Quick Easy Healthy Snacks

When it comes to eating meals that are well-balanced and healthy, planning is essential. The same planning is necessary for your snacks as well. Having a plan aids in making healthy choices when you get hungry. Having ingredients available to make snacks that are quick and healthy prevents you from giving into the urge to grab the ice cream in your freezer or make bad choices at vending machines.

Whole Grain Pita Bread and Hummus

Hummus is a dip that is low in fat and rich in flavor. It comes in a number of varieties, such as spicy red pepper, toasted pine nut, garlic, eggplant, cilantro and lemon. Simply place a whole-grain pita in the oven and heat it on low heat for about five minutes. Take the pita and cut it up into pieces for dipping. Dip the bread into your favorite flavor of hummus. To add some additional variety to your snack, hummus is also used as a dip for cut-up vegetables, such as carrot sticks, celery, broccoli and cauliflower.

Fruit

Fruit is naturally sweet, making it a healthy choice to turn to when you experience a sweet tooth, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Fruit is portable and can be served in a variety of ways. Smaller fruits can be served whole, while others are often sliced, cut into wedges or cubed. Popular fruit choices include apples, watermelon, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, cherries, pears, grapes, peaches and oranges.

Yogurt

Yogurt is a choice that is often believed to be healthy but sometimes is not. Numerous brands of yogurt on the market, especially those competing to be the favorites of children, are adding large amounts of sugar to their products. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends choosing yogurt brands that contain less than 30g of sugar per cup, a minimum of 25 percent of your daily value of calcium and is low in fat.

Multigrain Waffles

Multigrain waffles have a slightly sweet taste that eliminates the need for large amounts of syrup. Some brands of multigrain waffles contain as much as 2g of fiber in each waffle. Instead of syrup, cut up some fresh strawberries, bananas or blueberries to give the waffle added sweetness. If you are craving a sweet dessert, spread 1 tbsp. of natural peanut butter on each waffle, top each one with a half a banana and fold.