You Should Consider These Healthy Snack Food Varieties

snacking

The dreaded mid-day slump usually rears its ugly head between 2 and 4 pm each day. Your eyes sort of glaze over, your body begins to feel heavier and your eyeballs are burning with a headache. If only you could just close your eyes and take a 30-minute power-nap! Unfortunately, you're at work and there's far too much to do. To get you through the rest of the day, you need the right snack food to keep you motivated and eating healthy.

Healthy foods don't always have to taste like Styrofoam. For a snack, bagels and bran muffins taste pretty darn good! A 200-calorie bagel will give you 11% of your daily recommended iron, which is particularly good for women who don't always retain iron so well. Additionally, you'll get solid doses of B vitamins, like niacin, riboflavin and thiamin. You may be tempted to load on the cream cheese, but there are delicious flavored skim ricottas that come in blueberry and strawberry that might be a healthier choice. A bran muffin delivers three grams of fiber and 1.8 mg of iron (10% of your daily value).

Sometimes you're super hungry and a snack food like granola bars or apples just won't do. Lunch snacks, like Mexican-style beans and tuna fish will fill you right up and give you the energy you need to make it through the day. Just a half cup of Mexican beans will give you 26% of your daily fiber. A good way to eat them may be to mash them up or heat them into a creamy dip or wrap them up into a burrito. Bean soup or teriyaki bean dishes are other delicious alternatives. Three ounces of tuna canned in water is a great way to get B12 (32% of the daily dose) and a great serving of protein.

Instead of denying yourself, give in a little bit. When you crave sweets, try eating healthy but satisfying items like a banana dipped in Hershey's chocolate syrup or an 80-calorie sundae made out of Jell-O sugar-free fudge pudding and a dollop of Cool Whip. If you've allowed the hunger to sneak up on you and feel as though you could just eat and eat forever, then snack on raw foods like broccoli: the fiber will make you feel full. Lastly, try to vary the textures and tastes for your snack food choices to keep your senses intrigued.