Five Ways to Snack Healthier

Like chips and dip while watching football? Or maybe a nice tray of cheese and crackers to sate the third quarter munchies? Unfortunately, these snacks can be high in calories and low in nutrition. Making a few changes in fare can help cut those calories and make time on the couch a little stressful on your diet.

Is it a dip or a meal? Instead of the usual sour cream based dip, try hummus. Most grocery stores carry several styles of hummus in the same case as dips and guacamole. Basic hummus is a blend of chickpeas and sesame paste, but garlic, red pepper, and even jalepeno varieties can be tasty. Hummus is low in fats and high in fiber with many of the nutritional benefits of beans and olive oil. It can be eaten with corn chips and crackers as a snack as well as with pitas for a light meal. (Info on hummus at Two Sheiks)

Go whole grain. Choose a whole grain cracker for your cheese and meats, like Triscuit Deli Style Rye. Triscuit Deli Style Rye crackers have less calories, fats, sodium, and carbs than a similar serving size of Ritz-type crackers. Additionally, the whole grains provide 3g of fiber per 28g serving. (Triscuits at NabiscoWorld)

Instead of salami and spray-can cheese. While chicken and turkey are the obvious healthy alternatives to salami, they're not very, well, beefy. So, try roast beef on your crackers instead. Compare Sara Lee hard salami versus Sara Lee pre-sliced roast beef: for a larger per gram serving, the roast beef has less calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium and more protein. Easy Cheese isn't a bad option to eat with roast beef on a whole-wheat cracker, but Laughing Cow light cheese wedges don't sacrifice taste and are roughly half the calories. Easy Cheese might be easier to prepare, but Laughing Cow wedges are already portioned, making it easier to tell just how you've eaten. (Sara Lee Deli Products, Easy Cheese, Laughing Cow Brand)

There's always veggies. Few things are more ubiquitous than the uneaten carrot and celery tray. Often other vegetables are overlooked. Try slicing up red peppers and cucumbers. The water content of both offer a nice compliment to salty snacks. Speaking of salty, olives and pickles can also liven up a vegetable tray.

They're not THAT bad for you. But there's nothing like the crunch of a chip. So when choosing a chip, chose wisely and only eat a few. Corn chips are commonly lower in calories and fats than potato chips. Also, most snack chip manufacturers have moved toward using healthier oils in their products. Even Ruffles potato chips have 6g of monounsaturated fats (the good fats that help lower HDL levels). Stay away from trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list. Serving sizes on chips are small and trans fat levels are only reported if they're more than 0.5g per serving. Therefore, if you eat the whole bag, you might be getting more trans fat than you bargained for. (Frito Lay Products)