We all have busy schedules that can keep us from stopping and taking the time to have a healthy meal. This can lead to snacking in times of hunger which usually happen to be easy convenience foods. Habits like this can causes excessive intake of salt, sugar and fats. Planning ahead can help avoid this, and allow you to make healthy food choices even when we are short on time.
Preparing Healthy Snacks for the Family
Fruits and vegetables can be a quick and easy way to provide your family with healthy snacks for the entire week. Buying vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, celery, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes and fruits like apples, bananas, grapes, peaches, and oranges provide easy tasty snacks. A great method for serving these foods is to purchase them at the beginning of the week, and spend a few minutes washing, cutting and packaging them. Plastic sandwich bags and small containers work great. Leave them in the fridge for the kids to grab after lunch and pack in lunches and take to work.
Almonds, pecans, trail mix and healthy choice cereals that have whole grains, and all bran in them serve as a wonderful snack when you are craving that “crunchy” snack. You can mix these with raisins or cranberries for a sweet and salty treat.
Check out this article from MSN health and fitness about healthy snacks for your purse, pantry, fridge and freezer!
Packaged Snacks
There are some great healthy snacks that are already packed that can help save time and effort in packaging lunches. Things such as individual packaged yogurts, sugar free apples sauce, and unsweetened fruit cups packed in water are great for lunches and the office. Keeping snacks like all of these on hand can help you and you busy family make healthy snack choices more often. When we don’t have healthy options on hand it makes it very easy to grab whatever is around just to quiet the rumbling in our stomachs. To avoid this, try some of these snacks and have them with you, so you can always have good nutrition even when you are on the go.
Live Well…Chinweoke
Wed, May 19, 2010
Health & Lifestyle