Snacks

Average rating:

Nuts and dried fruit

We're always told to snack on nuts and dried fruit when we're watching our weight but it's easy to overdo it. Although nuts and dried are fruit are better snacks than crisps or chocolate, nuts are packed with calories, around 500 calories and 50g of fat per 100g. And dried fruit has loads of sugar, around 64g of sugar and 240 calories per 100g, because even though it's fruit sugar it still turns to fat if you don't burn it off.

What to eat instead
There's no doubt that nuts are a great source of protein and they also contain good fats so just stick to one small handful, and for the record a handful is the size of your flat palm. Generally speaking, this is around 10-12 almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts or macadamia nuts. Likewise, the right portion of dried fruit is the same, but to keep the calories low, choose between one portion of nuts or dried fruit per day.

Sugar-free sweets and chocolate

It's a chocoholic's dream, sugar-free chocolate! But chocolate and sweets that are sugar-free or low in sugar are usually full of artificial sweeteners and new research suggests that when your body has these sweeteners it sends a message to your digestive system to hold on to any fat. So even though you are going light on the sugar, your body is being super-efficient at grabbing and storing fat.

What to eat instead
If you can stop at just one small piece of chocolate or one or two sweets then go for the the regular, full-fat, full-sugar varieties. But if you know that one usually leads to a whole packet then don't go near them. Try to work out if you are really hungry - do you really need that chocolate? What's your craving about? Are you just bored or feeling down? If you can't resist your craving have a low-calorie hot chocolate or a few squares of dark chocolate instead.

Healthy cereal bars

They're convenient, tasty and full of goodness. Or are they? Most cereal bars contain oats, which are good carbohydrates, i.e. they release sugar slowly into your body so you don't get that energy slump halfway through the day. But they often also contain lots of refined sugar and fat to bind them together.

What to eat instead
Fruit: Small, portable, low-fat and full of vitamins and minerals, it's a great way to start the day. But if you really want that sweet, slightly stodgy feeling that cereal bars can give you why not try making healthy flapjacks. Swap the butter for low-fat margarine, and using half oats half high-fibre breakfast cereal or Muesli.

By Louise O'Connell