Healthy Food Snacks

When you look for healthy food snacks, you quickly realize why it is easy to use a vegetarian diet to lose weight. Fruits and vegetables in their least processed forms are full of flavor, satisfying crunchiness, vitamins and dietary fiber. Unlike a candy bar or pastry, they are also good in terms of what they lack - high-fructose corn syrup, additives, and trans fats.

If you look for which fruits and vegetables are in season locally , you will also find the most scrumptious varieties, bred not for long-distance transport and shelf-life but for flavor, texture, and the deep and brilliant colors that signal potent anti-oxidants.

Best of all, eating small amounts every two to three hours keeps your blood sugar more level, your liver less stressed, your appetite under control (so you can enjoy smaller portions at meal time), and boosts your metabolism.

The trick is to make your small bites green. Try these:

Gourmet Popcorn
Popcorn in a microwavable bag, doused in palm oil and chemicals does not count as a healthy food snack. But you can make your own, at home or at work.
Popcorn kernels are easy to find, store, and pop. The link gives you three simple ways to make your own gourmet popcorn, and many popcorn seasoning ideas.

Roasted pumpkin seeds

Crunchy, high in fiber, and a great bonus prize when you carve that jack-o-lantern.

Clif Bar
Not a home-made, unprocessed snack, but healthy, handy and a high fiber snack nonetheless. Like you would cook up at home if you had the time, organic ingredients, and patience to experiment.

Apple slices with . . .
Peanut butter (the tastiest kind has two ingredients: peanuts and salt)
Cheese - try a nice sharp cheddar, or another type with a fairly strong flavor
Whole roasted almonds

Note:
Don't slice the apple, if you want to skip the tupperware. Just mix your bites.
Also, be aware there are dozens more varieties of apples than you can find in the grocery store. Try a farmer's market in the fall if you want to know what grows in your area. Sample, and ask questions.

Veggies or Pita Chips with Hummus
You can buy hummus in the grocery; but it is also easy to make at home with a food processor and simple ingredients.

Salsa Fresca and Tortilla Chips
Salsa is a true health food - super low in calories, and high in vitamin C, lycopene, and other phyto-nutrients. It is, after all, a bunch of cut of veggies with a little vinegar, and seasonings. The different ways to make it are endless, and once you start tinkering in the kitchen, playing with your customized recipe can be as addictive as sampling the results. Yet another reason to celebrate summer, and the miracle of home-grown tomatoes (and tomatillos, and chiles, and onions).
Tortilla chips also come in many variations (organic, white corn, blue corn, fried, baked, with flax and soy, homemade . . .)

Vegetarian Tapas
Technically, you could call these small bites from the bars of Spain "appetizers." And many are served warm, and need a kitchen to prepare. But they are petite eats, and can be quick and easy to throw together, too.

Fresh fruit
Find it in season where you live or are visiting. If you are from the mid-west and get to visit Hawaii, go wild! Fresh papaya and mangoes taste amazing right off the tree. Or visit you local farmer's market and see what tastes amazing in your own neck of the woods.

Why fresh, local and organic? Flavor, texture and nutrition, all of which are reduced when fruit is picked green to ship long distances. In thise way, fruits and veggies with the smallest eco-footprints are also often the best for your palate and your body, making them the ultimate healthy food snacks.

Fruit Smoothie
In the depths of winter, frozen fruit can give you a needed boost. (Tip: to make it more local, buy fruit at your local farmer's market in the summer, and freeze them for out-of-season use.) Good for breakfast, or for healthy food snacks any time of day.

Celery or Carrots with ...
peanut butter or
cream cheese and olive spread

Need more than healthy food snacks?
See recipes for easy vegetarian meals.