Fitting Healthy Snacks Into Your Diet

A healthy diet doesn't mean you have to stop snacking. By choosing healthy snacks, you can meet your energy and nutritional needs without tipping the scales.

By Diane Stresing

Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

The right snacks can contribute to a healthy diet and lifestyle by supplying your body with energy and even restoring concentration between meals. Too often, though, it seems easier to snack on candy, chips, and soda, which negatively impact our health.

Healthy Snacks: How to Choose Wisely

To ensure between-meal munchies have a positive effect on your diet, keep a variety of healthy items on hand. Nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat cheese, and dried fruits are easy-to-grab, healthful snack options.

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But snacking shouldn’t be viewed in isolation, says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director and senior scientist, Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston. “What matters is total caloric intake,” she says. Striking the appropriate caloric balance and getting the recommended amount of energy and nutrition is the biggest challenge most of us have, Dr. Lichtenstein explains.

“What’s really important is whether we're getting our daily requirements,” explains Lichtenstein, adding that many people don’t get the recommended amount of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables on a regular basis.

That’s where snacking can help. If your meals generally provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, but not enough fiber or protein, for instance, try to select snacks that will supply what you’re lacking. “Because we know most of us don't get enough calcium,” Lichtenstein says, “instead of cola, you might choose a low-fat yogurt.”

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Fruit is another great choice. A 16-ounce cola has nearly 200 calories, more than 50 grams of sugar, no vitamins, and no fiber. A medium apple, which contains about 81 calories and 17 grams of sugar, packs in vitamin C and potassium, plus 4 grams of fiber.

What’s the right size for a snack? It’s different for almost everyone and depends on age, size, and physical activity, among other things. Just be sure to account for all snacks within your daily calorie allotment.

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For times when you don’t choose the healthiest snack, keeping portion sizes small will minimize the damage to your diet and overall health.

Healthy Snacks: Read Package Labels Carefully

If a bag of cookies is labeled low-fat or touted as a snack-size portion, does that automatically mean it’s a good snack? Probably not. While it’s better to eat a small portion of cookies than a plateful, they’re still cookies. Packaging labels are designed to sell products; instead, focus on the nutrition label and the ingredients to find out what the food really contains. A general rule to follow for snacks, as well as meals, is the less processed the food, the better.

Healthy Snacks: Combinations Can Boost the Yum Factor

Smart snackers treat snack time like mealtime, varying their choices from among the different food groups and only rarely choosing high-fat snacks.

Nutritious snacks can be delicious, too. These choices are all tasty and, because they contain calcium, protein, fiber, or all three, are good for you, too:

• Celery sticks and peanut butter
• Cottage cheese with a spoonful of jelly stirred in
• Strawberries or grapes dipped in plain yogurt
• Tuna fish on whole-grain crackers

People tend to eat what’s handy. Lichtenstein recommends placing a bowl of fruit on the counter and keeping washed, cut vegetables in the refrigerator where they’re easy to grab. That way, a healthy snack will always be within reach

Food Labels: The Ticket to Healthy Eating

The Nutrition Facts labels can be very useful in helping you make healthy choices. Here's what to look for and what to avoid.

By Dennis Thompson, Jr.

Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD

The Nutrition Facts food labels, which are required on every packaged food product in the United States, contain a wealth of valuable information for people interested in eating healthfully. But if you don't know how to read the label or don’t fully understand your personal dietary goals, that information won't do you much good.

"There is so much wonderful information on the label, and there are so many people who don't take advantage of that," says Bonnie Taub-Dix of New York City, RD, a weight-loss expert and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Here’s how to read food labels so that you can make choices that will promote healthy eating.

Healthy Eating: Deciphering the Nutrition Facts Food Labels

Start by knowing what each fact on the Nutrition Facts food labels means:

• Calories and calories from fat. You need to pay attention to this number if you want to lose weight. You need to burn more calories than you eat every day. You also want to keep the number of calories from fat that you eat each day under 35 percent of your total calories.
• Fats are calorie-dense, so you should try to choose foods that are lower in fat, especially if you are trying to lose weight. The label also lists the amount of saturated fat and trans fats in each serving. You want to choose foods that are low in saturated and extremely low in trans fats, as they can raise your blood cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. On the other hand, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats can help lower your cholesterol.
• Cholesterol. You should limit your cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams per day if you're healthy, and less than 200 milligrams per day if you have heart disease.
• Sodium. Sodium (salt) can cause high blood pressure, so it is helpful to keep your daily sodium intake below 2,400 milligrams per day.
• Carbohydrates. The food label lists total carbohydrates, but also shows the amount of carbohydrate that comes from either dietary fiber or sugar. Subtract the amount of fiber and sugar from the total carbohydrates to get an idea of how many complex carbohydrates are in each serving. Dietary fiber is good for you, aiding in your digestion and lowering your risk of heart disease and diabetes while increasing your feeling of fullness. Sugars, on the other hand, burn quickly and can raise your blood glucose levels, so you should keep an eye on how much is in what you're eating.
• Protein. Proteins burn slowly and are essential for building tissue and muscle. Look at the number of protein grams in each serving and the percentage of daily protein it provides.
• Vitamins and minerals. This part of the food label can help you determine if the food is high or low in certain vitamins and minerals, including calcium and iron. Each nutrient listed on the Nutrition Facts food label comes with a Daily Value (DV) percentage that shows you how much of the recommended daily allowance is contained in a single serving of that food. In general, foods that are a good source for a particular vitamin contain 10 percent to 19 percent DV of that nutrient in each serving.

Healthy Eating: Tips for Using Nutrition Facts Food Labels

Now that you know what information is on the label, it’s time to apply to it your personal diet:

• Take the serving size into account. "All the numbers on that label reflect one serving," Taub-Dix says. "If you're eating more than the manufacturer is recommending as a serving size, you need to multiply those numbers by the amount you're eating." For example, you might be interested in eating a muffin because the food label says each serving contains just 150 calories. But if the serving size is half a muffin and you eat a whole one, you’re actually consuming 300 calories.
• Apply the food label information to your personal health or diet goals. If you're trying to lose weight, you'll want to look at calories. If you're concerned about your heart health, you'll want to see how much saturated fat the product contains. People with diabetes will review the package for carbohydrate and sugar amounts.
• Pay attention to the “Daily Value” percentages. You need to eat a certain amount of unsaturated fats, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, and vitamins each day to stay healthy. You also need to limit your daily intake of unhealthy ingredients like saturated fats, trans fats, and sodium. Each nutrient listed on the Nutrition Facts food label comes with a percentage that shows you how much of the recommended daily allowance is contained in a single serving of that food. "This is very important because it gives you an idea of how valuable your food is," Taub-Dix says. "If you see all zeros there, the food you're eating may taste good, but may not have much value to you."
• Read the ingredient list, too. "Sometimes the food could say something on the label that makes it look like a healthy food, but when you read the ingredient list it's not that at all," Taub-Dix says. "Ingredients are listed in order of amount. The greatest quantities come first, and the lowest quantities come at the end." A product that lists sugar or corn syrup as its first ingredient is guaranteed to be high in calories and low in nutrition, for example.

Nutrition Facts food labels contain a lot of information, so be sure to read them carefully. But also make sure you understand what you’re reading. Doing so will allow you to make choices that are best for your individual needs and help you make healthy eating a part of your life.

Good vs. Bad Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are an important part of your diet, but that doesn't mean you're free to load up on cakes and cookies to get your daily amount. Find out the difference between good and bad carbohydrates.

By Diana Rodriguez

Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

Carbohydrates are an important part of a healthy diet, but there's much discussion about the good and bad carbohydrates. So how do you know which is which? The answer is both simple — and complex.

Carbohydrates and Your Diet: Good vs. Bad Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, often referred to as “carbs,” are your body's primary energy source, and they're a crucial part of any healthy diet. Carbs should never be avoided, but it is important to understand that not all carbs are alike.

Carbohydrates can be either simple (nicknamed "bad") or complex (nicknamed "good") based on their chemical makeup and what your body does with them. Complex carbohydrates, like whole grains and legumes, contain longer chains of sugar molecules; these usually take more time for the body to break down and use. This, in turn, provides you with a more even amount of energy, according to Sandra Meyerowitz, MPH, RD, a nutritionist and owner of Nutrition Works in Louisville, Ky.

Carbohydrates in the Diet: The Detail on Simple Carbohydrates

Simple carbohydrates are composed of simple-to-digest, basic sugars with little real value for your body. The higher in sugar and lower in fiber, the worse the carbohydrate is for you — remember those leading indicators when trying to figure out if a carbohydrate is good or bad.

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Fruits and vegetables are actually simple carbohydrates — still composed of basic sugars, although they are drastically different from other foods in the category, like cookies and cakes. The fiber in fruits and vegetables changes the way that the body processes their sugars and slows down their digestion, making them a bit more like complex carbohydrates.

The most important simple carbohydrates to limit in your diet include:

• Soda
• Candy
• Artificial syrups
• Sugar
• White rice, white bread, and white pasta
• Potatoes (which are technically a complex carb, but act more like simple carbs in the body)
• Pastries and desserts

Meyerowitz says that you can enjoy simple carbohydrates on occasion, you just don't want them to be your primary sources of carbs. And within the simple carb category, there are better choices — a baked potato, white rice, and regular pasta — than others — chips, cakes, pies, and cookies.

Carbohydrates in the Diet: The Detail on Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates are considered "good" because of the longer series of sugars that make them up and take the body more time to break down. They generally have a lower glycemic load, which means that you will get lower amounts of sugars released at a more consistent rate — instead of peaks and valleys —to keep you going throughout the day.

Picking complex carbohydrates over simple carbohydrates is a matter of making some simple substitutions when it comes to your meals. "Have brown rice instead of white rice, have whole-wheat pasta instead of plain white pasta," says Meyerowitz.

To know if a packaged food is made of simple or complex carbohydrates, look at the label. "Read the box so you know what exactly you're getting. If the first ingredient is whole-wheat flour or whole-oat flower, it's likely going to be a complex carbohydrate,” says Meyerowitz. "And if there's fiber there, it's probably more complex in nature."

Carbohydrates in the Diet: The Glycemic Load Factor

Describing carbs as being either simple or complex is one way to classify them, but nutritionists and dietitians now use another concept to guide people in making decisions about the carbs they choose to eat.

The glycemic index of a food basically tells you how quickly and how high your blood sugar will rise after eating the carbohydrate contained in that food, as compared to eating pure sugar. Lower glycemic index foods are healthier for your body, and you will tend to feel full longer after eating them. Most, but not all, complex carbs fall into the low glycemic index category.

It is easy to find lists of food classified by their glycemic index. You can see the difference between the glycemic index of some simple and complex carbohydrates in these examples:

• White rice, 64
• Brown rice, 55
• White spaghetti, 44
• Whole wheat spaghetti, 37
• Corn flakes, 81
• 100 percent bran (whole grain) cereal, 38

To take this approach one step farther, you want to look at the glycemic load of a food. The glycemic load takes into account not only its glycemic index, but also the amount of carbohydrate in the food. A food can contain carbs that have a high glycemic index, but if there is only a tiny amount of that carb in the food, it won’t really have much of an impact. An example of a food with a high glycemic index but a low glycemic load is watermelon, which of course tastes sweet, but is mostly water.

The bottom line: Just be sensible about the carbs you choose. Skip low-nutrient dessert, consider the levels of sugar and fiber in carbs, and focus on healthy whole grains, fruits, and veggies to get the energy your body needs every day.

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See... how complicated it is???

I do not know whether it's me who's being so complicated or it's him who always demands to be understood.
I do not know whether this is called love or infatuation.
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I do not know whether I still have a heart to be broken.
I do not know whether I am good enough for him.
I do not know whether I deserve to be treated this way.

I am lost...

Him.. Finally..

Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom...
our thoughts, our words, and deeds are the threads
of the net which we throw around ourselves. – Swami Vivekananda

Patience is something I really believe in that
one day you will be paid back
It happened to me through him
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Hahahaha...

Yea it's him, A.M.G
Love u always,...

Aaaaaa I am finally falling in love.

Him.. with a code "I am always willing"

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waiting for my friend to catch lunch up with me
U were far beyond this country
I missed you, and still do til now

To me, you are such an angel,
suddenly fell from the sky above
Every single thing you have done
was really genuine and sincere
I do know that you do not expect anything
I can tell from your eyes, from anything
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With that calming voice
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I asked you back how you were
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or this is the thing that I should do
to move me from one point to another point

I do not regret anything
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Me who was acting stupidly weird

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But it was all good
I got the message
I know how it felt
I understand how bad it was
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I learn how dangerous it could be
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Even when I was sleeping,
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I do not want to wreck my brains
It is God's gift

What I could say right this moment is just...
Sorry to go through all this
I wish this is gonna be a lesson for me
It must be

........