As I progressively become more of a foodie, I am developing an infatuation for snacking. Honestly I would prefer multiple little snacks throughout the day than one huge meal. Who’s with me? Especially during the academic year when my days and nights are consumed with back-to-back classes and then the occasional work shift, there’s nothing better than snacking. Sometimes (and recently, all the time), I just don’t have time to prepare a large lunch or dinner. Breakfast on the other hand is easy, you can always prep a breakfast the night before (overnight oats or a ziploc bag of smoothie ingredients), but lunch? Dinner? Ehh.
Then there are those rare occasions when I head to the library for long hours to work on a group project and I’m surrounded by my school’s weak option of snacks at the library café. Nothing but bagels, Kit Kat bars and untrustworthy packaged sushi. Yup, I think I’ll pass on food poisoning tonight.
But if you prepare and plan ahead, snacking can be easy, healthy and much more affordable than using your money on processed snacks packaged at your university (or workplace). Your snackage decisions are 100% up to you and with so many monthly food subscription boxes these days, why not jazz up your routine?!
Last year I would always have ziploc bags in a compartment of my backpack filled with crackers, nuts, an apple, etc. You know – the basic go-to’s. After eating my fair share of nuts in all different varieties and forms, I was searching for a snack pack that didn’t have any flavorings, seasonings or additives. Just plain old NUTS. Even dried fruit. But every label I read always contained added sugars or oils. Really, do we need all of the extra junk?
When I discovered BodyOm, I did not entirely know what to expect. A snack subscription box seemed rad and all but every one I had heard of so far that was nut and dried-fruit based had a bunch of unnecessary crap in it. But the name and branding engaged me (naturally because Om and I have an infatuation with all things yogi/buddhism related) so I gave them a go. Needless to say, once you go BodyOm you never go back.
Unlike other snack subscription boxes that come with mini pre-made trail mix pouches, BodyOm lets you create your own! You get to create a variety of 12 pouches made out of nuts and dried fruits from around the world. This means you can order rare tree-dried himalayan raisins from Tibet or unpasteurized almonds from Italy. Completely organic, raw and free of genetically modified ingredients. Basically you are getting the finest quality ingredients, customized and shipped right to your door each month for either $24/box apart of a month to month subscription or $22/box for a 6-month subscription.
For that price (which includes shipping), all I want to do is snack snack and snack some more. Compared to the prices of the fancy trail mixes at stores that I can eat up in a day, BodyOm tops ’em all.
My favorite way to eat BodyOm snacks is to throw a pouch in my purse before class or work so if I’m ever on the train in a pinch for something healthy and satisfying, I’ve got my BodyOm to last me until my next meal. The other day I ended up mixing a few different pouches into a ziploc bag for a little variety and making a large trail mix out of dried apricots, cashews and almonds.
What I really really love though… adding any of the products to a smoothie or açai bowl. I feel extra fancy knowing that I’m eating breakfast with Tibetan raisins on top of it. Wouldn’t you?
When standing by a brand, I want their values and mission to resonate with me. When I received my first BodyOm box and opened it up, there were two photo cards inside that read:
“To BodyOm is to love yourself from the inside out & that starts with food.”
and
“All calories are not created equal. Instead of obsessively counting calories, lets focus on nutrient density…”
Both of these instantly affected the way I thought about these little packaged goods sprawled out on my dining room table and the company as a whole. Throughout life, I’ve seen and heard so many Americans focusing on these thoughts: “Is this 100 calories? I’m going to have a small 200 calorie snack! I’m going to have a 400 calorie breakfast and carrots that are 20 calories for a snack.” I can tell you one thing, there’s nothing that upsets me more than hearing this garbage. There are more important things in life than calorie counting and the amount of time people spend focused on meaningless numbers.
YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON NUTRIENTS, PEOPLE! What is IN the food and how it makes you feel! You can easily consume a pouch of cashews for 500 calories as a snack or a processed bag of 100 calorie Oreos and I can promise you one thing, you will feel infinitely better inside and out by eating the cashews. Once you start eating foods with more nutritional value, you will start to feel not only better on the inside but the outside as well. You also will learn to stop caring about the number foods have and more so the number of blissful feelings they give to you.
BodyOm has yet to put any nutritional facts anywhere on their snacks and really I hope it stays that way. Food is meant to be eaten, not scrutinized by percentages and values. The snacks BodyOm has curated provide a combo of protein, vitamins, minerals and fats to give us the energy we want and need.
Another perk to BodyOm? They include plump turkish figs as one of their products to select from. When I first saw a pouch of figs in my box I instantly FREAKED. OUT. Growing up, I loved fig newtons and now that I’ve moved onto throwing the real thing in oatmeal or as smoothie toppers, they’re such a treat. If you haven’t tried dried figs dipped in almond butter, I’m here to tell you now it’s one magical experience.
The other day I threw a few sliced figs from my BodyOm box onto my chia seed overnight oats with a plum, followed by a drizzle of almond butter. If we can keep this a secret between you and me, I may have eaten it in less than five minutes. It’s fine, no one else has to know.
To find out more about BodyOm snacks you can go to their site here. Follow them on Instagram here for numerous ideas on how to include their snacks into your day.
-Addie
*All opinions are my own. I was given a free monthly subscription from BodyOm which included 12 pouches of dried fruit and nut snacks. This post was not for compensation.*
