What’s your favorite nutritious snack for when you get hungry during the day?
I like corn related things. Over here they sell like dried corn things that look like nuts but are actually corn. A portion of that is not only tasty (as they are often covered in spices) but also fairly nutritious with some vitamins and proteins in them.
Would like to see what y’all eat when your muscles get a little bit nagging during the day.
Well normally I am fasting during the day so snacks aren’t really a thing I eat often. At the ends of my fasting period though I sometimes start out with “snackish” foods. I make these peanut butter balls out of… Peanut butter (home made) then mix with a little extra coconut oil and then some flavored protein powder. So far the best has been banana flavored. Those two flavors work super well with each other. Chocolate is good too but can’t get close to banana. Then there is always peanut butter flavored. The protein powder helps thicken it up and also adds more protein. Getting enough protein in my diet when I’m doing lifting is a challenge. Even though I don’t practice a non-meat eating diet. I do try to reduce meat intake though with stuff like this.
Other “snackish” things I’ll eat are stuff like hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, and plain Greek yogurt. Also beans. So many beans. Can be with or without seasoning. I really like those crunchy fried chickpea snack things but all those things are always fried in some heavily refined seed oils which kind of takes away the “healthy” aspect of them. Trying to look into making my own. I don’t really snack on anything without a significant amount of protein. I try not to use protein powder straight up either. I’ll add it to stuff to act as a high protein ingredient but usually try to avoid having to make a shake from it to meet my protein needs.
What’s the reason for the fasting?
You can roast chickpeas in the oven. Throw some herbs and spices on them and you have a high protein portion of chips basically. Add a little bit of dipping sauce if you want to.
I do use shakes from time to time but I make sure that my protein intake is coming from my food. The shakes are just extra.
I do it for a number of reasons. Mainly because it makes it easier to keep my weight in check. I have really bad self control I’m regards to food when I’m not fasting. After years of trying to get it in check I found out the easiest course was to just fast instead of trying for constant portion controls. I will say though. It’s not an automatic “I will loose weight on intermittent fasting.” It’s possible to maintain your weight and also gain weight doing IF. Especially if you are intaking a ton of carbs, especially refined carbs.
Other reasons are a family history of diabetes and daily fasting has benefits to resetting and reducing insulin resistance. When I started doing the intermittent fasting my blood glucose levels went from prediabetic levels to perfectly healthy, normal levels in the span of about a month.
There’s also research that shows being in a fasted state releases growth hormones that help the body retain lean muscle mass and that when you work out in this state it can help heal faster when you then eat afterwards. So I try to do my lifting and such right before I break the fast for the day.
Also it’s just more convenient. I don’t get hungry in the middle of the day. I can focused on my tasks better. I’m not constantly thinking about food or what I’m going to make. I don’t have to bother with a bunch of meals and snacks. It’s weird because, when I’m not fasting, I feel like shit. Like not actually bed but I just feel sluggish and gross if I eat during the day. Also I go #2 way less often. Like once or twice every morning then I’m empty the rest of the day. Lmao