It’s 4 o’clock at work. You start slouching. You get shifty in your seat. You just read a sentence and realized you zoned out for a full four minutes staring at the word “deliverable.” It is, invariably, SNACKS O’CLOCK.
My worst fear is that you zombie walk to the office pantry and go HAM on Nutri-Grain bars, cafecitos, chocolate, and the odd slice of birthday cake. I want you to be prepared EVERY SINGLE DAY for the afternoon slump which will you will combat with your #essenceapproved arsenal of desk snacks, purse snacks, and ability to make effortless nutrition choices in the community.
Snack are the twigs that we throw on the campfire (our metabolism) every so often to keep us fueled and our energy constant. You can think of the logs as your meals. The ideal snack is low enough in calories that it isn’t as dense as a meal, but still contains enough protein, good fat, and good carbohydrate to tide you over and satiate you until your next meal.
Here’s some ammunition to keep handy for those office snack attacks:
- Cottage cheese, muesli, fruit
- Fruit and almond butter
- Fruit and 2% plain Greek yogurt or Icelandic skyr or Quark you can sweeten with a teaspoon of honey
- Organic hummus and veggies like carrots, celery, seeded crackers with a light organic string cheese
- A green/fruit smoothie with a scoop of vegan protein powder (might I suggest a delicious Blendtopia smoothie)
A little note on caffeine: it is FINE for you in the afternoon as long as it doesn’t disrupt your sleep. Some people are fast metabolizers of caffeine based on your genetic makeup. I carry a Nutrigenomix test in my office that tests your metabolic ability based on 45 different genes, and I discovered that I, indeed, am a fast metabolizer of caffeine and thus can have a almond milk Nespresso in my bed and be snoozing within minutes. Anyhoo, careful with late-day caffeine.
Otherwise, choose black coffee/espresso, or spice it up with unsweetened almond/cashew/hemp milk, or organic 1% milk, cinnamon, cardamom, and either Sugar in the Raw or Stevia in the Raw. Even better? A steaming cup of green tea with lemon.
Essentially yours,
Monica
Monica Heather Auslander, MS, RD, LD/N is the Owner of Essence Nutrition, LLC launching January 4th 2016 in Coral Gables. Essence is a boutique luxury private nutrition consulting practice serving individuals and corporations. She previously was a clinical dietitian at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Today she is the official “nutritionist-a” to the “Brickellista”!
