Snacks are an important part of our diet. Even if you take time to eat three healthy meals a day, you may still feel hungry in any time of the day. What’s the best solution? -Healthy snacks.
Including snacks in your everyday diet is very important because sometimes your meal will not satisfy the needs of your body.

Having healthy food as snack will keep your energy and concentration at high level. Taking snacks can keep your hunger away until your next healthy meal. The latest research about snacks shows that most of us are one of the two types. We are either salty or sweet snackers.

If you like eating fruit you will take sweet snacks and those who are veggie lovers eat savory or salty snacks more often.

--Nuts are the best choice if you are salty/savory snacker. They are full of great monounsaturated fats and keep your hunger away for longer. A small handful of nuts is  acceptable serving size. You can also consume peanuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, walnuts or soy nuts. There’s research that shows you will not gain weight if you have nuts for snacks.

WARNING: A small but growing number of children have severe peanut and/or tree nut allergies. Check to make sure none of the children has an allergy, before giving them peanuts, peanut butter, or other nuts as a snack.

Popcorn is a great snack. It takes up a lot of volume and have less calories. Always have low-fat popcorn prepared in a paper bag in your microwave. These are filling, satisfying, have a lot of fiber and should be included in every salty snacker’s pantry.

--Low fat cheese provides calcium, but often its saturated fat price tag is too high. Even when it is a low fat cheese, try to serve it with other healthy snacks. Cheese is 2^nd source of heart-damaging saturated fat in children’s diet. Always choose reduced-fat cheese.

--Vegetables can be served raw with dip or salad dressing
Broccoli, Carrot sticks or Baby Carrots, Celery Sticks, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Snow Peas
String Beans, Snap Peas, Peppers and Tomato slices or grape and cherry tomatoes.

And what about the healthy sweet snacks?

A lot of people have the same problem -weight problem. That’s the result of eating too much chocolate and sweets. So switch the chocolate bar with a hot chocolate drink. There is a big difference. An 8-ounce mug of hot chocolate contains only 140 calories and 3 grams of fat, instead of the average chocolate bar that contains 240 calories and 13 grams of fat. So if you like eating sweet snacks, keep your fridge full of fruits. That’s the best way to have healthy sweet snacks at anytime.

--Fruit is naturally sweet healthy snack, so most of the children love it. You can eat whole pieces, cut it in half, sliced, cubed or in wedges.

-Try Dried Fruit-- apricots, cranberries, raisins, pineapple, papaya and others with no sugar added, or maybe just a little.

-Try Frozen Fruit-- freezing grapes, or get frozen blueberries, peaches, strawberries and melon.

--Granola is perfect as a portable snack when you are out, it really goes a long way. Here are two  free recipes for perfect granola: 1^st: Oats, nuts, fruit, and some honey or brown sugar and the 2^nd one: Pineapple, Sunflower seed and Papaya.  Enjoy it!

--Trail Mix --Trail mixes are easy to make and store well in a sealed container. What you need for making a trail mix is: peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, sunflower seeds and dried fruits like, apple, pineapple, apricots, raisins or cranberries. Mix some of these healthy food products and you will get a healthy Trail Mix.

So it’s natural to feel hungrier at certain times. You need to have some healthy snack when you’re hungry, and having the right snack on hand makes this work for you. So snacks are the best way to satisfy your hunger and get all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs.
Remember: Snacking is important, and always have healthy snacks with you !