Many reasons may prompt you to choose low-calorie snacks, including the desire to lose weight or the presence of a medical condition like diabetes. The abundance of unhealthy, high-calorie junk food snacks is often blamed for America's obesity epidemic, prompting some snack food manufacturers to offer healthier alternatives. Give some thought to the types of snacks you reach for and choose tasty, low-calorie types to reduce your waistline and your risk for developing diseases.
Snack Satisfaction
A satisfying snack is tasty and has an appealing texture. Avoid boring low-calorie snacks that leave you dissatisfied and pining for more. Juicy, sweet, chewy and crunchy snacks that take a long time to eat are especially appealing. Combine low-calorie ingredients in different ways to create interesting and diverse flavors, textures and temperatures. For example, add diced fruit and granola to low-fat yogurt for a cool, creamy, crunchy snack.
Vegetables
Vegetables are typically low in calories and high in nutrients. Take the lowly radish, for example. According to the USDA, you will gain only one skinny calorie from this little red vegetable, along with a good dose of vitamin C. It takes some time to eat an entire stalk of celery and you get only six calories in return. One floret of broccoli or cauliflower packs only three calories; dip it in low-calorie ranch dressing for a cool and refreshing treat. Wash fresh vegetables and leave edible skins intact to maximize nutrition, flavor and crunch.
Fruit
Fruit gratifies your sweet tooth and many fresh fruits are low in calories. One raw strawberry packs only four calories. Slice strawberries onto low-calorie, whole grain cereal and splash with skim milk for a fast and satisfying snack. Keep a bag of mixed fruit in your freezer as a cold and nutritious addition to frozen yogurt. Add a handful of raisins to all of your fruity treats; the chewier texture may lead you to eat your snack more slowly, which can be beneficial to weight loss.
Spicy Replacements
Lower the calories of snack foods you make at home by using spices and herbs to reduce fat or replace herbs. Reduce or eliminate sugar and replace it with allspice, nutmeg, cloves, anise, ginger, cardamom, mace and cinnamon when preparing tasty snacks that are low in calories, suggests the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. A teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories, whereas a teaspoon of cinnamon has only six calories.
Prepared Treats
The market is full of low-calorie snacks, available in economy sizes or by the individual snack pack. Many manufacturers offer cookies, crackers and other types of snacks in 100-calorie packages. Granola bars are healthy, low-calorie snacks. Crumble these crunchy bars onto yogurt for a nutritious, low-calorie snack.
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