It’s Week 4 (already??) of our Upgrade Your Essentials Challenge! We hope you’ve been following along with us as we’ve covered your primary proteins, what to eat for side dishes, some tips on cooking oils, sauces, dressings, and condiments...and this week we’re going to talk about non-destructive snacking!

Snacking gets a bad rap sometimes because it’s usually associated with junk foods like processed potato chips...or pretty much anything that comes in a shiny plastic wrapper or box (and makes you feel like garbage after eating it). 

But it doesn’t have to be! If you follow some simple guidelines, you can make snacking work FOR you rather than against you. So let’s cover a few:

• - Stick to whole food snacks...
  
  We hope this one goes without saying for our Paleo Robbie tribe...but the heavily processed chips, crackers, and other “snacks” you’ll find in supermarket aisles are almost always full of industrial grains and low-grade sugars or other additives and preservatives. Absolutely not worth it when there are so many delicious real-food alternatives to choose from!
   

• - ...with a bias toward proteins and healthy fats.
  
  You can almost never go wrong with a little extra protein in your day - some of our favorite “on the go” protein options are our grass-fed beef jerkies or biltong. You can also grab some snack-friendly sliced meats like roast beef, turkey, or pork loin and pair them up with a delicious dip for an awesome afternoon boost.
  
  Lots of sources of healthy fats also make easy & delicious snacks - like our famous guacamole, a couple of hard-boiled eggs, a handful of nuts (almonds and Brazil nuts are great choices) or a spoonful (or two 😉) of a delicious nut butter. Having a good serving of fats as a snack will keep you full and energized for much longer - not reaching for another sugary snack an hour later.
  
  

  Hello, healthy snacking ;)

• - Hitting the gym or had/having an active day? Go ahead and reach for some quality carbs.
  
  What does the rest of your day look like? Will you be sitting at your desk knocking out some work - or are you planning a hard workout?
  
  If you’re going to be more physically active, snacking with some smart low-GI carbs like sweet potato chips, grain-free granola, some fruit (darker berries are great), or (if you’re on the go!) a real-food snack bar.

Remember though - with great carb comes great responsibility! Just because it’s “gluten free” or made with real-food ingredients doesn’t mean portion control goes out the window, especially when we’re talking about carbs. It’s easy to over-consume even the best carbs, especially if there’s no fiber in your snack to slow down the glucose (sugar) absorption. For this reason, favor whole fruits over fruit juices, or carbs that also come with some fiber (sweet potato, leafy greens, coconut, etc.).
 

Some great new excuses to snack 😎

This week we’re adding a few new Paleo Robbie snack creations to our Grocery, and to make sure you have a chance to try them, we’re putting them at 10% off this week:

Starting with 2 new grain-free granolas! Each of these is a “dry” granola, great on top of some grass-fed yogurt, plus 2 new nut mixes, great sources of healthy fats & carbs:
 

• - Grain-free granola: Pecan, Maple, and Blueberry
  

  Grain-free granola + grass-fed Greek yogurt = 😇

• - Grain-free Granola: Coconut, Cherry, and Cacao 

• - Nut mix: Masala Crunch
  

  A unique nut mix with an Indian masala flavor.

• - Nut mix: Walnuts & Almonds with Rosemary and Chili

Happy (mindful) snacking, everybody!