Graham crackers and milk are a classic afternoon or bedtime snack. While Mom might have served a tall stack of graham crackers with a glass of whole, full-fat milk, you may want to lighten this nibble up to fit within a calorie-controlled diet. A snack of graham crackers and milk provides you with valuable protein and calcium and may qualify as a serving of whole grains.
Graham Crackers
Graham crackers are made from a mixture of refined white flour and whole-wheat flour, along with sugar, fat, leavening and salt. Most of the time, graham crackers come in large rectangles that snap apart into squares or four small rectangles. A single large rectangle contains only 59 calories. The typical serving size is two crackers, for a total of 118 calories. One serving has 3 grams of fat and only .5 grams of saturated fat. A serving of graham crackers is approximately 5 percent of your total recommended daily fat intake and makes a minimal dent in the 14-gram daily limit on saturated fat.
Low-Fat Graham Crackers
Low-fat graham crackers may seem like a better choice in the grocery aisle, but these are higher in calories than traditional graham crackers. A two-cracker serving of reduced-fat graham crackers contains 140 calories and two grams of fat, with no saturated fat at all. Reduced-fat graham crackers are higher in fiber than the traditional version, offering 2 grams per serving, or around 10 percent of the recommended 20 to 30 grams, rather than just 1 gram.
Whole and Reduced Fat Milk
Milk is a valuable source of calcium, but can be high in fat and calories. An 8-ounce glass of whole milk contains 149 calories, 8 grams of fat and 4.5 grams of saturated fat. Paired with two low-fat graham crackers, your snack will add up to nearly 300 calories or around 17 percent of your total daily calorie intake if you consume 1800 calories a day. Swapping the whole milk for reduced-fat 2 percent milk cuts the calories to 122 and reduces the fat total just to just under 5 grams, with around 3 grams of saturated fat. Choosing whole or reduced fat-milk makes your simple snack take a bigger bite out of your diet.
Skim Milk
If you're watching your waistline, opt for skim or nonfat milk in place of whole or 2 percent. A cup of nonfat milk has only 83 calories and no fat at all. Paired with two graham crackers, your snack will stay right around the 200-calorie mark. Skim milk provides all the nutrition of full-fat versions, including 8 grams of protein and 299 milligrams of calcium, or almost a third of your daily requirement. Adding skim milk to your diet is an easy way to boost nutrition without adding fat or high-calorie foods.
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