Healthy Snack Substitutions
Alternatives to junk food.
by Debbie Pugh
Here’s a chart of snacks and smarter substitutions. Remember “new and improved” doesn’t mean eat all you want. Smart snack choices and moderation are they key!
THE USUAL “GO TO:”
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NEW AND IMPROVED:
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Potato chips
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Pretzels
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Nacho flavored chips
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Baked corn chips and salsa
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Prepackaged snack cakes and fruited sugary pies
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Homemade carrot cake, or angel food cake apple crisp with oat-crumb topping
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Salted roasted nuts
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Nuts in their shells, edamame with sea salt
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Full sized chocolate bar
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Reduced fat chocolate chip granola bar, chocolate graham cracker with peanut butter
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Jelly beans, licorice and gummy treats
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Dried fruits, or fruit leather (fruit roll-up)
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Ice cream and novelty bars
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Frozen low fat yogurt, frozen fruit bars or just plain old frozen fruit like bananas
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Milkshakes (easily obtained from drive-thru)
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Homemade smoothie with low fat milk, fresh fruit and ice.
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Keep some of these items on hand for easy healthy snacking anytime:
Baby carrots
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Grapes
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Various unsalted nuts
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Celery sticks
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Raisins, dried cranberries
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Natural peanut butter
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Apples
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Whole grain crackers
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Frozen fruit bars (popsicles)
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Bananas
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Baked pita chips
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Low fat vanilla yogurt
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Oranges
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Chocolate graham crackers
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Low fat microwave popcorn
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Make it special. Dips and sauce are a great way to make the ordinary extraordinary. Here are a couple of recipes to jazz up the basic healthy snack.
Peanut Butter Fruit Dip: (Tangy)
Mix together equal parts of peanut butter and vanilla yogurt. Stir until well blended. Serve with sliced apples, pears, bananas and grapes. This is also good on crackers and rice cakes.
Peanut Butter Fruit Dip: (Sweet)
Mix together equal parts of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Stir until well blended. Serve with sliced fruit, or as an icing for graham crackers.
Sour Cream and Salsa:
Mix equal parts of low fat sour cream and your favorite salsa. It can be used with baked tortilla chips, pita chips or as a vegetable dip.
Cream Cheese and Preserves:
Mix 3 oz. of softened low fat cream cheese with 2 Tbs. of your favorite fruit preserves for a sweet and creamy topping. Serve on toast, crackers, pita chips, rice cakes, even pretzels.