RECIPE

Keep Moving Tip: Use what you like. unsalted almonds, a different dried fruit, more or less of any item, you can't go wrong.
 
More combo ideas:

• Peanut butter pieces, dried banana chips, sunflower seeds and peanuts
• Cranberries, almonds and white chocolate pieces
• Dried pineapple, coconut chips and peanuts
• The combinations are endless…have fun!
  

Some of these ingredients are tougher to find, click on the words above to order online.  Just click on the word above. 

Please share your favorite trail mix combination in the comments.

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