Healthy Food Choices for Dips

Many kinds of dip have become popular with finger food crowds, including salsas, guacamole, sauces, cheeses, and others. Try these tips for buying dips in this free healthy shopping video.

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Dips can be high in fat & sodium
Salsa
Make own fresh produce
Use non fat yogurts
Hummus is high in protein & fiber

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we are going to talk about dips. Most commercial dips are high in fat and sodium. However, you can make your own healthy alternatives to those or you can purchase those that are made with healthier ingredients. Take salsa, for example. Salsa, there's virtually no fat and is made with tomatoes. Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, which is an antioxidant, and antioxidants help our bodies fight diseases like cancer and heart disease. Another good choice would be something like bean dip, a great source of protein, high in fiber, low in fat. Another one of my favorites would be the hummus. Hummus is made from garbanzo beans or chick peas which are a great source of protein and fiber while being low in fat. You can make your own spinach dip. And you can also use these great, lower fat, lower sodium dips for your fresh vegetables and your fresh fruits which are naturally high in antioxidants and a lot of the vitamins and minerals that we use. So when choosing dips for any occasion, you want to look at ones that are made with lower fat ingredients such as non-fat yogurt, low-fat mayonnaise or reduced calorie dressings. You want to find those that are rich in foods that are high in antioxidants and vitamins like salsa, which is rich in tomatoes and lycopene, or the bean dip, which gives us protein and fiber, or the hummus, which also gives us protein and fiber without giving us all the fat and sodium. So next time you want to dip your vegetables, go ahead, just use one of these healthier alternatives.

Healthy Food Choices for Dips Video

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