Mixing Up a Healthy Gluten-Free Snack

Just a few weeks ago I was complaining about not having enough gluten-free snacks for my daughter at school. Well I’m still having that problem, but I found a great gluten-free snack for me! During my time on the diet I needed to have something other than gluteny carbs to help me get from one meal to another. So one significant problem I have with most healthy snack suggestions is that I don’t like nuts or pumpkin seeds. So the whole idea of snacking on almonds isn’t going to happen here.

A few weeks ago I mentioned my snack of protein chips, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. Well it has changed a little bit. But I think my current snack is a keeper and there are many health benefits that go along with it.

Glutino pretzels, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds

Ingredient #1: Glutino Pretzels.  They are awesome. Better than regular pretzels because they’re not so bready. Love them plain, with cheese and whether I’m eating a gluten-free diet or not.

Ingredient #2: Sunflower seeds. They are good for us in many ways. The National Sunflower Association says “Sunflower seeds are power-packed with healthy fats, protein, fiber, minerals, vitamin E, and phytochemicals – all important to the nutritional quality of your diet.” Yes the NSA is a biased group and only going to say good things about sunflower seeds, but other research is supporting this as well. Organicfacts.net says “Sunflower seeds help in preventing heart disorders, lower cholesterol levels, asthma, high blood pressure, migraine, headaches, indigestion and inflammations related to bones.”

Ingredient #3: The power of the sesame seed. I could easily eat this snack without sesame seeds, but it turns out just a little dab of them goes a long way. The World’s Healthiest Foods talks about the health benefits of sesame seeds on its website:

“Not only are sesame seeds a very good source of manganese and copper, but they are also a good source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc and dietary fiber. In addition to these important nutrients, sesame seeds contain two unique substances: sesamin and sesamolin. Both of these substances belong to a group of special beneficial fibers called lignans, and have been shown to have a cholesterol-lowering effect in humans.”

I usually combine all three into a mix which is at most equal to about 2/3 cup. It is a good mid-morning snack for me once a day. So mix it up and have some snacking fun!

Tags: gluten-free, healthy, snack