Healthy Snacks For a Healthy Diet
These days there is no shortage of healthy snacks. Yet, for some people, they are still a bit of a puzzle. Healthy snacks are not hard to find, I bet you have a number of them in your kitchen.
Many foods could easily qualify as healthy snacks – apples, nuts, raisins, eggs, bananas, certain protein bars, etc. Carrots and beef jerky are also popular, but what about canned foods?
When I think about canned foods, it seems counterintuitive to think “healthy�. There is a good reason for that, because most of them are not healthy – they are high in sodium, preservatives, hydrogenated oil, and other unhealthy substances.
Therefore, when it comes to healthy snacks – canned food products are the last option I would consider. However, there are some exceptions.
They are portable, inexpensive, good source of protein, calcium, omega-3 fat, and, as far as healthy snacks go, they are one of my favorites - the fabulous, the only - a can of sardines!
I cannot recall how many times canned sardines have saved me from snacking on junk food. If you are on a go, a small bag of carrots and a can of sardines could be all you need to have a healthy snack. They are so versatile that your options are almost limitless.
Do not just grab any can of sardines. Look for those that are packed in virgin olive oil, water, or tomato paste, with no added salt. Some companies use soybean or cottonseed oils - avoid them - they are too high in omega-6 fat.
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09-13-06 at 3:17 am
I agree that there are some surprisingly healthy options in a tin and I have always felt that there is a lot of good to be said for tin fruit and vegetables (I'm a huge fan of tinned Tuna), but shoppers do need to be vigilant about labelling and what actually is in the food they are buying.
Last week a few articles appeared in British newspapers The Sunday Times and The Daily Mail about how leading supermarkets and food manufacturers are misleading shoppers by not giving clear and correct content details on their packaging.
Some supermarkets and food manufacturers use a % system that shows how much fat, sugar and salt is in the foods they are selling. However, the article went on to explain that these companies are not using the grading system properly and are not within government regulations. For example, Tesco supermarket may say that their sausages contain 4g's of fat, but this is misleading because that is for each sausage and not for the entire pack. The system that most supermarkets and some food companies use is the traffic light system - red = high in fat or salt, amber = medium and green = low. Apparently this system is favoured by most people, but would mean that some companies won't be able to make as big a profit as they would like, because people may avoid the products or cut-down on them, in favour of maintaining their health.
It's scary to think that what we are led to believe as being healthy may actually not be as good for us as the label suggests...