That's Fit

Healthy snacks -- what exactly constitutes such a thing? More or less, a healthy snack is something that will tide you over until your next meal, keeping you properly satiated until then. It is also something that is relatively low in calories, but still has a good amount of nutritional value.

Rather than continuing to talk about what makes a snack healthy, I'm sure you'd prefer to instead learn about some actual healthy snacks!! Try these on for size (each contains 200 calories or less):

• Reduced-fat popcorn and 1/3 cup of dried fruit
• 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese and 2tbs of low-sugar jelly or jam
• Single servings of many different types of fruits
• 2 graham cracker squares with 2tsp of natural peanut butter and apple slices
• Cereal bar and 1 cup of light yogurt
• Mozzarella cheese stick, 5 baby carrots and 5 celery sticks with 1/4 cup of fat-free black bean dip
• 1/2 egg salad sandwich made with 2tsp of light mayo

For more ideas for healthy snacks, visit our sister site, AOL Health, by clicking here.

Snacking can be part of a healthy diet. In fact, having a healthy snack in between meals can help tide you over as well as stabilize your blood sugar. The trick is to choose foods that satisfy, curb whatever cravings you have, and are nutritious and tasty. While your best bets for snacks are fruits, veggies, and other nutrient-dense foods, Shape Magazine has compiled a list of 25 handy snacks that won't derail your diet.

Personally, I don't agree with all of their choices. I'm not a fan of the 100-calorie snack packs. Yes, the calories are controlled, but it's still just junk in a bag. And frankly, most of them don't taste as good as their higher calorie counterparts. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a smaller quantity and better taste. And I'd prefer to see more items on their list that do more for your health than just curb your hunger.

But if you've got a bad case of the munchies, then Shape's top 25 are for you. The criteria they used for picking the top snacks include less than 200 calories per serving, no trans-fat and low in saturated fat, less than 400 milligrams of sodium, and other nutritional extras (portion control, whole grains, etc.).

It's well past dinner, and you've got the munchies. If you're sneaking a treat, make it a healthy one.

I'm a single mom, so when I go grocery shopping, I have my 11-year-old son in tow. The trip down the grocery store aisles is peppered with calls of "Can we try this?" and "Mom, this looks really good!" Unfortunately, the things that "look good" often aren't terribly good for you. Usually I say yes to one or two treats, but other than that I load our cart up with healthier alternatives. Once we're home, my son doesn't seem to miss the sugary treats at all.

Revolution Health has an article with grocery shopping tips including a list of healthy snacks. Veggies, fruits, whole-grain foods, and low-fat dairy are the stars of the list -- they're always healthy, energy-boosting snacks. Take a look at the gallery to see the top picks.

You've probably read about the importance of eating 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day, rather than following the outdated 3 squares approach. I know, with a good deal of certainty, that if you've read my rants here on That's Fit, you've heard this information before. Following a meal plan of this kind prevents your body from ever becoming hungry, helping to keep your metabolism firing throughout the day.

Small meals; what exactly constitutes such a thing? Well, a meal, in the traditional sense, is what you think it is. The difference this time around is that it should be comprised of healthy sources of protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and should be a controlled portion size. However, your 5 to 6 "meals" won't all be served on plates. This is because at least 2 of those "meals" should actually be healthy snacks.

Going almost full circle, we now arrive at yet another point of confusion. Healthy snacks; what exactly constitutes such a thing? More or less, a healthy snack is something that will tide you over until your next meal, keeping you properly satiated until then. It is also something that is relatively low in calories, but still has a good amount of nutritional value.

Well, rather than continuing to talk about what makes a snack healthy, I'm sure you'd prefer to instead learn about some actual healthy snacks!! Read you loud and clear, mate. Try these on for size (each contains 200 calories or less):

• 2 graham cracker squares with 2tsp of natural peanut butter and apple slices
• Cereal bar and 1 cup of light yogurt
• Mozzarella cheese stick, 5 baby carrots and 5 celery sticks with 1/4 cup of fat-free black bean dip
• 1/2 egg salad sandwich made with 2tsp of light mayo
• Reduced-fat popcorn and 1/3 cup of dried fruit
• 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese and 2tbs of low-sugar jelly or jam
• Single servings of many different types of fruits

Last fall my son was on a soccer team and he absolutely loved it. It was a short season -- only 10 games. It worked out perfectly as there were 10 kids on the team, so each family was scheduled to bring a snack to one game. Having a last name that starts with 'V' it was no surprise that we were scheduled for the last game, so I didn't have to think about it for a while.

At the first game I was surprised to see my son, elated from his team's first victory, running across the field with a pack of chocolate cookies and a great big sports drink. It may say "sports" on the label but many of those drinks are nothing more than water, artificial coloring, and a great big sticky glob of high fructose corn syrup. I decided just to let it go. It's not going to hurt him to have a treat like that once in a while. The next game was no better -- a chocolate-covered granola bar and another sugary drink. Week after week this was the type of snack the kids were given. I'm not a nutrition snob and I definitely let my son have treats from time to time. But after a sporting event, I think little bodies need some decent nutrition.

Have you seen the 100-calorie snack packs at the grocery store? It seems like they have them for everything now -- cookies, crackers, even dog treats. I've never been a fan of them myself because A) it's amazing how they can make a chocolate chip cookie taste like cardboard and B) I'd rather just eat a REAL chocolate chip cookie.

Revolution Health has some great tips for handling the munchies healthfully. Snacking isn't a bad thing. Healthy snacks help you maintain your energy and stabilizes your blood sugar. Here are 11 healthy, convenient alternatives -- and they're all under 200 calories!

• 2 cups fat-free popcorn
• Single-serve instant oatmeal (opt for the reduced sugar variety)
• Whole-wheat crackers
• Whole-grain cereal
• Sliced apple or celery sticks with 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 4-6 ounces of light yogurt or fat-free pudding
• Snack-size low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts)
• Any whole fruit
• Serving of soy chips
• Dried fruit and nut mix

Before I was a work-at-home-mom, I had a very active job that kept me on my feet all day. Now, when I go to work, it's in my home office adjacent to my kitchen. I've learned something about myself -- when I'm working at my computer, I like to eat. I have no idea why this happens, but I sit down to work and think, "I should grab a snack."

My solution is to keep no-prep, healthy snacks handy for when I just can't turn the urge off. I keep chopped veggies in the fridge and homemade hummus, along with apples, baked crackers, etc. If it's not time for a snack, I drink tea or chew gum. When my sweet tooth strikes, I might shove a few chocolate chips into a banana and microwave it for a few seconds. Mmmmm.

So I was interested in reading this list of 10 no-prep snacks for work or home. There are some good ideas on her list, especially apples, yogurt, and rice cakes. There are also a few foods that I personally steer away from, like lunch meat. But the concept is a good one -- if you have it handy in your fridge, you're far more likely to grab a healthy snack than a bag of oily potato chips.

What's your favorite no-prep healthy snack?

For people on the go, dried fruit is a perfect high-energy, portable snack that's packed with nutrition. But as this article from eDiets points out, not all dried fruit is created equal.

Be sure to read the back of the package before you buy and make sure that fruit is the number one ingredient on the list. If the product contains added sugars (who needs to add sugar to something already so naturally sweet?) or fats, it's not a good choice. Instead, look for products that contain few or no added ingredients beyond the tasty, delicious fruit.

A little dried fruit packs a powerful punch, both nutritionally and in calories, so keep that in mind while you munch away on this tasty treat.

Feel sluggish in the afternoons? You aren't alone. In fact, scientists say that that sleepy feeling you get in the afternoon is a natural part of your circadian rhythm. It's might also feel natural to reach for a sugary carb to wake yourself up and get a dose of quick energy. Though sugary foods can pick you up quickly when you're starting to feel sleepy, they're likely to leave you feeling even more tired in the long run. WebMD has some ideas for avoiding that afternoon slump, including:

• Eat, eat, eat! (But all the right things.) Don't skip meals -- no, not even breakfast -- and be sure to include protein at each meal. Fatty lunches take a long time to digest and will slow you down even more in the afternoon.
• Get in some quick exercise. Take a walk, do lunges in your office, or sprint up and down the staircase.
• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and refresh yourself.
• Eat an afternoon snack. Try nuts, trail mix, fruit, or cheese and crackers.
• Consider a cat nap. Getting in a 20-minute snooze may help revive you. Keep in mind that naps can mess with your nighttime sleep if you're an insomniac, and that sleeping any longer than 20 minutes will leave you feeling even more sluggish.

Plan ahead and know your options so when that 2 P.M. sleepy feeling hits, you know exactly what to do to keep on going.

If you're trying to lose weight or just watch what you eat so to maintain a healthy weight, then you might think you have to keep snacking to a minimum. Snacking is actually a great way to get extra servings of fruits and vegetables into your diet, and can also help keep you satisfied so that you don't overeat at meal times. Smart snacking avoids foods that are high in sugar or fat. Instead, reach for high-quality foods that have a little protein to satisfy that hunger. Here's a list of a few handy snacks, all containing less than 100 calories. One of my favorite (not on the list) is popcorn (popped in a pan) with a dash of sea salt. What other low-calorie, nutritious snacks can you add to this list?

Hats off to Canadians for choosing healthier snacks. It may seem a little thing, but food trends show that not only is fruit the number one snack choice of Canadians, but yogurt has overtaken chips as the number three snack.

From my standpoint, that sounds like a major accomplishment. I recently moved and was in culture shock when I had to shop at a conventional supermarket. We were fortunate enough to be near a Whole Foods Market at our last residence, so it was easier to make my healthy choices, and shopping was a pleasant experience.

Cut to conventional supermarket and my culture shock -- rows of soda, chips and candy, lots of conventionally grown produce choices and more processed foods and frozen convenience foods full of chemicals than I thought possible in one place. I had become so spoiled shopping at Whole Foods that I didn't even recall how most of America ate.

When I first stumbled upon this WebMD article about snacking, I thought I was going to love it. One of the first things they mention is that we need to shift our thinking about snacking being a bad thing. As a lifelong snacker (and someone with a very high metabolism), I loved that this was being addressed. What we need to do is redefine snacks; not chips, fries, candy bars, but healthy pick-me-ups for nutrition and energy throughout the day.

Then I began to get into the heart of the article, and my confidence that healthy snack tips would really be provided began to waiver. Some ideas for healthy crunchy snacks were reduced fat triscuits, kettle chips, and tortilla chips. Mostly all fried, definitely all processed and pretty much deoid of nutrition.

The actual snacking tips are helpful -- things like reading labels and thinking about what you are looking for in an energy bar and definitely avoiding trans fats.