Healthy Snacks for Traveling During the Holidays

The holidays are a time that often includes many road trips, long drives and consequently eating out of the house. Healthy meal delivery services, such as Athletes Kitchen can really come in handy when you need prepared meals or snacks for those busy holiday times.

Busy times, call for some healthy meal delivery services!

Travelling during the holidays often puts stress on eating healthy because you’ve run out of time to meal prep the best dishes for yourself ahead of time. Athlete’s Kitchen can help you by creating ready-to-eat meals delivered to your door. Our healthy meal delivery services help ensure you continue to pursue your healthy lifestyle no matter where you’re travelling to.

A little pre-planning before the holidays hit can do wonders to ensure that during this holiday season your nutrition and health goals don’t get tossed aside. Having a variety of prepared meals and snacks that are nutritious and tasty doesn’t have to be as overwhelming and time-consuming as you think it may be.

Why you should you have ready to eat meals and snacks?

As a famous quote says, “if you fail to plan, plan to fail”.

The holidays can be a time when our sugar cravings increase. It’s not always easy to eat nutritious meals during the holidays, especially when those sugar cravings hit! It’s okay to have a bit more of a sweet tooth during this time. We are constantly surrounded by treats, which sometimes makes it hard for us to decipher between emotional and physiological hunger.

Having some meal prep done or use a healthy meal delivery service ahead of time can be a proactive method to ensure you have ready to eat food and meals when you find yourself out of time and hungry to a tasty meal.

What’s the difference between hunger and a craving?

A craving is different than hunger; let us repeat that for those in the back – A craving is different than hunger. Hunger typically occurs 3-5 hours after a meal, and you are satisfied with a meal such as chicken and rice or a snack like apple and cheese. In contrast, a craving is when you have a desire for something specific like pumpkin pie or some ice cream.

Hunger will bring about fatigue, a headache and even some mental fogginess. Cravings will be more like an obsession that you can’t stop thinking about. You can read more about the difference in this blog which is all about the 3 types of hunger you can experience.

What causes cravings?

Cravings can be caused by many different factors! To name a few nutritional causes, a low protein diet, micronutrient deficiencies, a low carb diet, or a low fibre diet can create cravings. Cravings can also be the result of psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, nervousness or a poor sleep.

Its important to prioritize nutritious balanced meals, that are nutrient rich, high in protein, fibre, complex carbs and healthy fats.

You can learn more about each of those macros in our previous blogs. It is also important to ensure you are getting enough sleep and movement in your day. Lasty, we want to prioritize water intake, as dehydration can lead to sugar cravings!

The answer is not to restrict!

Healthy snacks often make a big difference in ensuring your busy schedule does not deter you from your weight loss journey, your fitness goals or life in general. During the holidays, sometimes we are more tempted to restrict food, with the mentality of ‘saving calories’ for later. However, if we choose healthy snacks that are high in protein and fibre, we can feel more satiated and satisfied which can help us refrain from overeating later in the day.

Oftentimes, people will restrict calories, thinking that it will help them maintain their weight during the holiday season, however, when the holiday meal comes they may find themselves ravenous and are more likely to overindulge. A better strategy is to consume a healthy meal or snack that may be smaller in calories, and higher in protein, like the shredding meals from Athletes Kitchen.

What does a healthy snack look like?

Think of a healthy snack as a mini meal. Therefore, it will have protein as the center (around 20-30 grams), will have some fibre (fruits and veggies or complex carbs) and can have some healthy fats. The only difference in the size.

For example:

• 1 cup of greek yogurt, 1 piece of fruit, 1 tbsp nuts/seeds
• 1 cup of lentil chickpea salad, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 oz tuna, 1 slice of sourdough, 1 tbsp avocado with some cucumber slices
• protein smoothie with banana and peanut butter
• 1 wrap with 90 grams chicken breast, 1 tbsp hummus and a side of carrots

You don’t have to do it alone, let Athlete’s Kitchen help you!

At Athlete’s Kitchen, we have many different meal plans to choose from with different portion sizes and different cuisines. During this busy time of the year; Athlete’s Kitchen is here to help you stay on track with your health and fitness goals by providing you with great food, meal plans and with restaurant quality meals delivered to your door. Our healthy meal delivery service are prepared by expert chefs, gluten-free, dairy free, soy free and are geared to help you lose weight, gain weight or maintain your healthy weight.

We have meal plans that are specialized for whatever your goals are. If you are looking for fat loss or muscle gain you can count on us to help you do that. Athlete’s Kitchen is there to help a busy professional, parents with their hands full and everyone in between during the busy time of the year and during the quiet moments in life where you don’t want to spend time in the kitchen!

We have weekly delivery on Wednesday and Sunday to accommodate your schedules. Furthermore, we have many different options to ensure you can choose the right meal plan for you and your needs, from plant-based to paleo.

Out nutritionist and trainer Diane offers nutrition coaching that focuses on building sustainable habits that will allow you to both achieve and maintain your results while enjoying life.

She is not for restricting; rather Diane helps you in developing a lifestyle that promotes your goals. To learn more about her services or book a call with her, click the links.