10 ways to upgrade your snacking game

Snacks should deliver a good energy and nutrient boost to support your health yet we often give in to temptation and munch on sweets or crisps. With just a little forethought, you can upgrade your snacking game and feel much better for it.

1. Healthy foundation

Each snack should include some fruit or vegetables. Scientific studies show that people who eat at least five portions of fruits and veggies daily have the best health and the lowest risk of many diseases.

Fresh fruit is better than dried but the latter also counts if it’s unsweetened. Snack vegetables should be raw but you can ‘hide’ them in a smoothie.

2. The right match

Combine foods to make a nutritious snack that supports your body’s needs by adding sources of protein and good carbs to your fruit or veg. These would include wholegrains, such as wholemeal bread, oatcakes, brown rice cakes or wholegrain cereal, and pulses, which include roasted beans, peas and chickpeas, hummus, tofu or soya yoghurt. These foods are also valuable sources of vitamins and minerals.

The key is adjusting the calorie value of your snack to your lifestyle. If you’re active, you may want a wholegrain tortilla with hummus and veggies – but if you’re more sedentary, you should probably hold back the tortilla and have the hummus with rice cakes.

3. Make the energy last

It’s a good idea to include nuts and seeds in one of your daily snacks. Thanks to their high fat, protein and fibre content, they provide long lasting energy and a great nutrient boost. They can replace pulses and wholegrains in the above scenario so, for example, you could have a banana and a handful of nuts or veggies and a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds.

Of course, there are plenty of dried fruit and nut bars and those can be a good choice but they tend to have more fruit than nuts.

4. Treats and sweet snacks

If you have a sweet tooth, you can still have healthy snacks. Your best choice would be nuts with dried fruit and a couple of squares of dark chocolate. Another option is a DIY oat and chia pot – same as overnight oats – with your favourite plant milk, fruit and sweetened with a splash of date syrup or dark chocolate chips.

However, there are days when you simply want cake or biscuits and nothing else will do. In that case – have some! A treat once in a while is better than going without and then overeating to compensate. It shouldn’t be your regular snack – only a true treat. You can make it healthier by adding some fresh fruit and perhaps a few nuts because they will help to slow down sugar absorption from the sweet treat.

5. Drink your snack

If your work makes munching on snacks inappropriate or impractical – or if you prefer smoothies in general – it’s a great idea to prepare a home-made smoothie and pack it with nutritious ingredients.

Banana ensures good consistency while other fruit adds flavour and if you throw in a handful of green leaves and a tablespoon of nut butter, you have a superb liquid snack.

6. Party snacks

If you want to make your party spread a little healthier, add some more nourishing foods to the usual mix of crisps, sweets and breadsticks – for example roasted nuts and seeds, olives, oatcakes, seeded wholegrain crispbreads, roasted beans or lentil and chickpea crisps. Accompany these with cherry tomatoes, grapes and pineapple that aids digestion and you have a winning combo. If you feel like it, why not also make plain chocolate covered strawberries or banana slices – healthy and delicious!

7. Make your own trail mix

The idea of trail mix is great but the product is often disappointing. The solution? Make your own and put in all your favourites – natural and roasted nuts, dried fruit, chocolate buttons and mix salty and sweet tastes if you want. Have it on its own as a stand-alone snack, stir it into yoghurt or sprinkle it on bread with nut butter – the nut butter will make the trail mix stick.

8. Time your caffeine hit

You may love having your tea or coffee alongside your snack but it’s best kept separate. Of course, you can have a biscuit or a chocolate square with your cuppa but when it comes to more substantial snacks, it’s a different story. Tea and coffee can inhibit iron absorption from food so you should drink them an hour before or after your snack.

9. Protein boost

If you want your snacks to up your protein intake, there are plenty of foods that will help you achieve that. Think nuts and seeds, nut butters, tofu and tofu-based spreads, roasted beans, peas and chickpeas, wholemeal seeded bread, wholemeal pitta, oats, protein bars and shakes. A wholemeal sandwich with nut butter and fruit slices or a fruit smoothie with silken tofu and tahini will provide a serious protein dose.

10. Calcium packed snacks

How do you top up your calcium? It’s a mineral vital for healthy bones, muscle and nerve function but if we rely on processed foods too much, we can easily have too little. Luckily, it’s easy to make your snacks calcium-rich. There are calcium-fortified plant yoghurts and milks and those are super easy options but you can also get a decent dose of calcium from bean dips, hummus, almonds, chia seeds, sesame seeds (tahini), oranges, roasted beans and calcium-set tofu. Greens, such as broccoli, Chinese leaf and kale are superb calcium sources but perhaps not the most common snack foods unless you blend them into a smoothie.

Ultimately, you have to find your favourites and what works for you. If you want, you can make your own energy balls by combining dried fruit, nuts, oats and spices. Making a smoothie for the day ahead is also a healthy habit and so is keeping a jar of nut butter at hand and dipping veggie sticks or fruit slices in it. The choice is yours!