Smart snacking

Despite popular beliefs, there is a place for nutritious snacks in between meals. Light snacks, two to three times per day help keep your energy levels up whether you’re at home or work, and especially when you’re planning to exercise.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you need to have a list of fast, easy and yummy snacks on hand for when the “munchies” hit. Just because you are dieting doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat.

In fact, it is recommended to eat five to six smaller meals per day, rather than just three main meals. The reasoning behind this is that when dieters eat frequent small amounts of food, they do not get really hungry and are less likely to overeat. In growing children, snacks can help supply the nutrients needed for their optimum growth and development.

There are lots of good-tasting, low-fat, nutritious snacks out there, so next time you have a snack attack, here are some snacking suggestions:

Go for the grains

The Food Pyramid recommends that you eat six to 11 daily servings of grains, including bread, rice, cereals and pasta. To reach this goal, you can include plenty of grain-based snacks that are low in fat and calories. These grainy snacks will improve energy levels while providing carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Examples include:

• Bread (whole wheat, rye)
• Breadsticks
• Mini bagels
• Pretzels (fat-free, low-salt)
• Rice cakes
• Cereal, hot or cold, with low-fat or fat-free milk
• Unbuttered popcorn (air-popped)
• Low-fat, high fibre crackers
• Low-fat, high fibre biscuits
• Low-fat, high fibre muffins
• Low-fat granola or cereal grain bars

Be a fan of fruits and vegetables

The pyramid recommends two or four servings of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables each day. They are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Snack on:

• Fresh fruit - apples, bananas, peaches, berries - sweet, tasty and low-calorie!
• Fruit kebabs
• Baby carrots - raw vegetables are full of essential nutrients
• Green and red pepper strips
• Green peas in pod
• Celery sticks
• Don’t forget juices. Try a glass of unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice.
• A cup of vegetable soup

Remember dairy

Include snacks from the milk, yogurt and cheese group. To help meet your daily calcium requirement, choose two to three servings of dairy products each day. Snack on:

• Low-fat yoghurt, can be poured over fruit
• Low-fat or skim milk
• Slice of low or fat-free cheese on a high fibre cracker
• Fruit smoothie, made from fat-free yogurt, fruit and skim milk
• Buttermilk

Meats, poultry, fish, nuts and seeds — in moderation!

A handful of peanuts comes up to about 40 nuts (a quarter of a cup). Every 10 whole dry-roasted peanuts have 45 calories, five grams of fat and two grams of protein. So every handful of peanuts you eat has 180 calories, 20 grams of fat and eight grams of protein.

Remember that any food eaten in excess can be stored by your body as fat. Protein foods like meat can be stored as fat as well. Examples of snack food in this category include:

• Chicken
• Turkey
• Sardines, mackerel, herring
• Sliced meats - but the low-fat versions
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Nuts

Snacks can offer good nutritionSnacks can be packed with nutrients rather than empty calories. They can help fill the nutrition gap if proper choices are made.

Selecting foods from the breads and grains; fruit and vegetable group and dairy group contribute more nutritional value than foods from a high fat/high sugar and alcohol group.

Pay attention to the hidden fats in many snack foods such as cake, biscuits and chips. Select snacks that have a limited amount of refined or concentrated sugars, such as sweets, chocolate, ice-cream, biscuits etc. Therefore, choosing snacks from the other food groups help limit fat and sugar intake.

Remember that snacks are not intended to replace meals, rather just to supplement daily meals. Just avoid the high-calorie ones.

If you have children, involve them in developing your snack plan, too. Make appropriate snack choices available. If your cupboards are full of biscuits, chips and sweets, it’s easy to make them the snack choice. If fresh fruits are washed, and vegetables cleaned and cut into finger foods, they become an easy choice.

Avoid salts and cheeses

Highly salted snacks are one of the biggest sources of dietary sodium. At parties, sit next to the vegetable plate rather than the chip, pretzel and salted popcorn bowls. Guard against excessive cheese intake, too, since cheese is high in sodium and fat. Even some low-fat cheeses are high in sodium.

Avoid the rut of selecting the same snack all the time. Rotate your snack choices among the food groups. Eat snacks to meet a physical need.

Avoid eating snacks for boredom, frustration, or loneliness. If that is the case, try physical activity instead.

In general, alcoholic beverages are not a good snack item. They contribute little nutritional value.

Keep snacks on hand — in your desk draw; your briefcase and bag — so when the snack attack happens, you’re ready. There are easy ways to make snacking work for you, so go ahead and snack it.