Healthy Snack Food

Due to technical difficulties that plagued the blog all week last week, I have chosen to reissue last weeks articles. The good news is that we have moved to a different server and everything APPEARS to be fixed! Thanks for bearing with me and we will now resume our regularly scheduled content! ~Stacy

Navigating the dangerous minefield of the snack food aisle at the super market can be treacherous. If you step one way you get blasted with cookies that are loaded with sugar and fat while if you go the other direction you are bombarded with chips and crackers packed with sodium and empty calories. We try to eat healthy snack foods, yet these convenient pre packaged snacks can be a lifesaver for those moments that you are dashing out the door and need a quick bite.

The trick is to find snacks that are delicious and nutritious. Here are 5 snack foods that will satisfy you hunger without compromising good nutrition:

Rice Cakes- I used to think that rice cakes were bland and tasteless. That was until I found flavored rice cakes and bought a package of the white cheddar variety from Quaker Oats. These have less than 1 gram of fat and only 45 calories per cake. They also have 5 grams of whole grain per cake. You can dress these up with toppings or eat them plain. Other flavors include Cracker Jack Buttered Toffee, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Crunch and more. Go to Quaker cakes website to order a free sample.

Applesauce- Single serve cups of applesauce are just the right portion size for afterschool snacks for kids or a quick bite after hitting the gym. Motts Natural Applesauce contains no fat, no sodium, and it provides 20% of the recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C for only 50 calories. Motts also has flavored applesauce to add some variety to your snacking.

Granola- A great source of whole grains, granola is a delicious and nutritious snack. You can find different flavors of granola in the bulk food section of the local super market or pre packaged bags like Bear Naked All Natural Granola. Their granolas have no preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, just natural ingredients.

Nuts-A small amount of nuts go a long way. Nuts are a powerhouse of nutrients, protein, minerals as well as “good” fat. Now don’t go out and down a whole jar of Planter’s Peanuts. According to Sixwise.com, the most healthy nuts are walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts. Nut come prepackaged but I have found them to be costly. Visit the bulk foods section of your local market and get a small amount of each type and blend them together to make your own healthy nut mix.

Soy Crisps-I love chips and I can sit and eat them mindlessly. A great alternative to chips, that are usually fried and loaded with fat, is Genisoy Soy Crisps. These Soy Crisps are baked and considerably lower in fat. I compared a leading brand BBQ flavored potato chip with the BBQ flavored Soy Crisps by Genisoy and I found that the Soy Crisps to have more protein and less fat. They did have more sodium and carbohydrates, but the crisps had more dietary fiber than the chips. Also the total calorie from fat on the crisps was 25 while the chips had 90 calories from fat.

What healthy snacks have you found in the snack food aisle?

Up tomorrow:
Book Review: You and Me