Weight Loss: Smart Snacks - healthy desk draw munchies

It's late in the workday and you're running out of energy. You're frantically trying to meet a deadline, and your stomach is growling. With no time to go out for a quick bite or even grab some nourishment in the office cafeteria, where do you turn? To your co-workers or the vending machine just down the hall? Sure that's quick and easy but you may not find anything nourishing to eat! And, for vegans the problem is more challenging.

Vending Machine Traps

If your office vending machine is like most others, it's likely to be stocked with typical foods loaded with fat, sugar and salt-chocolate bars, potato and corn chips, sweet cookies and salty crackers, soft drinks, danishes, doughnuts, salted peanuts, and the like. Luckily, times are changing for the better. Thanks to more health-conscious workplaces, some employers are contracting with vending companies who offer more nutritious foods in their machines, like fresh fruit (most often apples and bananas), yogurt, 100% juice and low-fat milk, pretzels, and even veggie sandwiches.

Rather than fall prey to the vending machine with unhealthful snacks or ignore your hunger pangs, why not plan ahead and stock your desk drawer with nutrient-rich foods, all of which will give you the energy to keep going until it's time to go home or, at least, until you've met your deadlines!

Planned Grazing

Snacking has gotten a bad rap. It's not the act of snacking that's bad. Sixty percent of us snack between meals, and wisely chosen snack foods can contribute valuable nutrients like calcium, iron, vitamin A and C, and fiber.

In fact, well-planned snacks can provide anywhere from 10-20% of your day's nutrient needs.

Snacking, or what's sometimes called grazing, allows us to respond to our body's hunger cues. By ignoring hunger cues, your body may become run-down, or worse yet, you may feel the urge to binge by overeating later in the day.

Drawer Stocking Plan

When stocking your drawer, consider office foods that don't require refrigeration and can keep well for a month or so. Another point to consider is your "snack cues." A snack cue is a feeling or craving for a particular food quality. For example, depending on your hunger cue, you may want something crunchy, salty, sweet, soft or even creamy. Keeping these various factors in mind, you can start a list of desk drawer foods to take with you on your next grocery shopping trip.

To help you get started, we've compiled a list of nutritious snacks, all of which, in moderation, won't break any rules for good nutrition. They are good sources of complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and fiber. And, with all these choices, you'll be sure to satisfy cues for sweet, salty, crispy, creamy, soft or crunchy!

While stocking your drawer with food, don't forget these other helpful supplies: 1) knife for spreading or cutting; 2) small plate to catch the crumbs; 3) napkins; 4) for your clean-up, moist towelettes.

A stash of sensible snacks is great in your desk drawer, but don't forget the other times you may find them handy: while traveling for work (in the air or in the hotel room), in your car, on a hike or as a substitute when you just don't have time for a meal. Happy snacking!

Hunger Quenchers

• Ready-to-eat cereals (pack it in small containers, or purchase them in small boxes). Choose the ones that are high in fiber and low in sugar and offer a lot of crunch.
• Granola bars-watch out for the high fat ones! Buy the new low-fat or fat-free varieties.
• Air-popped popcorn (bring your own from home, sealed in an air-tight bag or container). Or, if you're too busy to make it, buy the microwave kind (just be sure it's low-fat).
• Peanut butter-unsalted and natural. Use just a smear on crackers because it's high in fat.
• Dried fruit like apricots, figs, prunes or small boxes of raisins (these are sugary, so use sparingly).
• Animal crackers
• Vanilla wafers
• Pretzels (get unsalted)
• Bread sticks (choose flavored like onion or sesame).
• Rice or popcorn cakes (plain or try one of the many flavors available).
• Ginger snaps
• Trail mix-make your own; if you purchase pre-made, watch out for added salt and the fat in the nuts.
• Nuts and seeds-find the roasted, unsalted variety; and don't eat too much; they're high in fat.
• Low-fat or fat-free crackers (try Wasa, Kavli, Ak-Mak, or melba toast, matzo, lavosh or water crackers).
• Canned 100% juice, like orange, grapefruit, tomato or vegetable (with the latter two, look for lower-salt varieties).
• Rice or soy milk-plain or flavored.