Healthy Snack Ideas

HEALTHY EATING

6 Sept

As a Registered Nutritionist, I frequently get asked for healthy snack ideas. There are loads of options for snacks which are not energy dense, which are rich in nutrients and that taste delicious. Here are a few suggestions to get your taste buds flowing.

Snacks as Mini Meals

Rather than thinking of snacks as a ‘stop gap’ and paying little attention to them, it is valuable to think of them as an opportunity for nutrients.

I would consider balancing them, much as you would do with a meal, including some carbohydrate, protein and fat. This helps not only with macronutrient and micronutrient intake, but also helps keep blood sugar steady.

It often helps if you plate snacks up, then you can see them visually as a ‘mini meal’ and are more likely to add in additional foods to balance the plate. It’s all about focusing on what to add in, not what to take away.

If you choose to put a chocolate biscuit on your snack plate, that’s all good, but consider adding some almonds to go with it, for example (chocolate and nuts are a match made in heaven!) Presenting snacks on a plate also encourages you to sit down and enjoy the snack mindfully, rather than eating more biscuits than you realise, whilst cruising around the kitchen when tidying up.

This may provide not only a more satisfying eating experience, but also may support you to maintain a healthy weight.

Snack ideas

The go-to snack in our house is hummus (contains protein, fibre and healthy fats), served with a number of dippers such as sliced, toasted pitta bread, bread sticks, cheese biscuits, sugar snap peas or salad sticks (e.g. carrot, pepper and cucumber).
Salsa (you can buy it mild) or guacamole with any of the dippers above.
Mangetout and sugar snap peas are not messy, really filling, require no prep whatsoever and taste delicious on their own. Looking for healthy snack foods on the go? A bag can be shared by several children in the back of the car. What’s not to love?
Rice cakes with cream cheese, marmite or peanut butter.
Nuts (preferably non-salted). I like to toast almonds with skin on in the oven, with a little olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Berries are convenient, not a huge hit on your blood sugar and don’t require any preparation. Good served with Greek yoghurt.
Apple and cheddar slices and/or peanut butter.
Feta cheese and olives.
Plain popcorn always feels like a treat!
Oatcakes and cheese.
A boiled egg.
Fresh anchovies eaten with a cocktail stick (my third daughter’s favourite)!
Eggy bread: To make, beat an egg with a splash of milk, dip in wholemeal bread soldiers and fry them in a little veg oil, it only takes about 5 mins. This works with rye bread too.
Edamame beans: Buy these frozen in their pods (Tesco sell them), steam briefly in the microwave, then pan fry with a little olive oil, sea salt and chill flakes. Then everyone can suck the beans out of the pods. Fun for all the family!
Fruit salad: Many of us eat more fruit if it is chopped up for us (I know, it’s a bit lazy!) so when you’ve got the energy, prepare a fruit salad for the fridge and cover in a little orange juice so it doesn’t go brown.
Hard-boiled eggs cut in half with spinach leaves, again can be made ahead of time.
Roasted seeds: Toss pumpkin seeds (or whatever seeds you fancy) in a drizzle of olive oil and roast for 10 mins.
Yoghurt with a sprinkling of berries (can be frozen) or plain nuts.
Overnight oats don’t need to be for breakfast, they can also be eaten as a snack. My favourite version is oatbran and plain yoghurt mixed together in the proportions 1:2, a handful of frozen berries per person and a small squeeze of vanilla paste. Leave in the fridge overnight and loosen with a little milk when you’re ready for a snack.
Roasted chickpeas: Place tinned chickpeas on a baking tray in the oven with a little olive oil and paprika and they crunch up to become tasty and filling snacks. You can experiment with your own flavours, I like to add Henderson’s Relish to mine.
Wholemeal toast with smashed avocado or peanut butter or cottage cheese.
Scandinavian/German rye bread with tinned mackerel, tuna, egg mayo or a slice of cheese. This is entirely the norm for our Danish friends at snack time, and we find Brits can enjoy it too!
Cherry tomatoes with cheddar cheese.
Flapjacks and granola bars which contain nuts rather than dried fruit.
Falafels: Bite-sized, filling and easy to eat, we dip these in hummus too. Although especially nice warmed up, falafels can be eaten straight from the fridge if time is of the essence.
If you really are craving a biscuit, try oat and nut cookies that are slightly slower to release their sugar and contain some protein.

It has to be said, there are times when something a bit more substantial than a couple of cucumber sticks is required. For example, there’s a stampede at our house when teenagers/young adults have 15 minutes before ballet/football/rugby/the pub. They quite rightly need the energy, and fast!

Here are some options for more substantial snacks:

Wraps with chicken and spinach, or tuna mayo and cucumber
Pasta salad containing veggies
Rice salad containing veggies

Although at first glance this sounds like a lot of effort, it can be easily achieved. You can cook a little extra pasta or rice for the evening meal, then as you’re tidying the kitchen, chop some peppers, cucumber (or whatever you have in), add a tin of tuna into it, perhaps a little pesto, and leave it in a bowl in the fridge to dive into the next day.

Snacking Summary

The NHS’s Change4Life programme recommends that children’s snacks should not be energy dense, should be limited to two a day, and as always, portion size is key. The same applies to adults. The suggestion is that with the wrong type, too many or too large snacks, individuals are in danger of gaining weight, which may not be in line with your health goals.

High carbohydrate, high protein, low fat snacks, eaten in response to hunger, can help with appetite control, blood sugar control and weight control. Building some protein into your snack choices helps keep you feeling full for longer and helps keep your blood sugar steady.

Heavy snacking even on healthy foods can result in being too full to eat main meals and therefore missing out on valuable nutrients. Did your grandma used to say ‘Don’t ruin your appetite!’ Mine did, and used to offer me half a peeled, chopped apple sitting prettily in a china bowl. I was therefore always more than ready for her signature dish, Lancashire Hotpot, when it arrived on my plate.

Make your calories count by choosing nutrient dense snack options, rather than ‘empty’ calories, although I must stress that I don’t have anything against an occasional chocolate biscuit or bag of salt and vinegar, it’s what you do most of the time that matters.

If you want to explore snack ideas further in one of my sessions, see what workshops and courses I offer below.

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