Snack Food Weight Loss Diet Nutrition Tips Guide

Snack Food Keeps Your Metabolism Running

By Tracy Kerr-Walshe

In the past, snack food has gotten a bad rap, mostly because people associate it with binging. However, snacking throughout the day has many benefits, particularly if you’re looking to reach a healthy weight. First of all, having 4-5 healthy snack foods throughout the day will keep you feeling satiated so you don’t suddenly feel starving and prone to overeating.

Secondly, grazing helps keep your metabolism running and burning calories as you’re frequently digesting. Snacking also helps fight fatigue by keeping your blood sugar at a normal level. The latest findings suggest that having six mini-meals a day versus three medium-large meals per day cuts cholesterol levels by 8%, which also reduces heart attack risk by as much as 16%!

Getting Your Nutrition From Snacks

Healthy foods don’t always have to taste like Styrofoam. For a snack, bagels and bran muffins taste pretty darn good! A 200-calorie bagel will give you 11% of your daily recommended iron, which is particularly good for women who don’t always retain iron so well.

Additionally, you’ll get solid doses of B vitamins, like niacin, riboflavin and thiamin. You may be tempted to load on the cream cheese, but there are delicious flavored skim ricottas that come in blueberry and strawberry that might be a healthier choice. A bran muffin delivers three grams of fiber and 1.8 mg of iron (10% of your daily value).

Eating Natural Unprocessed Fruit And Vegetables As Snack Food

Fruit snacks are a good way to instantly feel rejuvenated and full of energy and spunk. A banana is a great source of potassium (11%), but also offers 35% of the daily value of Vitamin B6, and all for just 110 calories! Cantaloupe is another surprisingly healthy fruit, delivering 100% of your daily vitamin C needs in just one cup.

For a good vegetable snack food, you can’t go wrong with broccoli, which delivers 68% of the daily value of vitamin C in just 1/2 cup, as well as vitamin A and as much calcium as a glass of milk. To jazz it up, try dipping it in no-fat nacho cheese or no-fat veggie dip! Another great vegetable is the carrot, which will satisfy your vitamin A needs for the whole day.

Adding Variety To Your Snack Options

They say "variety is the spice of life," and this is particularly true when it comes to snack food. Instead of just eating that half cup of frozen yogurt, why not throw 1/2 cup of blueberries on top to add texture, flavor and nutritional value? Instead of just gobbling down apple slices, spread a tablespoon of smooth creamy peanut butter on top. You don’t have to feel guilty about these 150-calorie treats!

Coming in at 200 calories, you can review your options and have a cup of low-fat cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of fresh peach slices or a 1/3 cup of tasty granola. By taking variety and portion size into consideration, you’ll be eating health foods without even realizing!

This article was about Snack Food.

Please Note: All information given on this site is for general information purposes and is not to replace any medical opinion or medical diagnosis given by a qualified medical doctor, a dietitian/nutritional expert or any other medical expert, as individual circumstances may vary. Please see your medical doctor, before any action is taken to alleviate symptoms.

About the Author:
Tracy Kerr-Walshe is an author of articles on healthy food, diet, weight loss and nutrition including Whole Foods, Organic Foods, Healthy Snacks, Effective Weight Loss, Full Body Detox, Juice Fasting.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles coming soon.

More Facts About Snack Foods

My child is obese, should he cut out all snack foods completely?
Even children that are obese need snack foods. If you take all snack foods away, including the sugar laden ones, it just makes the child more apt to sneak snack foods from other sources. The important thing to remember is that snack foods can actually be quite good for a diet.

Eating a snack in the afternoon will curb a person's hunger at dinner. This will stop them from overeating. The key is to include the child's snack in their daily calorie count and to provide them with the right snacks. It is still fine to give a child chips or sweet snacks once or twice a week.

This just means that they will be more likely to view it as a treat and not an every day necessity. You need to make sure that your home and your child's lunch box is filled with nutritious and filling foods.