Mixing Up Your Diet - Snacks & More

by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

While those low calorie, prepackaged snack options are handy for dieters, some are not of the highest quality. And while 100 calorie snacks can fit in perfectly with your weight loss plan, doesn't it seem more logical to enjoy quality foods rather than coconut shavings and nut dust?

Just one example involving prepackaged dried fruits and nuts: Rather than healthy bites of dried fruits and nuts, many tend to hold remnants of what often appears to be dried-fruit leftovers. And most contain pineapple and coconut - two tropical's that aren't popular with everyone.

A better option? Purchase quality dried fruits and nuts in larger packages, then break them down into snack packs which can easily be grabbed on-the-go, or when you're at home and a Snack Attack hits. This option also allows you to control the fruits and nuts that you enjoy best rather than those that may not agree with your taste buds or digestive system.

Just be sure to tally up the final calories. And of course, those zipper bags make excellent containers.

Here's another suggestion for low calorie snacks. Mix up a mega-batch of dried nuts and fruits which contains a measuring cup in the mix so you'll know exactly how many calories you're consuming at snack time.

More suggestions relating to low calorie prepackaged snacks:

Don't limit fruit snacks to dried fruits only. While convenient, dried fruits contain 3 times or more calories than their fresh or frozen counterpart. And fresh fruits offer a blast of fiber for those with the peelings left on. Here are just a few examples:

Pears, fresh - 1 cup sliced contains 81 calories.
Pears, fresh - 1 cup cubed contains 93 calories.
Pears, dried - 1 cup contains 472 calories.

Dried pears contain about 6 times the amount of calories as fresh pears.


Apples, fresh - 1 cup sliced contains 57 calories
Apples, dried - 1 cup contains 209 calories

Dried apples contain about 4 times the amount of calories as fresh apples.


Bananas, fresh - 1 cup sliced contains 134 calories
Bananas, dried - 1 cup dehydrated contains 346 calories

Dried bananas contain about 3 times the amount of calories as fresh bananas.

Although fruits and nuts make ideal snacks for dieters, don't forget proteins, dairy, veggies and grains. A few awesome snack choices include:

- jerky (beef & turkey)
- 1 serving of your favorite cereal (plain - without milk or sugar)
- rice cakes & popcorn cakes
- hot air popcorn
- 1 cup of skim milk + a bit of sugar substitute + a couple of frozen strawberries whipped together
- raw veggies
- 1 celery stick with a bit of cream cheese (if you dry the celery before smearing-on the cream cheese, it will spread very easily)
- 1 boiled egg
- string cheese

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