Healthy Snacks To Satisfy Your Hunger

When you think about snacks most people feel guilty about eating them. But snacks aren't necessarily all bad. In fact, eating mini meals or healthy snacks several times a day can be beneficial.

Eating smaller meals more often helps keep blood sugar more level and can even keep your brain chemistry in better balance. Eating frequently instead of waiting until you're extremely hungry is also a good way to avoid overeating.

It's what you snack on that really is the key and choosing to eat healthy snacks just involves a little planning. If you know you are going to snack and prepare for it, then you don't have to avoid them. There is a wide variety of healthy snack combinations and here are some examples.

Fresh fruit is one of the best choices for snacking because fruit is a high fiber food. Fruit also has a high water content so it gives you volume without a lot of calories. That's why a fresh apricot rather than a dried one is a much better choice. The water content in the fresh apricot will fill you up and satisfy your hunger better.

Grapes make good snack and they don't require a lot of preparation. You can eat one and a half cups of grapes that have only 92 calories. Grapes work well for someone who needs a large volume snack to keep your hunger satisfied.

If you need a mid morning snack, try a half of a toasted English muffin and a sliced banana. This tasty combination only has 99 calories. If you share your other muffin half with a co-worker, you may brighten their morning.

Most people love popcorn and you can have a whopping three cups of air-popped popcorn for only 93 calories. Three cups of air-popped popcorn gives you nearly 15 percent of your daily requirement of fiber making it one of the best healthy snack choices.

You can eat 25 thin pretzel sticks and a drink cup of tomato juice and only take in 89 calories. Thin pretzel sticks will absorb moisture and swell in your stomach giving you a fuller or comfort feeling.

Jell-O Fat-Free Pudding Snacks come in a variety of delicious flavors and only have 100 calories. These tasty snacks are easy to carry to work or even to a kid's soccer game.

Another healthy snack idea is eating a half cup of frozen, low-fat yogurt topped with half a cup blueberries for only 150 calories. This could easily qualify for a dessert but makes an excellent snack choice.

How about a cup of sliced apples dipped in a tablespoon of natural peanut butter? This combination works especially well if you are looking for healthy snacks for kids. This very popular combination is packed with nutrition and flavor.

Whole-grain snacks are rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates. Low-fat whole-grain crackers, whole-grain pretzels and whole-grain crisp breads are good choices.

These are just a few healthy snack suggestions and the possibilities are endless. If you stock your refrigerator and shelves with healthy food combinations to snack on you can minimize fat and calories and maximize your healthy eating benefits.

So forget the guilt because with a little planning and preparation, you can have healthy snacks around when the hunger temptation strikes.