Snacking the healthier way

Many people think snacks are junk food, though it doesn't have to be that way. Snacking can be part of a balanced diet. Eating small portions between meals provides your body with energy to keep you going throughout the day. Try to keep your snack portions small and less than 200 calories. To maintain a healthy lifestyle choose snacks which provide energy, vitamins and minerals and not too much fat, sugar and salt.

For healthy and filling snacks, try:

Starchy snacks	Fruit and vegetables	Milk and dairy
Plain fruit scone with jam	Handful of dried fruit. eg apricots	Low calorie hot chocolate with semi skimmed milk
Small bowl of wholegrain cereal- weetabix/ shredded wheat	Frozen grapes	Low fat yoghurt
Sandwich/toast with honey and banana	Carrot, celery and cucumber with cottage cheese	Layer frozen fruit yoghurt and granola
Handful of crackers	Smoothie	Low fat yogurt with a drizzle of honey or chopped fruit added in
Rice cakes	Try filling celery with peanut butter or low-fat cottage cheese	Little pot of non-fat cottage cheese
Oat cakes	Dipping your vegetables in low-fat dressing.	Frozen yoghurt
Half a bagel with low fat cream cheese	A handful of nuts, seeds, dried fruit or trail-mix (or make your own mix by buying the ingredients you like).	Wholegrain cracker with low fat soft cheese
Whole-wheat pita-bread dippped into houmous	Fruit kebab	A match box size piece of edam with grapes
Some homemade unsweetened popcorn (microwave bags or popping kernals).	Stewed fruit	Low fat yoghurt drink

So forget the bag of crisps or chocolate bar and reach for a healthy snack – you’ll definitely get get extra fibre, vitamins, and minerals, and remember with proper portions and healthy food choices, snacking can enhance, rather than hurt your diet.