1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: tip is to make produce an easy snack. If you 4 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:26,159 Speaker 1: make grabbing grapes as easy as grabbing potato chips, you 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:32,239 Speaker 1: will probably eat more fruit. Today's tip was inspired by 6 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: a New York Times article about how a nutritionist actually eats. 7 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: According to the article, nutritionist doctor Maya Vadevalou suggests making 8 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: vegetables your lazy snack. In other words, if eating vegetables 9 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: doesn't require a lot of effort, you're probably going to 10 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: eat more vegetables. She suggested that she was often very 11 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: satisfied with a bag of baby carrots on her desk. Now, 12 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: there is a caveat here that people who are drawn 13 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: to the field of nutrition might be more into healthy 14 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: foods than the rest of us. I do not find 15 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: baby carrots to be an exciting snack. But the truth 16 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: is that making produce as easy to eat as possible 17 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,839 Speaker 1: does increase the chances that it can compete with cookies 18 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,680 Speaker 1: or doritos or anything else that you might be trying 19 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:34,759 Speaker 1: to minimize. As an example, unwashed whole bell peppers are 20 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: no match for a can of chips, but cut up 21 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: bell pepper sticks that you can easily dip into hummus 22 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: have a fighting chance in that battle. So if you 23 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: buy peppers at the grocery store, go ahead and wash 24 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: them and remove the seeds and pith and cut them 25 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: into snackable sticks. Store them in a storage container in 26 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: the fridge that is easily visible. I'm talking maybe even 27 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: a single size container with an individual serving size container 28 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: of hummus stacked on top. You want the veggies to 29 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: be a very easy snack with some produce. You don't 30 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: even want to hide it away in the fridge. I 31 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: know that grapes keep longer in the produce drawer, but 32 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: the goal is not for them to last a long time. 33 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: It's for people to eat them quickly. So I try 34 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: to buy really enticing looking grapes and then put them 35 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: in a bowl on the counter. Likewise, if I cut 36 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: up more than enough strawberries for dinner and leave the 37 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: extras in a bowl on the counter, people tend to 38 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: eat them as they pass through the kitchen at night. 39 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: Now we do risk people not eating all of them 40 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: and the leftovers turning a little bit on appealing, but 41 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: I can tell you that someone hunting for a late 42 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: night snack is unlikely to pull a container out of 43 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: the fridge, wash everything, cut off the tops, and then 44 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: eat them. We want to make this an even fight package. 45 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: Snack food has intrinsic appeal, but a lot of the 46 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: time we eat traditional snack foods simply because it's the 47 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: easiest thing to do. If you make produce an easy 48 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: snack as well, then you won't need to rely on 49 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: willpower to reach for a banana instead of the cookies. 50 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: The banana is right there in front of you in 51 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: the fruit bowl, which makes it much more easy to grab. 52 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and 53 00:03:52,400 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for 54 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 55 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 56 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 57 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 58 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.