Choosing Healthy Low Fat Snacks

Healthy low fat snacks are an important part of any weight loss plan. When done properly, snacking helps you work extra nutrients into your diet and keeps you from overindulging during meal times. Including two or three small snacks in your meal plan is also a great way to help you maintain your energy levels throughout the day. 

Easy Snacks

Although they can get pricey, energy bars are easy to store and great for days when you need to grab a bite to eat in the car or at your desk. Check out the following selections during your next trip to the grocery store:

• Luna Bars by Clif Bar are high in protein and fiber.
• Pria Complete Nutrition Bars have as much calcium as one glass of milk.
• Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars provide fiber and complex carbs.
• Bellybars by NutraBella provide balanced nutrition and an extra dose of folic acid for expecting mothers.

If you prefer to drink your snacks, there are a number of nutrient-rich smoothies and shakes that you can try. When used in moderation, any of the following will make a great snack:

• Stonyfield Farms Yogurt Smoothie
• Ensure Healthy Mom Shake
• Zone Perfect All-Natural Nutrition Shake

For the busy dieter, the search for convenient and healthy low fat snacks is never-ending. For more advice on selecting nutritious convenience foods, check out The Low Fat Supermarket Shopper's Guide, Revised and Updated Edition: Making Healthy Choices from Thousands of Brand Name Foods.

Frugal Snacks

Many people who want to lose weight claim they can’t afford to purchase healthy foods. However, there are plenty of snack choices that can help you stick to your diet without blowing your budget. For example, you can snack on any of the following choices:

• Dry cereal
• Baby carrots
• Grapes
• Bananas
• Apple slices
• Hard boiled eggs
• Pretzel sticks
• Vegetable soup
• Homemade trail mix made with unsalted almonds, raisins, sunflower seeds, pretzels, and/or chocolate chips
• Homemade whole grain muffins

Low Fat Dips

Dips are one of the most popular healthy low fat snacks. As an added benefit, many dips provide an easy way to sneak extra veggies into your diet. Next time you’re hungry, check out one of the following combinations:

• Non fat frozen vanilla yogurt with dried dates
• Refried black beans with red or yellow bell pepper strips
• Low fat cottage cheese with broccoli
• Mango black bean salsa with baked tortilla chips
• Organic peanut butter with baby carrots
• Low fat spinach dip with an assortment of fresh veggies

 Snacks with 100 Calories or Less    

In many popular weight loss plans, snacks are designated as being 100 calories or less. If you’re not familiar with the idea of calorie counting, it can be difficult to determine proper portion size. To get you started on your search for healthy low fat snacks, here are a few good 100 calorie or less choices:

• 5 Nabisco Nilla Wafers
• 60 Pepperidge Farm Baby Gold Fish Crackers
• 1 Yoplait Light Smoothie
• 9 Tootsie Roll Midgees
• 12 Quaker Oats Cheddar Cheese Rice Snacks
• 2 cups of raspberries
• ½ medium cantaloupe
• ½ red bell pepper with 3 tablespoons of hummus
• ½ mini bagel with 1 ounce of smoked salmon
• 1 Kraft Superlong Twist-Ums string cheese stick

 by Dana Hinders