Snack Attack!

I am a snacker.  Always have been, always will be.  When I was younger, I used to diet all the time (that's another topic for a different day), and I always tried to limit my eating to 3 meals and one snack a day.  It never worked, and my diets always failed.  Well, except for the period when I had a minor eating disorder.  I say minor because it only lasted a year or so and I didn't end up far below my healthy weight.  Still, during that time I subsisted on diet pills and very few calories, which meant I didn't snack much.  However, for the other 34 years of my life, I have always been a snacker.

I like to eat every 2 - 3 hours, which means I eat a lot of small meals each day.  I don't eat tons at once, but I do graze throughout the day.  Alright, who am I kidding, there are plenty of times when I eat a lot in one sitting.  The fact of the matter is that I LOVE food.  Luckily, I really like healthy foods, which means my constant snacking isn't a bad thing.

Since I love snacking so much, I always have an arsenal of food in my purse or desk.  Add two hungry kids into the mix and sometimes I feel like I'm carrying an entire grocery store around in my purse.  I have a large desk drawer devoted to snacks in my office and I'm always picking up items to add to it.  Here's what it looked like on Thursday:

It's actually a little sparse by my standards, but I'm going to pick up some additional snacks at the grocery store this weekend.  The item on top is beet chips. They're awesome!  The soy crisps are great for when I feel like a crunchy chip.  There are two packets of instant miso soup for a quick lunch addition or afternoon snack.  I also have a packet of Justin's almond butter and a bar.  The two boxes on the bottom are instant organic oatmeal.  I'm not a huge fan of instant oatmeal, but I like to keep it on hand since I eat breakfast at my desk each morning.  It's great for mornings when I forget to bring something or when I am running late. 

I also have a mini fridge in my office that I keep stocked with cut up veggies, fruit, Chobani, Baybel and laughing cow cheese.  I try to keep a box of crackers and rice cakes and some kind of nut butter on hand as well.

I know it seems like a lot of food, but I work full-time and spend about 8 hours at work each day.  If I don't keep healthy snacks on hand, I'm more apt to go to the college bookstore or cafeteria when I'm hungry which would result in a lot of unhealthy impulse purchases.

Since I'm a snacker and I have no plans to change that any time soon, I want to make sure I keep my snacks healthy.  That way, when a snack attack hits, I'm prepared.