Secrets of Healthy Snacking

Snacking is a part of our daily life. We enjoy cookies after school, chips at work, munch on vegetable sticks while preparing dinner, grab a fruit while going to work and reach for a glass of milk before going to bed. Thus snacks can be an important source of energy and provide key nutrients at the same time, if well planned. The food guide pyramid can be used as a planning tool for choosing healthy snacks. As mentioned in the Back to basics article, we saw that the food guide pyramid comprises of five food groups. From the base of the pyramid, to the top, each food group is unique. Food from one group cannot be exchanged with another. Hence a varied diet is important to provide all the vitamins and minerals needed for good health. So, let us use the food guide pyramid to plan snacks from different food groups and as a valuable supplement to the regular meals. It is very important to keep these snacks handy, whether at home or at work, so that they are available whenever the urge to nibble strikes. Planning ahead allows you to chose your snacks even when you are away from home or on a trip or on your way to soccer practice after a busy day at school.
Bread/Cereal/Pasta Group: An assortment of whole wheat breads, rolls, crackers, graham crackers, pretzels, breadsticks, mini toasts, cereal, bagels, low-fat fruit muffins are convenient. However, keep high-fat and high-calorie foods such as cookies, croissants, doughnuts etc. to a minimum. Health-bars, power-bars and trail food snacks might be loaded in calories and carbohydrates.

Vegetables: Slices of chilled raw vegetables such as zucchini, broccoli, celery, cucumber, cauliflower with a little salt and pepper or a low fat dip are excellent to munch on while in the car or while preparing dinner.

Fruits: These are ideal snacks: portable, nutritious, convenient and filling. Packing a fruit with the lunch bag will take care of the late afternoon snack-attack and will ward off the desire to reach for a high-fat snack from the vending machine.

Meat/Nuts: Foods from this group can be used to make sandwiches (e.g. turkey sandwich or peanut butter and jelly sandwich, etc.) and can be a substantial nourishment for kids before sport activities. Kids and teenagers will also love to munch on nuts. However as these foods are calorically dense they are better for growing kids and adults to avoid over-use.

Milk and Milk Products: Keep a variety of low fat cheeses, yogurt and milk handy to complement other food groups.

Source: Indlolink