Super Food Snacking | Asian Grocery Haul

The other day, I felt a snack craving coming on.  But instead of heading to the nearest store for chips or gluten free crackers, like I normally would, I decided to head to my local Asian supermarket.  Boy was I glad I did because I came out of the experience with a major haul.

As I strolled down the aisles, I came across one healthy snack option after another.  Sure, they weren't your traditional snacks that we're used to but I had the intention of eliminating junk food from my diet and replacing with nutrient rich options instead.  The Asian culture is notorious for converting high nutritious foods into snacks and most of them actually taste really good.  In the past, I would reach for "healthy snack bars" to toss into my bag incase cravings kicked in but many of those bars are loaded with sugar.  These unique snacks offer a great alternative while providing real nutrition at the same time.

Here's what I made out with:

-BAMBOO CHAROAL PEANUTS |  The moment I saw the words bamboo + charcoal in one snack, I was sold.  We all know that I'm a huge fan of the mighty bamboo.  And I've written about charcoal and it's detoxifying/cleansing properties on various occasions.  To be honest, I was a little leery of what this would taste like.  But instead I was pleasantly surprised.   This is probably my favorite snack of all the purchases.  The charcoal layer adds a nice light crunch to the peanut.  Interesintly enough, it has no burnt or charred taste whatsoever.  An the charcoal doesn't leave black residue on my teeth.  The peanut taste isn't strong either.  Instead this snack tastes mildly sweet (sugar is one of the ingredients).  I really like these, I just wish I could find an unsweetened version that doesn't contain wheat.  Maybe, I buy some bamboo charcoal powder and play around with making these myself.

-DRIED WATERMELON SEEDS |  I picked these up after reading in an article about the nutritional value of watermelon seeds.  They contain fats (omega 6), minerals, niacin, magnesium, zinc, and B vitamins to name a few.  For some reason, I thought these would be roasted but, turns out they're dried.  Honestly, I didn't really like these as much as the charcoal peanuts.  Not because of the taste.  They just seemed a bit hard to eat.  No worries, I'll just toss them in my smoothie as a nutritional boost.

-SPICY GREEN PEAS |  Love these!  The package makes it appear like these are super spicy but, to me, they taste more like crispy seasoned peas.  They aren't that spicy but they taste great.  I love crispy snacks so this is perfect for me.  Again, it doesn't really taste like peas but I'm getting in more vegetables in my diet.  With this snack, I get protein, fiber and iron.  Can't say the same about a bag of nacho cheese Doritos.

-SPICY PEANUTS |  These bad boys are actually pretty spicy. It's a blend of peanuts,  dried red chilli pepper skin and peppercorn shells.  Along with the protein, I think this snack could increase circulation and blood flow.  Now that I've gotten used to eating dry chilli pepper skin, I may opt to go straight for the dried chilli pepper without the peanuts.  I'm more interested in the antioxidant and anti inflammation properties of the chilli pepper.  Not to mention that it's high in vitamin A & C.

I also replenished my seaweed sheets stores and stocked up on black sesame seeds.   There's another high nutritious snack I added to my list. That product deserves it's own post......

'till next time.