Snacking is good. Well, let me qualify this at the start – I am NOT talking about food.  (Yes, I confess, I jumped on the eat-something-small-every-four-hour bandwagon years ago when grazing was first promoted – about the same time carbs for athletes was being touted. My how things change!  I have definitely jumped off that wagon! So much new science – IF and Timed Eating ….) However, there is another way to embrace snacking and I do so.

The concept of snacking overrules ambitious grand schemes for study, practice, health … and the list goes on and on. I first heard this term used a few months ago referencing adding a walking program to a sedentary person’s life. Presumably sparked by a noble New Years resolution, a couch potato sought advice on how to jump into a schedule. Rather than suggest an idealistic goal of 30, 45, 60 or more minutes a day (in one exercise session) or an unattainable mileage goal, the response was to make snacking a habit. To embrace the habit would be more valuable than scoring high numbers of minutes, steps or miles. In other words, snack on your new habit and walk whenever possible – maybe just 2 minutes to go up the steps, or 5 minutes to the mailbox, or 7-10 minutes around the house, or …. You get the idea. BUT indulge on these snacks frequently. Maybe every hour. Add them up at the end of the day and perhaps the achievement would be as much as or more than the initial but daunting goal of a huge block. The key, of course, is to DO it, to make it a habit that will be repeated daily.

(of course, this is not a new concept but perhaps bears repeating or reframing – and of course your Fitbit or Apple Watch or whatever app you might love will do the same thing – just reframing)

Recently I have been enjoying an eclectic selection of podcasts. My current favorites are from Functional Medicine doctors Mark Hyman and Rangan Chatterjee. I know, I’ve mentioned them before, but their interviews are so very thought-provoking. I especially love that Dr. Chatterjee (has an awesome accent but …) concludes his lengthier interviews by asking his expert to sum up with just 4 or 5 actionable tips for the listener to walk away with. Snacks, I think.

Today I was listening to Arianna Huffington talk about “micro habits,” bits and pieces of actionable practices in keeping with the concept of snacks. Perhaps it is the inclusion of  5 minutes of gratitude, or 10 minutes of stillness, or 2 full minutes of breath observation, or reaching out to help one person, or pausing to acknowledge one thing each did well this day.

There are huge obstacles to overcome in each individual’s life. Or perhaps it is more likely that there are huge obstacles to work with and be shaped by, learn from, and move on. After all, Augusten Burroughs says something along the lines of: “I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”  (how much do you love that?!)

It is also said that pain is the agent of change. Without disturbance, one might become captive to a shrinking comfort zone. And to borrow from another of Chatterjee’s guests, is one a performer on life’s stage or does one live one’s own unique, exquisitely individual and complex life?

You see, podcasts, essays, blog posts, conversations, and even fortune cookies might offer a sentence or two to take away and chew on as a snack.

Note: an endurance athlete might need a 7-course dinner, not a snack. Snacking is for habit building, for waking up that which might be dormant or for maintaining the forward moving inertia that one has worked hard to put in motion. Snacking fits into the spaces created by life when life gets real and necessary and very demanding. Doing nothing is not an option. Physical activity, mental stimulation, and yes, even pockets of silliness are snacks that sustain and nourish us.

For example: Do not send the kids outside to play – go out with them – at least for a snack. Do not put the dog in the yard and clean up later; take the dog for a walk even if it is frustrating to accommodate the dog’s busy nose as spring scents entice. Stuck on Zoom? Stand up, stretch, pick your knees up, kick your butt, do those infamous six positions of the spine, then see if your stretching snack gave you a pick up. Stress steam-rollering you? Close your mental door and slip behind your eyelids for a moment of stillness, your own personal pause in a world where chaos reigns if you allow it. Brows furrowed? Take a minute or three to thumb through your adolescent kid’s favorite lame joke book. You will laugh, I guarantee it. (If not, you need more than a snack!)

In my teaching and coaching I often encourage students and clients to try to do less but do it more efficiently and achieve the same or greater results. Years ago, before I learned what I know now, I would quip: turn your tension into energy. Yes, well, why not? Stress, striving, pushing, forcing, tend to shut down the flow of energy within and without the body causing pain instead of power. Allow the energy to flow freely and in concert with your inner and outer strength and you will find that which you could only imagine, redefining limitless goals.

Balance, of course, is key. All snacks won’t work forever but will always have a place in one’s daily habits. Constantly shuffling the deck of fitness and wellness components helps sustain equilibrium. Exercise, healthy nutrition, hydration, and sleep are vital. Exercise itself has many pieces: aerobic, strength, power, quickness and mobility/stability training. Nutrition is as varied as the consumer and needs to be studied and tested carefully avoiding extremes. Meditation, Yoga, Pilates, Barre, Qi Gong, and, of course, Peloton, offer plentiful snacks or main courses.

So, what does one ever wait for? You can do this. You can creatively space snacks throughout your day and teach your body, mind and spirit to live life more fully. Expect this of yourself and your expectations will be fulfilled. Engage others in your habits.

SNACKS TO SHARE

• First thing in the morning, take a few minutes to look outside. Even better, take an early morning walk. (if you have a dog, this is a no-brainer)
• Clear head space before bed and when first awakening as a non-digital time zone. In other words, don’t take your phone to bed with you and when you open your eyes in the morning avoid reaching for it. Deliberately wait to do so until after your first cup of coffee?
• Adopt the habit to PAUSE. Stop the rush, halt the wave of anxiety in its tracks, seal your lips before saying the four-letter-word busy, or look at your plate of food before diving in.
  

  PAUSE or PAWS

  PAUSE. Maybe for a moment of gratitude. Maybe for a breath. Maybe just to reorganize your intention for the next step.

  OK, don’t remember where I got these but I wrote them down to share with you:

• Replace anxiety with curiosity.
• Gratitude is the antidote to ruminating.
• Rather than gulping (breath, water, etc) try sipping.
• And this may be my favorite – before entering your next Zoom meeting, check your face to replace your frown with a smile!
• And finally, note what others may have done for us. Perhaps a friend has offered time to simply listen or has reached out with a text message just to say hello. Stop to recognize this gift and then pay it forward.

Snacks, little manageable bits, are seeds that, once planted in fertile acceptance, provide unimaginable opportunities for organic growth. And don’t forget to share your snacks!

 

*Disclaimer. True confession – no, I did not know that teenagers use the word snack to refer to someone they might find attractive – usually sexy. I do not have a teenager in my house. Yet.