Snacks

For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know how picky I am about what food I put into my body. If you come to one of my retreats, you will experience how much food plays a part in your well-being as a songwriter. I believe that your physical health affects your mental health. Bottom-line is that when your body is happy, you get much more done!

I eat a consistent diet filled with a mostly crew of superfoods: fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and oatmeal. But, just like anyone else, I love a good snack. However, I don’t look towards Doritos or sweets to satisfy my cravings, instead, I turn towards Trader Joe’s nuts and raisins.

These individual packets are the perfect snack and come in a bag of ten. They have no salt, no sugar coating, and haven’t even been roasted. They’re just plain nuts and raisins.

Why, you ask, am I blogging about nuts and raisins? Because twice in the last few weeks I have been faced with trying to find a different healthy snack.

Here’s the skinny.

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Seattle for the evening and left my lunch, along with my snacks, on the shuttle to the airport. I got distracted by a group of fourteen-year-old kids on the shuttle who were flying to DC for a rocketship competition...fascinating. Ugh, I was so mad at myself. Not only did I have to buy my lunch at the airport (I don’t eat on planes unless I absolutely have to), but I also had to find a snack. I went into every store and airport bodega, but all I could find was roasted trail mix with salt and added M&M’s. Eventually, I found a bag of cashews, not raw and lightly salted, that would have to do.

A few days later I traveled to upstate New York for two back-to-back retreats and brought along two bags of my individual nuts that ran out the final two days. I sent one of my staff to go into the small town we were staying in to find me more nuts and raisins. Anticipating what I went through at the airport, I asked him to, if necessary, get me a bag of walnuts and some raisins I could mix them myself.

He came back as frustrated as I had been. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Every trail mix and nut concoction had salt, sugar, and roasted nuts mixed in. He bought me two bags of the least offensive mix and I picked the salted almonds out of them. I ended up eating my fruit for a snack instead.

On the last day, I could hardly wait to drive back into New York City and hit up Trader Joes for my snacks. I realize I have a much simpler palette than most, but I like that what I put into my body comes from the earth. It makes me happy.

Nothing packaged, nothing processed, nothing not real. Hopefully small towns and airport bodega will get on board soon.