Some Snacks Are Definitely Better For You Than Others!

We like snacks. They can’t make you fat—unless you eat them when you aren’t hungry or overeat them. Selecting what foods to eat for a snack can be tricky. Most snacks available in convenience stores and coffee shops are unbalanced—they contain too many cards or too much fat to give you a healthy lean body.

Great Healthy Snack Ideas

Here are our suggestions for healthy snacks you can eat at home or take with you.

1. Stuffed dates. Fill dates with a ½ teaspoon of plain cream cheese or with an almond or pecan.
2. Meat and cheese rollups. Roll up a thin slice of meat and a slice of cheese in a lettuce leaf.
3. Snow cones. Purchase a snow-cone maker at a kitchen store. Costs about $19.95. In a container that comes with the snow-cone maker, place ¼ cup unsweetened juice and fill it with water. Freeze. When you want a snow-cone, in less than a minute the snow-cone maker will churn out an icy treat.
4. Whole fresh fruit: apple, orange, pear, grapes, etc.
5. Pickled eggs. Purchase at food specialty stores or prepare them yourself.
6. Hard-boiled eggs.
7. Dried fruit: dates, apricots, pears, figs, raisins.
8. Cut up vegetables with or without dip.






9. Nuts. You can choose from any kind of nuts you enjoy –macadamias, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, and pistachios, Brazil nuts. Eat slowly so you don’t overeat.
10. Parmesan swizzles. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a cookie sheet, spread one 6-ounce package of shredded Parmesan cheese into a thin layer. Bake 10-12 minutes until melted and slightly browned. Cool slightly, remove from the cookie sheet, and break into pieces.
11. Homemade trail mix of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, such as dried apricots and cranberries.
12. Olives.
13. Cocktail onions.
14. Half a small avocado.
15. Guacamole salad. Prepare with one-half avocado, cut into cubes. Toss with lime juice, salt, and a sprinkle of chili powder.
16. Avocado with dressing. Fill the “hole” in half a small avocado with salad dressing, such as vinegar and oil, Italian, or Ranch.
17. Nut butters on fruit slices.
18. Beef or meat jerky. Purchase jerky that doesn’t contain mystery ingredients. You can purchase at a natural foods store or some specialty stores. (The convenience store varieties have enough chemicals in them to seem like you’re back in chemistry class! Yuck.)
19. Small cans of tuna or sardines.
20. Dark chocolate. Even a small square of chocolate makes a great snack. Rather than chew it, let the square dissolve slowly in your mouth.
21. Unsweetened fresh coconut.
22. Raw carrot sticks with fresh ginger and a cup of ginger tea.
23. Small baked yam.
24. Steamed fresh green beans lightly sprinkled with Parmesan cheese

Eating Snacks Wisely

You have many choices for healthy snacking. So when you’re stomach signals it’s at zero (hungry) go ahead and enjoy a snack, eat up to or below a 5 (comfortable.)

To learn more, read The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss. To order, click here.