Good Snacks for my Aching Belly

I have mentioned before that a few years back, I suffered from a bacterial infection that wreaked havoc on my gut.  So many of the foods that I loved in the past are now on my do-not-eat list.   I can’t eat frozen yogurt or Greek yogurt.  I can’t eat pizza or any kind of bread.  I can’t eat most dishes on a Chinese food menu and I can’t most Middle Eastern food.  I can’t eat brunch.  Seriously.  Being intolerant to so many foods leaves me with few choices when I am out of the house if I haven’t planned ahead.  Yesterday, I attended my daughter’s school carnival at an amusement park.  I thought I planned ahead by having a hardy snack before leaving the house, but this was a four-hour event and it wasn’t hardy enough.  There was fried dough and ice cream and onion rings, but I couldn’t find the raw veggie juice bar or the vegan snack shack.  Imagine that!  They did have French fries though.  I ate a few.  I can eat French fries because they are made of potatoes, oil and salt, right?  Wrong.  These fries were either coated with a gluten batter or fried in milk, eggs and sesame seeds combined.  Without going into detail, I am suffering from those fries.  I usually pack snacks with me, but the fries were calling my name and I went for it.  Big mistake.

People in my neighborhood who experience food issues usually find a way to connect with me.  Either we have a friend in common, or we are friends and an intolerance sneaks up on them and they come to me for advice.  Even this morning, I received a Facebook message from a friend asking for a dairy free and gluten-free chocolate option (I told her Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips, by the way).   Being a dietitian, it has been relatively easy for me to adjust to my diet; after all, I did study the subject of food and its effects on the body for eight years.  But for those who don’t have a background in nutrition, it can be overwhelming to make a change in due to disease, allergy or intolerance.  Some will even suffer with the consequences rather than make changes, and that pains me (almost as much as the French fries did).  So I thought I would share some of my go-to snacks that are gluten/dairy/egg/sesame free.  I want to point out that even though these products are not made with these ingredients, there may be trace amounts of these items because of where they are produced/packaged.  Trace amounts don’t affect me, but if they affect you (ie, you have the gluten allergy, Celiac disease, and not an intolerance), check the labels before eating.  Okay, enough with the disclaimer.

Clif Z Bars are amongst my favorite snacks.  My top flavor pick is the Chocolate Brownie.  They contain two of my favorite ingredients – chocolate and brownies.  I have mentioned them before, but they are so good, they are worth a second mention.  In addition to Chocolate Brownie, Clif makes six other flavors.  I have tried and liked the Chocolate Chip, Honey Graham, and S’mores, but all six are on my oh-yes-you-can-eat-it list.  I stash these bars in my purse, car, beach bag and hockey mom bag (depending on the season) for just-in-case times like last night.

When I am looking for something filling, I go for 100 Calorie Packs of Raw Almonds from Blue Diamond.  Each packet has about 16 almonds.  I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but because nuts are high in fat, they take longer to digest, thus keeping you feeling satisfied for a longer period of time.  Don’t let the word “fat” scare you.  These nuts are filled with monounsaturated fats, which is a good fat known to reduce bad (LDL) cholesterol levels.  Almonds are also high in manganese and copper, two trace minerals that increase your energy levels.  Basically, almonds won’t put you into a food coma, at least not from 16 of them.

When I am craving cookies, I reach for 27 of them.  Yes 27 cookies for 120 calories!  Well, they are teeny tiny, so it’s about a handful.  I am referring to Annie’s Gluten Free Cocoa and Vanilla Bunny Cookies.  The vanilla ones taste like little sugar cookies and the cocoa ones remind me of those round chocolate cookies that came in a little box when I was a kid.  I don’t remember the name of them but they had something to do with dogs because there was an illustration of a dog face on the box.  Do you know what I’m talking about?  Anyway, these cookies are delicious, they are made from corn and rice flour, and they actually taste like cookies and not like cardboard like some other GF desserts I’ve tried.

Some snacks that I enjoy are not copies of the original snack, but foods that I could eat before and after I developed intolerances.  One is popcorn.    I put 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels into a brown paper lunch bag, fold it over twice to close it, and pop it into the microwave (pun intended) until there is a one to two second lag between pops.  Open the bag, sprinkle some salt and enjoy!  Another is Chex Mix.   Not the kind they sell in the store, but you can make a recipe similar to the bagged version.  Use Rice Chex, Chocolate Chex or any of the seven gluten-free cereals that the Chex brand offers.  Add Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Sticks, mixed nuts and season to your taste with garlic powder, onion powder, or the flavor of your choice.  I leave out the butter/margarine in the recipe because it just doesn’t need it, plus, I don’t need the extra saturated fat in my body.

But by far, the best carry along snacks are the ones where you can eat the packaging.  I’m talking about fruits and vegetables (did you think I was talking about consuming plastic wrap??).  Apples, bananas, sugar snap peas and baby carrots are just a few of the choices for a carry-along snack.  I find it the most challenging to find fresh fruits and vegetables when I’m on the run (they don’t sell them at the concession stands at the movie theater or the amusement park), so I make it a point to keep lots of them around at home for grabbing and going.  You can make your own serving-size packages with reusable containers or snack-size bags at the beginning of the week, making your snack selection easier throughout the week.  Best of all, fruits and vegetables fall well within my 100 calorie snack guideline, and in some cases offer half the calories of other snacks while providing lots of fiber which, like fat, slows digestion and keeps you fuller for longer.

So today, when I head out to drop off my kids’ trunks at camp, take my son for a hair cut, and join my daughter at her end of the year soccer party, I will definitely pack my snacks.  I do not want another day with an aching belly.  And if you see me around the amusement park this summer, please steer me away from the fries.

xo

B