Homemade Healthy Snacks – Lower Carb Edition!

So I’ve been working on my diet lately. I’ve got my workouts in the bag, but my diet has been slipping. By diet, I mean the food I eat: not a fad diet. I decided out of the blue that I’d try reducing my carb intake and upping my protein to make my macronutrients 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. This is a change from the SparkPeople standard, which is 50% carbs, 20% protein and 30% fat. I’m not going low carb at all, instead choosing to swap out some processed carbs for protein and high-quality carbs like sweet potatoes, brown rice and oats. (I haven’t yet added the oats: I think I’m still sick of them from eating oatmeal for so long.) I’d already dabbled in zero carb protein powder, which I snagged because it’s tasty and isn’t grainy. So finding lower carb snacks was a bit more of an issue than anything else. Here are some of my favorites:

Half Cup 2% Cottage Cheese w/ Cinnamon and 1 Tbsp Low Sugar Blueberry Jam

I’ll admit, I used to hate cottage cheese. All those little packages of salty lumpy cheese with fruit compotes? ICK! Definitely not for me. But topped with a liberal amount of cinnamon and homemade blueberry jam? Yes please! It tastes like the filling of a blueberry pie! 14 grams carbs, 3 grams fat and 10 grams protein in 125 calories.

Caprese Salad (12 Grape Tomatoes, 1 oz. Part-Skim Mozzarella, 1/4 Tbsp Olive Oil)

I usually serve Caprese Salad as a side dish, but you could TOTALLY eat it as a snack! I sometimes add a drizzle of a nice aged balsamic, too, but in this one I only wanted carbs from the tomatoes and cheese. Only 6 grams net carbs here, with 9 grams protein and 8 grams fat in 135 calories. Pretty well-balanced!

Packet of Chunk Light Tuna

This is a shelf-stable snack that’s easy to eat on the go, all you need is a fork. Stash a few of these in your desk drawer at work, rip them open and dig right in! The picture is the regular variety but I actually prefer the low sodium version. Only 70 calories, a whopping 17 grams of protein, less than a gram of fat and ZERO carbs so you can have a cracker or two, also!

Light String Cheese and 100g Grapes

Grapes aren’t necessarily “low carb”, but they’re super delicious and full of water so they feel more filling. 10 grams net carbs, 3 grams fat, 7 grams protein and less than 100 calories!

There are tons of other options: apples with almonds, pepperoni chips (I’ll be trying these soon), protein shakes, beef jerky. Do you have a favorite reduced-carb snack? Let me know in the comments!