Tag: Healthy Snacks

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Top 10 PCOS-friendly snacks

Hey cysters! This past weekend, my husband went on a wonderful long weekend getaway to northern Michigan for our 1-year wedding anniversary. Travel can sometimes stress me out with all the planning, packing, and prepping, but one of the many things I’ve learned from my lovely husbands’ type A personality is that planning ahead does pay off.

Having certain things, such as healthy snacks and my supplements from home keep me on track and honestly allow me to have a better time on vacation. When I plan to have my favorite healthy snacks available to me, I don’t stress about when and where I’m going to find healthy snacks if I get hungry between meals or if we have to hit the road around mealtimes.

Although my cravings and insulin resistance have improved, I still am a cyster who generally needs a snack or mini-meal every 2-3 hours. For me, I’ve found that if the right snacks are in my purview, I tend to do a better job with making sure my snacks are PCOS-friendly and overall healthy. Noshindietitian-20

Now what does it mean when I say “PCOS-friendly” snacks? This means I try to keep the snacks high in protein or as a kick-ass combo of nutrients. The best option is to pair complex carbohydrates with protein or fat. This combo allows for a slower rise in blood sugar and ultimately better insulin control. Not to mention, these snack combinations generally keep you full for longer and helps avoid overeating or binge-eating at your next meal. Trail mix

Here are some of my favorite PCOS-friendly snacks!

  1. Fresh fruit (apples or bananas) with individual nut butter packets. If you’re traveling by car, you can also pack your own nut butter of choice in a small tupperware if you don’t have the individual packets.
  2. Trail mix with dark chocolate (I like mixing dark chocolate with cashews and pumpkin seeds)
  3. Biena dry roasted chickpeas
  4. Chomps or other grass-fed beef jerky
  5. Hummus with veggies (broccoli, carrots, cucumbers) or whole grain crackers
  6. Half PB sandwich with sliced bananas on whole grain bread
  7. Seapoint Farms dry roasted edamame
  8. Individual (low-added sugar) yogurt topped with pumpkin seeds and cocoa nibs
  9. Hard-boiled egg with handful of pistachios
  10. Protein bars, such as Kind bars or RX bars, or homemade energy bites (check out my Matcha energy bites or pumpkin carrot energy bites!)

Be sure to comment below with some of your favorites!

-EAB

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Not-So Cheesy Dip

Super Bowl 2018 is tomorrow! I love watching a good football game, but who are we kidding, I’m all about the snacks. Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest food consumption day behind Thanksgiving…yikes! So in my opinion, either you embrace it or hide in a dark hole somewhere. I’ll opt for the first option.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the little piggies in a blanket, wings, and copious amounts of dips. But I’m also a lover of trying to create spins on recipes to make them healthier…without sacrificing flavor.

I know what you’re thinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just another dietitian showing up to the party with a “healthy” appetizer. But I kid you not, this not-so cheesy dip will leave you wanting more and gives you a nice antioxidant punch, providing you with a little extra energy to get through the whole game without dozing off. Still no promises over here (I do love my sleep).

The special ingredient to this dip is nutritional yeast. This is my first time using nutritional yeast in cooking and I foresee a lovely relationship blooming 🙂 Nutritional yeast provides a great cheesy flavor without all the saturated fat from full-fat cheese (and all the toots, am I right?).

Nutritional yeast is a nutrition powerhouse. It’s packed with protein, fiber, B vitamins, and folate. Plus, it’s low in calories (only 60 calories per 1/4 cup!), saturated fat, and sugar. The cheesy flavor hints provides a great substitute for all my dairy-free friends.

Between the vitamin A-packed butternut squash and B vitamin-loaded nutritional yeast, this dip passes the nutrition panel with flying colors. Lastly, this dip is seriously so easy to make. You can’t beat 7 ingredients (not counting the water, because well, it’s water) that you throw into a food processor. Voila!

Print

Not-So Cheesy Dip

Course Appetizer
Servings 4 people
Author Elizabeth Weber

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed I roasted a whole butternut squash
  • 1/4 cup Mexican cheese blend, shredded
  • 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast
  • 1 Chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, canned
  • 1/4 tsp. Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
  • 6 tbsp. Water
  • 1-2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is heating, peel, seed, and cube the butternut squash. Lightly grease a baking sheet and spread the butternut squash evenly. Drizzle with the olive oil.

  2. Bake the butternut squash for 30 minutes flipping halfway through.

  3. Once the butternut squash is done, combine the squash, chipotle pepper, salt, garlic powder, cheese, nutritional yeast, and water in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add additional water until desired consistency. 

  4. Serve immediately with tortilla chips or refrigerate for later use. 

Recipe Notes

This recipe is for about 4 people (makes 1 1/4 cups), but if you are having a larger get-together, using the whole butternut squash and doubling the other ingredients will work for closer to 8 people. 

Happy noshing!

-EAW