Healthy snacks

Snacking is important, but snacking on the wrong kinds of things can be devastating. I like to snack twice a day, once between breakfast and lunch and once between lunch and dinner.

In general, I try to keep my snacks at or under 100 calories. That's not always realistic as sometimes - especially now during the holiday season - I make bad choices.

Here's a list that I keep handy and helps me plan my snacks out. Some of the things on here are ballpark figures, like the apples and such. But it helps me keep perspective of what's a good snack and what I should include in my diet. The pickings from the 25-calorie bunch are slim but if you mix a 75-calorie snack with one of them, you can get a decent sized return for your calorie investment.

25 calorie snacks: 5 stalks celery, 5 zucchini sticks, one cup green beans, one tomato, one small plum, one prune, one stalk broccoli, 9 brussels sprouts, half cup cooked spinach, two whole cucumbers, one cup cauliflower, 7 oz lettuce, two large dill pickles, one marshamallow

50 calorie snacks: one peach, one cup watermelon cubes, half cup raspberries, half papaya, half mango or kiwi, half cup applesauce, one slice cantaloupe, 10 small cherries, one small apple, two apricots, half cup fruit salad, one large tangerine, one sesame breadstick, two graham crackers, three ritz crackers, 10 oyster crackers, 5 animal crackers, one fig bar

75 calorie snacks: one slice bread, one slice American cheese, two shortbread cookies, one large pineapple slice, three cups air-popped popcorn, one Milano cookie, one medium apple, one hard-boiled egg

100 calorie snacks: one cup puffed rice and half cup skim milk, half English muffin and half tsp butter, one slice toast and one tsp jelly, one rice cake and one Tbs peanut butter, half cup vanilla yogurt, one cup skim milk, one apple/pear/banana, one cup chicken rice soup, one cup peas and carrots, four oz shrimp, two oz turkey, half cup sherbet, 10 walnut halves, 15 almonds, 30 pistachios, half cup oatmeal, one cup fruit cocktail, one ear corn, one tortilla, one small oatmeal cookie, one frozen fruit bar