Share your non-UPF, low sugar snack ideas?

[OctoRay]

Hello,

I've decided that this year I will make some big changes to my diet and give up sugar and UPF foods.

I've lost the baby weight (15kg 😲) and 3 meals and 2 snacks a day seems about right for maintaining my current weight. I'm a little stuck on snacks though and could do with some ideas. At the moment I have:

Nuts
Peanut butter or cheese on oatcakes or ryvita
Veg sticks and hummus
Boiled eggs
Greek yoghurt with a sprinkling of seeds

What else could I have? I think my snacks are a bit too nut-oriented some days, especially as I'm having porridge with chia seeds, mixed seeds and peanut butter for breakfast.

Actually while you're here, quick breakfast ideas would be good too!

I'm avoiding fruit at the moment.

Basically my aim is to keep my blood sugar as level as I can, while eating plenty of veg ☺️

Thank you @MolkosTeenageAngst I would love to get a continuous blood glucose monitor and do some blood sugar experiments, I think it would be super fun!

If you're wanting to increase insulin sensitivity of your cells and stabilise blood sugar you might want to include cinnamon in your duet - the jury is still out but the Dre are several studies that suggest cinnamon may play a role in glucose homeostasis

Celery sticks with cream cheese or ricotta stuffed into the centre are one of my favourite snacks.

I too love a bowl of mixed pickles - cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower etc.

@spicemaiden yes, I have bad crashes where I get the shakes (so do my siblings and other family members on my mum's side, genetic predisposition unfortunately) and feel really cross and stressed. Any idea how much cinnamon I'd need to eat? I can Google it too.

@Tomatocutwithazigzagedge maybe I'll make some pickled veg! I used to make pickled gherkins when I had an allotment, it was fun.

Need to make a list of these ideas. Thanks everyone.

Pumpkin seeds are surprisingly high in protein and taste nice with other seeds such as sesame and sunflower seeds and walnuts.

Soy eggs are a good one to make ahead and then grab and go https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/soy-marinated-eggs?srsltid=AfmBOopSTk-D4mAal0HWjMNz4eqX3Kos5QRBuzGqU-ql6qHW6bGEUdNG

I also saw a recipe for cottage cheese pancakes that’s on my list to try, you could skip the sugar altogether

I've honestly no idea - I used to be a weight lifter and followed things religiously but it's been years.

Give it a Google - I used to have around a teaspoon a day spread over a couple of meals in various things. Often at least half was mixed into a whey protein/cottage cheese smoothie - my favourite was a spiced pumpkin/whey protein smoothie.

It's quite nice to add a teaspoon of cinnamon to coffee, especially if you use a French press, percolator or Bialetti and let it bubble through.