Athletes in the Kitchen: How to Make the Perfect Snack Ep 19

Ultimately snacks are to help get you to the next meal, right? To help not have you hungry, not overindulge too much at the next meal. So it's kind of like that bridge in between.

Welcome to the Find Your Edge podcast. Get ready to dive into all things training, nutrition, recovery, and more. Whether you're a new or experienced endurance athlete, a weekend warrior, or someone who just wants to improve your health and fitness, this podcast is for you. I'm Kris Newport, founder, head coach, registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and certified personal trainer with the Endurance Edge and the Fueling Edge. With more than 20 years experience in the fitness industry, 18 years in multi-sport, and over 10 years as a sports nutritionist, I'm speaking with athletes and experts about key actionable steps you can take to reach and sustain peak performance and health. Let's do it. Welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast and another episode episode of Athletes in the Kitchen. And today my lovely guest is Miss Sarah Heckler, one of our performance dietitians and Fueling Edge manager. Welcome to the show.

Thanks. I feel like we need the, like, round of applause in the background. Yay!

I dig it. I dig it. So today we are talking all about how to build a healthy snack. You and I look at this topic and we're like, "Hmm," but we get this request a lot. Like, people just, they need some help. So we're here for you guys today. Sarah, start us off with what you think are the components of a good snack.

Yeah, I think a lot of people almost overthink snacks and truly, I mean, anything can be a snack. The only kind of rules that I at least tell my clients is that if you're going to have some sort of carbohydrate, so whether it's a fruit, a vegetable, or any of the traditional starchy carbs like bread or crackers, you know, any, anything that would fit under that category. If you're going to have a carbohydrate, it just needs to be paired with some sort of protein or fat. The reason being, you know, I always use this example is You know, if you're really hungry and you sit down to have a snack and you have an apple, most likely you're going to be hungry 20 minutes later. And most people, that kind of like a light bulb moment goes off. They've, they've been there before. They've done that. So if you were to pair that apple with either protein or fat, whether it be a little bit of peanut butter or some cheese, it's going to be a lot more filling and kind of get you to that next meal.

Yeah, I feel like so many people are like, oh, but an apple is healthy. Well, of course an apple is healthy, but let's manage your energy levels a little bit better, manage your blood sugar a little bit better, and plug in that protein and fat. And I love how you gave the example of peanut butter and cheese because I feel like sometimes we eat like 4-year-olds.

Oh, 100%. I will buy multiple times, and I know we'll get into this down the road, I buy the like kids snack packs of crackers and cheese and grapes at the grocery store and we'll eat those throughout the week sometimes.

Uh, hashtag tip number 1 right there. That reminds me of anytime that we're traveling, we always stop at Sheetz and they don't sponsor us. Maybe I should call them and have them sponsor us. I love that place. The like little center snack aisle with like the Mickey Mouse.

I was about to say that. That's the one I get.

Yes. With the grapes and the cheese cubes and the almonds or various things. And oftentimes the kids will get them and then they'll be like, "I don't want the almonds. Mommy, here you go." And, you know, now we have a snack to share, which is super cool. So I think that being while we are athletes in the kitchen, you don't have to necessarily be super fancy and cook. I mean, you certainly can, but— so what are— speaking of cooking, what are your favorite ones that you actually like sit down, prepare, and make? I don't know if—

I mean, I don't think I like quote-unquote cook a lot of snacks. Some of the ones that do take a little bit more energy are things like protein bites or energy bites, and protein bites that aren't from The Feeling Edge, you know, if I want to experiment on my own and make them. But honestly, now that the protein bites are at The Fueling Edge, I just purchase them there.

We're spoiled. Yeah.

So I think the only other time that I'll have like prepared snacks is sometimes I will have— I'll just kind of be eating through my food for the week and I'll have a kind of what I call like a weird snack that was prepared ahead of time.

It's just kind of a weird snack.

For example, this week I made, um, I had some beets and I put them with peanut sauce and then some peanuts, crushed peanuts on top.

Ooh, and it was lovely.

Yeah, it was a side to most of my dinners, but I needed a little snack today and that was kind of what was speaking to me, so I just had a little bowl of that.

Okay, so a good healthy snack can be something that you would have otherwise at perhaps a mealtime.

Yeah, like a side to your meal. Sometimes I'll do one of the other weird ones that I really like. It's sliced cucumbers.

You have unique choices.

Yeah, it's sliced cucumbers, a little bit of honey mustard, and some cashews. It's totally random and weird, but it fits the bill. I have a veggie, I have a carb with a protein and a fat, and it tastes good to me.

So, and that at the end of the day is really what matters.

Yeah, right.

If you're eating something healthy and you're like choking it down, I mean, come on, you got to enjoy your food. Yeah. Which reminds me, we're looking right now at some of our healthy snacks recipe books. Um, we've got a new cookbook that just came out and another healthy snacks cookbook that we've got on our website. And I'm looking at these like goat cheese apricot bites. That sounds Lovely. And sort of similar to like your beets with like the crushed peanuts. And we have a— did you see the turkey and cabbage rolls? Yes. So this reminds me of— speaking of weird snacks, my sister, when she would babysit me when we were kids, she— I think she secretly wanted to kill me. So she would take wraps and like it would be like generally like a turkey wrap. Which would otherwise be a healthy snack. But then she would just throw all the things in there, you know, olives and Jelly Bellies. And it's just like, how can we kill my sister? But those are good. You know, could be just— well, I think of just like a half sandwich even, like maybe a little bit of lettuce, turkey, cheese, and maybe like a good, like an Ezekiel bread or something like that. And that's I don't know, 2 minutes maybe?

Yeah, I mean, snacks can be as high-end as something like prosciutto and melon or dates with peanut butter, or it could be as simple as a piece of string cheese and a hard-boiled egg.

You know what I mean?

There's really no rules beyond something that tastes good to you and then pairing carbs with something that's going to balance it out a little bit.

Yeah, agreed. All right, so we mentioned the hard-boiled eggs, some of the simple ones. We mentioned a lot of cold ones so far. What would you bring to an occasion where you had no refrigeration or couldn't bring a lunchbox? So how to be like shelf-stable, and it could be store-bought.

Yeah, I set my own rules. I guess it depends on how long I'm without refrigeration because For example, if you're like going on a road trip, you can get something at Sheetz that's gonna last you for a couple hours.

True.

If I'm going camping—

Which we know you wouldn't be, but we'll go with your example.

Against my better judgment. One of my favorite things lately is, do you know the brand Chomps?

They're turkey sticks.

So something like a turkey stick, Maybe some pretzels, some cashews. I'm not a huge dried fruit person. I feel like they kind of— not so much. Well, that, but I feel like they— my blood sugars just don't— my body doesn't love them as much as some of the other snacks. So I try to stick more to like some of the proteins and fats. But I think that would probably be my go-to if I was without refrigeration. What about you?

So I hear you saying more of like a kind of a non-dried fruit trail mix kind of deal.

Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't like things mixed together. I'd probably bring like one of my philosophies and when I work with people a lot, especially families, is have a couple of different options and then you can combine different things throughout the week. So you might have 3 or 4 options, but then you end up with, I don't know, 10 different snack combinations.

Ooh, I like it. I like it. That reminds me of So our house is full of different kinds of bags of dried fruits and various kinds of nuts. And so, yeah, each family member will kind of make their own trail mix because each person doesn't like something that the other person does.

Yeah.

So, you know, everybody's kind of happy on that front. I sometimes will do like a jerky, but I don't know. I'd rather grab like a clementine or something like our bites, like the, like the protein bites.

Yeah.

Which will stay out of the fridge for a couple of days.

Yeah.

And be just fine. Or nuts and seeds. I do like me just a good old spoonful of peanut butter.

Yeah, but one, it never is just one for me. Yeah.

What about store-bought stuff?

Actually, there is one thing that I could very well make myself, but I like the convenience aspect. Trader Joe's has a, it's a Greek yogurt, but it's like an everything bagel dip.

Ooh.

But it's just Greek yogurt with the seasoning. And so one of my go-tos is getting that with cucumbers or pretzels. And that thing does not last but a couple of days. It's so good.

That reminds me of chocolate hummus.

Oh yeah.

Do you like chocolate hummus?

Yeah.

I know some people are probably like, uh, gross. It is amazing, in my humble opinion.

Oh, that's right.

We had that on that, um, we have it on a YouTube video. I forgot about that.

Have you ever tried a spoonful of peanut butter in the chocolate hummus?

Oh, now you're talking my language. Yes. I would call that a, I would call that a weird snack. Like, especially if you like scooped that out into a bowl and see, I would like mix it. Oh yeah, no, like stir it all up and, you know, make like a little swirl. See, y'all, rules are out the door here. I'm looking at another recipe in one of our snack books. It's a, like a popsicle. This is what I do a lot for my kids in the summertime. I'll make a smoothie, which I usually don't dig smoothies in the wintertime, just too cold. But I'll make a smoothie and then I'll pour them into popsicle molds. So if it's really hot out and you just— and you don't want to blend anything, or you don't want to be in the kitchen or whatever, you already got them in the freezer and they're like— I don't know, I feel like popsicles are fun to eat.

Yeah.

And you know, you can put Greek yogurt in there, you can put milk in there, you could put a plant-based milk in there, you put fruit. You can put vegetables. That's a good way to get my kids to eat veggies. And they don't know it. Hahaha. All right. So we've covered weird snacks, store-bought snacks, cooking or not cooking, going to the gas station, somewhat on road trip snacks even, I'd say. Yeah. What have we missed?

I mean, I think we've covered more, like, some of the more in-depth snacks. Sometimes, like, when I'm working with clients, I try to bring it back to the basics, just kind of dumb it down a little bit, and just tell them to pick, you know, pick 3 items for the week. Pick a fruit, or maybe it's 4. Pick a fruit, pick a veggie, pick something starchy or crunchy, and then some sort of protein. And so let's say for this week, and I do this with myself too, let's say for this week I pick clementines, cashews, turkey sticks, and maybe I just stick with those 3 things. And then I tell them to like designate a space in their fridge and their pantry. And so everybody in the household can just go and grab 1 or 2 things. And you can rotate those choices. So it can be as simple as just grabbing items out of the fridge, or it can be more in-depth like the homemade popsicles or energy bars or, you know, things like that. But it doesn't really have to be super fancy.

I like the idea of the, like, designated spot for snacks because, like, for our kids, we've got a drawer in the fridge that's, like, down below where they can reach it. But we also put dried stuff in there, so we actually put trail mix in the fridge. Which it doesn't have to be in the fridge, but then they know it's like all their drawers. So when they open it, especially when they come home from school and they're like, and I'm on a call and they're hungry, they just run in there and they open that drawer and that's like fair game for them rather than like the candy jar or something like that. And they don't have to ask me permission. So good tip there. Any other good healthy snack tips?

I mean, this isn't really like a healthy snack tip, but going back to the kids thing, it's also helping to teach them how to, you know, pick and choose options and how to fuel themselves appropriately. So I would really recommend that for like families and trying to get your kids involved in the process, taking some of the responsibility off mom and dad.

So, amen, sister. Yeah, you're welcome to come over anytime. All right, so let's, let's kind of jump backwards a little bit and make sure that we're going over the basics. So good proteins, let's list a couple out. And go, action.

My go-to are, let's see, nuts, turkey sticks, and I'm gonna say hummus.

Okay, cool. Um, I like the single-serve like Greek yogurts or cottage cheeses. Hard-boiled eggs are always in our fridge. Cheese sticks are always in our fridge. Nuts and seeds, always in our fridge. And then of course the protein bites that we steal from the kitchen, or if we're like developing any new ones, those are certainly in the wheelhouse. So, and then I love, uh, I love a good hummus too. It's not always in our fridge, but you know, basically beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds. Eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt. You mentioned meat, fruits, veggies. Hopefully we know those. Uh, but what are some of your favorite go-to fruits and veggies?

For snacks specifically, I always seem to have carrots cut up. I always seem to have cucumber slices. And when in season, uh, like clementines, mandarin oranges, some of the smaller options.

What about, do you feel like buying pre-cut fruits or veggies is cheating?

I don't think it's cheating. I think for people who want to pay for the convenience, it's a great option. For people who are maybe a little bit more budget conscious, I have to slow down and say that word sometimes, who are watching their budget a little bit more, I think you can, you know, very easily achieve the same effect by buying quote-unquote raw and cutting at home. I will say that the minute you kind of get it into your door, like bring it into the house, cut it up then. Take the time, take the extra 5 minutes then to cut it up ahead of time because it's much easier on Tuesday afternoon when you're in the middle of the workday to just go in your fridge and grab the pre-cut carrots or the cucumber slices than to take the time out to kind of cut them.

Or it's like half rotted in your fridge already.

Yeah.

And then you're having to throw it out, which is no fun.

All right, so let's see.

I'm gonna touch— just because as you're talking, I'm like thinking, of course I'm hungry, my stomach is growling. I wonder if you guys can hear that or not. I'm thinking of some of the fun store-bought snacks that I like to grab, especially if I'm traveling. Um, have you ever had Wisps? I have.

I'm not in love with them as much as you are, but yeah.

Okay, click See, different strokes for different folks, right? I also love, I think the brand is Good Bean. They have like crunchy fava beans and crunchy chickpeas.

Those are so good. Those fava beans are legit. They're so good. Where do you find them around here?

Oh, I have to look kind of hard for them, but I mean, usually we're at Harris Teeter, but when in doubt, I go to Vitacost. Yeah, fava beans. What else do I usually take? It's usually like I show up, people sit next to me on the plane and I like open my bag and I'm like, "What would you like today?

I have all the things." Speaking of that, on planes, and this just popped into my head because I recently just traveled, you know what I normally get on planes are the Perfect Bars, those protein bars.

Oh girl, I've been trying to replicate those in the kitchen and then I'm just like, "I give up. I'm just going to pay the money for them because they're so good." They're so good.

And most airports, like, most of the little, like, convenience stores in airports sell them.

Yeah. What's your favorite flavor?

So it's only at Trader Joe's, and it's like, um, it's cookie dough, but it's not the peanut butter cookie dough that you know in, like, the light tan packaging. It's like an orangey brown packaging. It's so good.

Oh man, now I'm gonna have to go to Trader Joe's. Thanks, Sarah. Um, yeah, I do love me that. I do love me that peanut butter chocolate chip. That's delicious. Other nice thing about Perfect Bar, I will say, is that they, they come in the kid size. Because if you get a full-size Perfect Bar, and this is the case oftentimes with like energy bars or protein bars, they're oftentimes so big that it's like a little bit closer to a, it's like a weird meal snack. It's a little bit bigger than a snack, maybe not quite a meal. And then I can never break it in half and commit to one side and put the other side away. That's not how I roll. So I buy the kid size and then I— it's basically like a built-in half size. So that's a nice little keep me reeled in.

Yeah, that's true. Another tip for something like the Perfect Bar or something that's a little bit more dense. So I think they're around like 300 or 400 calories depending. So it's a pretty hefty snack. I'll use that sometimes almost not to delay a meal, but if I know that my meal is going to be delayed. So a bigger snack to kind of get me through to that meal. For example, kitchen days, long days in the kitchen, don't really have a ton of time to just sit down and have a meal.

We don't sit. Let's just clarify, if anybody orders from The Fueling Edge, your sisters here are moving. We don't— yeah, there's no like, "Excuse me while I, while I, you know, relax, kick my feet up and have my snack." No, that doesn't happen.

Bars like that are perfect for moments like that because ultimately snacks are to help get you to the next meal, right? To help not have you hungry, not overindulge too much at the next meal. So it's kind of like that. Bridge in between.

Which reminds me, we didn't talk a lot about chocolate. So I know a lot of, a lot of people I work with oftentimes feel bad for eating chocolate, or they think that that's not a good snack. And I would beg to differ, especially if it's like a good quality square of like dark chocolate. Sometimes I'll take a schmear of peanut butter, like our little hummus and peanut butter thing, or have like, like in one of our recipe books, we have orange dipped or orange, like orange slices that are dipped in dark chocolate. Recipe for that. So are you much of a fan of chocolate as I am? Is that a thing? Can anybody be a bigger fan of chocolate than I am?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, especially chocolate and peanut butter. The way my brain works, it's just not something that I like to have as a snack. It's, it's like a treat for me. I'd rather save it in my treat category and keep my snacks in my snack category. Because if that's the case, then I'll just have chocolate at breakfast, every snack, lunch, you know what I mean? Like, I kind of have to keep it in its lane.

Your parameters.

Yes.

Okay, fair. I like it. Very cool. All right. So let's, let's summarize basic tenets of a healthy snack. What would be your summary for making sure that we're either preparing or cooking or not cooking a good, healthy snack?

My summary would be if you're having a carb, make sure you pair it with a protein or a fat. Snacks can be as complicated and fancy and as fun as you want them to be, like prosciutto and melon or energy bars that you make at home, or they can be as simple as having a couple things on hand throughout the week like cheese sticks, cucumber slices, and crackers and grabbing and pairing them throughout the week. As you eat.

Well said. And I would say just as a final little cherry on top, hopefully you enjoy it.

Exactly.

Yeah, because you, you know, food is love. We can have healthy and good food at the same time.

It tastes good. Yeah.

Yes, agreed. All right, so if you are interested in checking out our cookbook and our healthy snacks, our cookbook of healthy snacks. We got all the things now. Check it out at theenduranceedge.com. Miss Sarah Heckler, performance dietitian and Fueling Edge manager. Oh, we got to plug the Fueling Edge. I'll let you do that. Yes.

If you don't want to make protein bites on your own, we can certainly make them.

Because they are a pain. We can attest to them, to that.

They're worth it though. They're super delicious. I'll just say we have a variety of flavors. My two favorite, and then I want to hear your two favorite, are the peanut butter chocolate chip and the birthday cake protein bite.

Yes, I would actually have to agree with you there, although the mocha chipper— I do like me the mocha chip with our Larry's Coffee and our Vadiri's Chips. So all the local businesses all rolled into one. Where do we order our lovely protein bites?

Yes, I will say you're probably going to order— you will want to order more than one box because without a doubt, I eat the whole box in one sitting. But you can order them at thefeelingedge.com and the flavors rotate.

How many flavors do we have?

I think we have a total of 10-ish. Some are seasonal, but we do have 3 flavors every week. So 3 different ones.

All right. So recipe book at theenduranceedge.com, snacks at thefuelingedge.com.

All right.

Dietitians, athletes in the kitchen, rocking it out. Thanks, Sarah.

Yeah, thanks for having me.