8 ways to snack more healthily
Whether you’re craving biscuits, crisps or cheese and crackers, we give some tips for how to make your snacks healthier.
Image credit: Getty/IgorDutina
Whether you’re craving biscuits, crisps or cheese and crackers, we give some tips for how to make your snacks healthier.
If you were told not to eat between meals as a child, you might feel guilty every time you snack. But if you do it right, a healthy snack is a great way to keep your energy levels up.
The problem is that many popular snacks are high in fat, salt or sugar, or all three. This can be bad news for your waistline, your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels.
Priya Tew, director of Dietitian UK, tells Saga Magazine: “Ideally you want to be guided by your appetite rather than thinking about calories, so it’s about putting together a balanced, nutritious nibble that satisfies you.”
She explains eight ways you could snack more healthily.
Not all biscuits are created equal, but it’s all about balance. If you don’t eat biscuits every day, Tew advises to just pick the one you like.
“If a chocolate-coated one brings you pleasure, then go for it,” she says. “If you’re someone who eats biscuits with your cup of tea every day, then it’s going to make more sense to choose one with less sugar, such as a Rich Tea or a digestive, or with more oats, which give you more fibre and keep you satisfied and fuller for longer.
“If you want to make a healthier swap, a banana will satiate your hunger, but you’ve still got a similar sweetness to a biscuit.”
No food should be off limits – and that includes crisps. But the key is to watch your portion size and try to stick to a handful.
“Notice when you go to the supermarket and pick up a “grab bag” of crisps they’re quite large – they didn’t used to be that size,” says Tew.
“There’s nothing wrong with having crisps, but why not try a snack plate? Add some carrot and cucumber sticks and a spoonful of hummus to your handful of crisps, then you’ve got that balance of the saltiness, the crunchiness, vegetables, fibre and protein.”
Eating processed meats, like ham, bacon, sausages and other cured meats, has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease as well as cancer. That’s thought to be partly because of the nitrates that are used to preserve the meat, but also because these meats are invariably salty, and eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure (which is linked to a higher risk of heart disease).
So how do you get that salty, savoury hit without reaching for the ham?
“Tune in with what you fancy. Perhaps go for some pretzels or cheese and crackers,” says Tew. “Processed salty meats can increase the risk of certain cancers and our bodies don’t need a lot of them.
"If you pick up a salami stick, or take a couple of slices of ham out of the fridge, that can be fine as a meal in a sandwich with salad, but don’t eat it on its own as a snack.”
If you’re meeting a friend in a café, you might want a slice of cake as a treat, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about if you’ve got a sweet tooth and you’re craving cake at 4pm every day?
“Go for a fruit cake, apple cake or banana loaf,” says Tew. “If you like baking, you can reduce the sugar content. You could make a flapjack without as much sugar as a shop-bought version and that will still bring you that deliciousness at four o’clock.”
Sometimes nothing beats a toasted teacake, which Tew agrees is filling, fruity and not as high in sugar as a chocolate brownie.
“If you’re craving something warming and nourishing, you could have a hot drink or a mug of soup,” she says. “If you do go for the tea cake, it’s best not to slather it in butter, especially if you’ve already had lots that day.”
A smaller amount of a sunflower or olive oil-based spread will make a healthier topping than butter, or you could go for unsalted peanut butter (or any other nut butter that you enjoy).
Tew recommends another good value option that’s a quick and easy comfort food: “We can’t forget the humble slice of toast. If you’re hungry and in need of a quick snack it can be comforting and satisfying.
"Compare a slice of wholemeal toast with jam or marmalade with chocolate fudge cake and I think it’s a win.”
Cheese is an unfailingly delicious (and easy) snack, especially with the added crunch of some crackers on the side. Tew says this is a snack that you can easily make more healthy.
“There are some people who’ll have half a block of cheese in one go and that’s not going to be so great for you, as there’s a lot of salt and saturated fat in there,” she says.
“But if you’re just having a fairly standard amount of cheese (a matchbox size) that’s OK. Go for a wholegrain cracker to get more fibre, or try oatcakes or Ryvita Thins.”
You can also add nutrients with grapes, sliced apple, celery sticks or cherry tomatoes on the side.
For a healthier cheese choice, consider cottage cheese: it goes well with oatcakes and is lower in fat and salt than most cheeses.
A sorbet is a better option than ice-cream as it usually has a higher fruit content and less fat than ice cream, but it’s just as refreshing. If you’re keeping an eye on your sugar levels, skip the ice-cream and go for fruit and yoghurt.
“You’ve got a mix of more fruit in your diet along with the protein in the dairy. Having enough calcium is important in your older years and you’ll also get that from the yoghurt,” says Tew.
If it really has to be ice-cream, focus on portion control. A small choc-ice, or one scoop from an ice-cream shop, means you won’t get tempted to polish off the whole tub.
You know the feeling: you’re doing your weekly shop and browsing all that food has made you hungry. Or perhaps you’re driving somewhere and hunger strikes at a petrol station. So what happens if you spy a quick and tasty sausage roll you can’t resist?
“Sausage rolls are always going to be ultra-processed. If you do love a sausage roll, perhaps keep them to once a week,” says Tew.
They’re bad news nutritionally because of the processed meat (with the cancer risks that this can bring) as well as the fatty pastry and high levels of salt.
She suggests: “A snack like a falafel ball can be a good alternative because you’ve got chickpeas and spices in there.”
Or if you’re in a petrol station, or even a pub, without many options, how about nuts?
“Nuts are a really good snack: they’re quite portable and nutritious, providing you with fibre, protein and heart-healthy fats, Vitamin E and magnesium. But be aware of portion size and have a handful rather than a large bag.”
Go for plain unsalted nuts where you can – dry roasted will have added salt and other flavourings.
Tew says: “If you have a small appetite, it’s important to have snacks between meals, but if you’re someone who likes a good, hearty meal three times a day and you’re not feeling hungry between meals, you don’t need them.
“Men tend to have larger meals and are less likely to snack, but if you’re a petite woman eating small portions, a snack can be a really good way to keep energy levels up.”
The message here is simple: snack when you’re hungry.
“I’d really encourage people to check in with how their body is feeling,” says Tew. “Do you actually feel hungry? Are your energy levels starting to drop? That’s the time to grab a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit.
Being underweight can also cause health issues, especially in over-65s. If you’ve been told you’re underweight (usually defined a BMI below 18.5, or sometimes 20), snacking healthily can help you to build up and avoid malnutrition.
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