Snack Basket

Am I crazy to make myself a snack basket?

One of the frustrating things about living with depression is that I don't have much of an appetite. I also get stressed out very easily, and when I'm stressed, I don't want to eat. I want to have coffee and a cigarette. Unfortunately, I also am pre-diabetic, so my blood sugar is very finicky. In a better effort to feed myself (nutritionally), I decided to make myself a "snack basket" with all sorts of goodies that I can graze on throughout the day. When I came home with my basket and told Dan what it was for, I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy. I reasoned, "If I put small amounts of small food in very pretty packaging, I'll be more likely to want to eat it."

I picked up some pretty sticker labels and a sturdy basket at the craft store, and a heck of a lot of nuts and grains in bulk from the grocery store. I was a little too ambitious because when I loaded up my baggies, there was too much food for the basket. Either I need to get a bigger basket, or I need to pair down my selections daily. To start, I have raw pumpkin seeds, shelled pistachios, halved cashews, cheddar crackers, sesame sticks, flax and veggie tortilla chips, walnuts, 5-grain cereal, Persian cucumbers, New England granola mix, chocolate covered almonds, roasted veggie crackers, flax+ granola mix, and dried cranberries:

Once I started filling my baggies for the basket, Dan was eyeing everything and "taste-testing" it. After a while, I asked him if he wanted his own snack basket. I'm pretty sure Rocco does, too. There was only 1 spill as I transferred the food and Rocco heartily licked up every last bit of New England granola mix off the carpet. I didn't even have to get the vacuum out. I obviously need to add more fruit and veggies to the basket, but for now we'll see how this goes. I usually have salads for lunch with lots of veggies and I have skinni dip, a new fat-free frozen yogurt shop next to Henny Penny. My favorite order is the mango yogurt smoothie with pineapples, strawberries, and bananas. YUM. For now I think the snack basket would do well with some grapes or cherries, and more dried fruit...What's a good dried fruit?