Day 24: Samana and Snacking

Snacks. I love them. You love them. We all love them. Yummy morsels of bite-sized goodness. Fried, baked, popped, in ziplocks or plastic wrapped, covered in chocolate or mixed with nuts. I. love. snacks. And they serve a purpose. Snacks are your in-between-time treats. But all snacks are not created equal. America loves snacks like sliced and fried potatoes, double-mega-chunk chocolate cookies and diabetes-wrapped-in-artificial-flavor candy. These snacks don't love you, they just want yo' money. And years of your life. Maybe a tooth or two.
Healthy snacks exist and are as easy as a milky way. When you walk into that lovely coffee shop for your daily fix, instead of setting your sights on a sugar-bomb (eg: cookie), glance around. What? What's this!? Fruit! No way. Fruit is delicious. And, wait...wait...it's full of vitamins and plenty of fiber. And it's all natural in the no processing, crazy heating, chemical solvents and weird ingredients sort of natural. Let's compare.

 Milk Way Ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa butter, Skim Milk, Chocolate, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor), Corn Syrup, Sugar, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Skim Milk, Less than 2%-Milkfat, Cocoa Powder Processed with Alkali, Malted Barley, Lactose, Salt, Egg Whites, Chocolate, Artificial Flavor.
 - Bad News: Ingredients are listed in order of concentration, so the first ingredient is Milk Chocolate, which is mostly just sugar. Then comes corn syrup, or more sugar. Surprise! Third most prevalent ingredient is sugar. This is a diabetic nightmare.

Apple Ingredients: Apple.
 - Good News: Plenty of fiber to regulate the sugar within the fruit and a good serving of vitamin C. Get an organic apple and you have a perfect sweet treat.

Other options are mixed nuts (preferably not roasted or full of common table salt). Lightly salted with sea salt is a great option. You can buy bulk nuts at your local health food store. I love cashews and pecans. Walnuts are great, though can have a slight bitter aftertaste. You can also stock up on some mixed dried fruits, like raisins or apricots. Though higher in sugar, they are still a great alternative. And then you can make those ordinary nuts into something awesome...like trail mix. And there are always Lara Bars, which are delicious. Pecan Pie, Cashew Cookie and Key Lime Pie make me ridiculously happy. Ingredients(Key Lime Pie): Dates, Cashews, Almonds, Unsweetened Coconut and Lime Juice Concentrate. Awesome.

Yoga
Class: Samana
Instructor: Renee
Studio: Open Door
Wins: realizing that my body is stronger, leaner and that my focus can stay on my breathing...instead of my "What the fuck do you want me to do with my legs? Standing...splits? Grab my ankle and, wait..."; accepting what my body needs, instead of what my brain craves; understanding the fluid nature of life and finding a hint of peace (Thanks, timbo); Accepting my decisions; Not fighting my feelings, but living in the space they create.