Calories: 10 Tips to Make Snacking Healthy and Tasty

by Mom It Forward on August 26th, 2011 | No Comments »

Calories—You can talk about healthy eating at mealtime all you want, but if your snacktime's out of control, counting calories won't do you much good. Snacks are part of the big picture of our health, as much as we'd like them not to be, and nutritional rules still apply. Does that mean that there's no fun to be had between meals, though? Can there be no respite from the nutrition nazi?

According to tweeters at a MomItForward Girls' Night Out Twitter party (#gno) in July, yes, there can. The key is small steps. You can go and buy any number of recipe books and diet kits. These tweeters share what small steps have actually worked for them for free:

10 Tips for Making Snacktime Healthy and Fun:

Exercise portion control. Says @lknerl: "I eat anything I want, just in teeny, tiny portions. I dig sweets. We help [our kids] visualize portions with divided trays. Green veggies get the most space!" For some, portion control means buying or preparing snacks individually-wrapped. To @creep4ward: "Individually wrapped is key. Eating from the bag = binge!"
Change your dish size. If you eat your snack on a plate or in a bowl, change your dish size so that you have less room to fill up, suggests @timeoutmom.
Use the new ChooseMyPlate.gov as a guide for selecting what to eat.
Substitute greek or plain yogurt for things like sour cream. Says @mom4everandever: "Greek yogurt and tabasco makes a neat wing and veggie dip, and yogurt can be put in cake mix for more ooomph."
Substitute peanut butter for Nutella or chocolate. Nutella, as good as it is, is not a nutritious alternative to chocolate, according to these sources.
Increase your activity level if you increase your calorie level. @wecandoit46 says: "I really eat whatever I want when I do an hour of cardio a day. I love the Skinny Cow series and Minute Maid ice treats."
Try making your own frozen yogurt sandwiches. @bouz76 provides this recipe.
@gograhamgo and @bouz76 highly recommend frozen bananas rolled in honey.
Cut out butter, if you can. This tasty recipe for No-Bake Cookies has none.
Move more. More a summary than a tip, as @1crazymomma puts it: "The key is just like Jack LaLane used to say: move a little more and eat a little less."