Snacks can help you control hunger between meals and keep blood sugar levels from fluctuating too much, but you need to choose healthy options that won't sabotage your otherwise healthy diet. Oils and fats can be part of a healthy snack as long as they are the right kinds. Choosing unsaturated fats as part of your snack can offer health benefits that a fat-free snack might be missing.
Healthy Snacking
Healthy snacking involves making choices that increase your intake of nutrients while simultaneously managing your hunger so you don't binge during your next meal. Good things to include in a snack are the same components that make up healthy meals: whole grains, lean protein, vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy and healthy fats or oils. Fiber and fat are especially important for snacks because they help make you feel full. A low-fiber, low-fat snack that leaves you reaching for the cookie jar an hour later isn't doing the job you need it to do.
Monounsaturated Oils
Monounsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature, so if you use them in a snack they are likely to be in oil form. This type of fat lowers cholesterol levels and helps protect you from heart disease. Olive oil is an example of a monounsaturated oil. You can make a healthy snack by drizzling a small amount of olive oil over roasted tomatoes on a whole-wheat cracker, replacing butter with olive oil as a topping for popcorn or using olive oil and vinegar to dress a small salad. Other sources of monounsaturated fat that work well as snacks include avocado, nuts and seeds. Oils in these snacks boost your health and can be part of a healthy snack.
Polyunsaturated Oils
Polyunsaturated oils come in two types: omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Most people get enough omega-6 in the diet, which is found in vegetable oils, nuts, nut butters and seeds. Eating these foods can still be healthy as a snack, so feel free to enjoy a piece of whole-grain toast with natural peanut butter, the kind that you need to stir before using because the oil separates out. Omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, offer huge health benefits to the brain, cardiovascular system and joints but most people don't get enough of these in the diet. Oily fish, such as salmon and herring, flaxseed and walnuts are the best sources. You should try to have a snack with one of these items at least once a day if you don't get omega-3 from your main meals.
Considerations
Two types of oils you should avoid in snacks and meals are saturated fats and trans fats. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is a particularly ubiquitous trans fat that can be unhealthy, even in small doses. Saturated fat can be consumed in small amounts, but try to keep total intake below 7 percent of your daily caloric intake. Even when using healthy oils in your snacks, keep total fat content for all meals and snacks below about 30 percent of your daily calories.
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