In a world surrounded by fast food and packaged meals, it is hard enough to obtain healthy meals, let alone healthy snacks. Snacks are part of a balanced diet and help to keep the hunger at bay until meal time, especially for growing teenagers. Certain people, such as those with gastric surgery and pregnant women, have room in their stomach for only several snack-sized meals throughout the day. MayoClinic.com states that healthy snacks should be less than 100 calories.
Basics
In addition to being low in calories, healthy snacks should be free of trans fats and low in cholesterol and sodium. The snacks should be minimally processed and ideally whole foods such as fruits or vegetables. To help keep hunger away and maintain energy for the body, Kids Health Online indicates other types of healthy snacks are made up of complex carbohydrates.
Sweet
Most fruits do well under the sweet category whether they are fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, as long as there are no extra sugars added. Frozen or regular non-fat yogurt is a good option. A very thin slice of angel food cake is a decadent sweet treat but might not hold off feelings of hunger very long since it is made up mainly of simple carbohydrates. Many organic health food stores are making low-calorie, whole grain sweets, but its important to watch the serving size to keep within a snacking calorie range.
Crunchy
Unsalted nuts always are a great crunchy snack, but it is important to watch the serving size; for example, 14 almonds have less than 100 calories but a cup of almonds contains more than 800 calories, according to MayoClinic.com. Some great crunchy options are celery, cucumber or carrot sticks, and apple and zucchini slices. Other colorful crunchy snacks include red, yellow or green peppers, broccoli spears, pomegranate seeds and snap peas. When complex carbohydrates are more of what you're craving, unsalted rice cakes, whole grain crackers or bread sticks -- as long as they are low in trans fats -- are acceptable options.
Creamy
Healthy creamy snacks are cocoa made with low-fat milk or milk substitutes such as almond, hemp or coconut milk. The coconut milk has the creamiest consistency of the milk substitutes. Soups that fall under the healthy creamy snacks category are low-sodium tomato broccoli and split pea soups. Cold and sweet creamy foods are low- or non-fat milk substitute treats like soy ice cream and coconut cream, or a simple chocolate-dipped frozen banana. Regular and frozen yogurt also fulfill a healthy creamy craving.
Drinks
Keeping well-hydrated is part of a healthy diet. While water always is the best option sometimes cravings call for something different. Healthy drink choices include low-fat milk or milk substitutes, unsweetened juices, and low-sodium tomato and vegetable juices.
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