When you are trying to lose weight, snacking can be a serious setback. Losing weight typically involves reducing calories and increasing exercise. You can lose weight by snacking -- frequent, small meals help keep your metabolism revved -- or gain by noshing on sugary and fatty snacks. Picking a healthy snack as an alternative to chips, cakes and cookies will help you stick to your weight loss goals.
Sweet Snacks
If you enjoy sweets, you needn't completely abandon them. Choose fruit-based desserts such as apple crisp instead of a cookie or piece of chocolate cake. And make regular snacks of fresh fruit. Blueberries provide sweetness and a multitude of benefits that include improving your skin. Oranges, kiwi and strawberries can help you reach your daily requirements for vitamin C. You can make a healthy snack by mixing fresh fruit with plain, low-fat yogurt, making an all-fruit smoothie or mixing dried fruit with nuts and oatmeal.
Portion Control
Snacks, healthy or not, can sidetrack you from your dietary goals. Keep your alternative snacks to a moderate level of consumption. Healthy snacks that contain fewer than 100 calories include 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of fresh bananas and 3 1/2 cups of air-popped popcorn. If you added 4 cups of bananas to a smoothie, you could increase your calorie intake by 300 for the day and by another 100 or more if you added orange juice to the smoothie.
Type of Food
When you simply must snack on salty, fatty or sugary foods, opt for lower-calorie options. Check labels -- not just package promotional type -- to see if your choice includes reduced sugar, snack or fat. You can find diet forms of cookies, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, chips and crackers. Snacks high in fiber -- apples and oatmeal, for instance -- help you feel full longer. Choose snacks that include more than one food group to achieve a balanced diet. If you eat low-fat yogurt with bananas and oatmeal, you will get a serving each of dairy, protein, fruit and grains.
Nutrients
You want to get the most nutrients from the least amount of food. If you snack on foods such as almonds, broccoli with balsamic vinegar or a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter, you get hunger-satisfying nutrition with few calories. A brownie, on the other hand, is calorie dense but sparse in nutrients. Snacking gets a bad rap, but it's the choice of snack and not snacking itself that can harm your health or waistline.
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