Choosing Health-Promoting Snacks

Americans are notorious for being "junk-food junkies." The manufacturing of junk-food products (pseudofoods) that feed our habit has become the largest portion of the $416-billion-a-year food industry.¹

Much of it is the stuff we reach for when we want a snack. Every day in the United States, thousands of us plunk a collective mountain of change into an untold number of vending machines from which we hope to draw some in between-meal pleasure. Clink, clink, clink, whirrrr, thunk – out drops a handful of something that is mostly sugar, perhaps some fat, perhaps some refined flour, perhaps some salt, perhaps some caffeine.

In the end, it's nothing but empty calories. For all the good it does our bodies, we might just as well eat the wrapper or the can.

The negative effects of junk-food snacks on our health wipe out the positive effects of health-promoting foods at mealtimes. Therefore, from now on when you want a snack, make it a healthy one.

Be Prepared!
Snacking is not the problem in the American diet. The snacks are the problem. Preparation is the key to having healthy snacks available. As you attempt to build the healthy habit of healthy snacking, always have some sort of healthy food available to nibble on should you feel the urge at home, the office, or on the go. Thinking ahead in this way will make you less likely to rationalize your way into eating something you know you shouldn't.

Of course, since you've been reading this book you've probably already begun the process of getting rid of the junk food in your kitchen. The office, however, presents a whole new battlefield of temptations. There are the free doughnuts somebody keeps bringing in each morning for anyone who's interested. Who wouldn't be interested? Those colorfully wrapped candies in bowls on your coworkers' desks also beckon for your attention. Oh, and those omnipresent vending machines. Somewhere between lunch and quitting time they begin their siren call. "Aw, c'mon," they whisper, "have a Snickers bar on me. Just one won't hurt, will it?"

Watch out for rationalizing. One today becomes one again tomorrow, and so on. We are a people who rationalize ourselves into bad habits. Prepare yourself to resist. Little habits can bring big trouble. Just one pack of Lifesavers a day will put ten pounds of unhealthy fat on your body in a year.²

So what kind of snacks would be good, you're asking? Here's a list of healthful snacks you might find enjoyable. As you discover more, add them to this list.

Healthy Snacks
Fruit

• Fresh: apples, bananas, oranges, melons, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, pineapple, grapefruit, grapes
• Dried: apricots, figs, prunes, raisins, pineapple, banana, pear, apple, dates
• Frozen: fruit-juice popsicles

(Fruits are loaded with natural sugars that give a "lift" to a long day. They also are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. If you suffer from hypoglycemia or candida, you may need to eat fewer fruits and more of the other kinds of snacks.)

Vegetable Pieces (Raw)
Carrots, celery, peppers (green, red, yellow), cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes.

(Excellent source of health-promoting vitamins and minerals, especially vitamins A, C, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and essential amino acids.)

Nuts and Seeds (Raw)
Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts (hazelnuts), peanuts, pecans, pine nuts (pignolias), pistachios, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts.

(Powerfully nutritious. Rich source of carbohydrate, protein, fiber, B vitamins, and minerals – calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium. Most are high in fat [70-80 percent], but it is unsaturated. Chestnuts, however, contain only 6 percent.)

Whole-Grain Cereals
Shredded Wheat, Grape Nuts, Kashi (puffed grains), oatmeal, granola.

(These are but a few that our family enjoys as snacks. These products are very tasty without sweetener, or with a few raisins. We also avoid dairy products by using a rice milk called Rice Dream. Try it, you'll like it!)

Whole-Grain Breads
Popcorn
A wonderful source of fiber. Replace butter with "Better Butter" (see "Cut Back on Dairy Products"). Try mixing one tablespoon melted butter with 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice. Sprinkle over popcorn and toss with brewer's yeast (in place of salt).³

Carob Treats
Brownies, candies, cakes.

"The American people are full of beans," writes Frances Sheridan Goulart, author of The Carob Way to Health. "Each year we go through 850,000 tons of cocoa beans in the form of chocolate candies, cakes, cookies, ice cream, beverages, and other chocolate confections." These products are "rich in saturated fats, sugar, caffeine, chemicals, and empty calories."⁴

An excellent substitute for chocolate, carob is made by grinding the pods of the carob tree. It contains almost three times as much calcium as milk, is low in fat, rich in protein, and high in phosphorus and potassium. Carob is also a good source of vitamins A, B₁, and B₃ and fiber. Although it is relatively sweet (46 percent natural sugar compared to 5 1/2 percent for cocoa) and has a taste comparable to chocolate, it has 40 percent fewer calories than cocoa. As an added plus, carob has none of the caffeine found naturally in chocolate.⁵

Look for carob snacks sweetened with honey, maple syrup, barley malt syrup, sorghum, or rice syrup . . . and made without hydrogenated oils. Many vegetarian cookbooks contain a variety of recipes for making your own carob treats.

And Much, Much More!
Actually, this list could go on and on. There are literally hundreds of snacks that you can purchase or make at home that avoid the refined sugars, refined flours, and fats typical of junk-food snacks. Because this is not intended to be a cookbook, I will not attempt to list recipes.

If you're looking to purchase snack foods rather than make them, the following is a partial listing of companies that tend to use healthier ingredients in their snack-food-type products. Some of these brands can be found in mainstream supermarkets. However, a health-food store is your best bet. Again, learn to read the labels!

Healtheir Snack-Food Companies

Arrowhead Mills	Glenny's	R.J. Corr Naturals
Auburn Farms	Hain	R.W. Frookies
Barbara's Bakery	Health Valley	R.W. Knudsen
Bear Valley	Heaven Scent Natural Foods	Santa Cruz Natural
Better Way	Kettle Foods	Schiff
Bronner	Lady J	Shiloh Farms
Caroba	Lifestream Natural Foods	Snyder's of Hanover
Chico San	Little Bear Organic Foods	Sonoma
De Boles	Manna Mixins	Sovex
De Sousa	Marion Food Specialties	Spicer's International
Desert Gold	Maranatha Natural Foods	Stone Burr
Elf Liberty	Mrs. Denson's Cookie Co.	Sunfield
Erewhon	Natural Nectar	US Mills
Fearn	Nature's Warehouse	Walnut Acres
Frankly Natural	Pamela's Products	Westbrae
Garden of Eatin'	Peddler's "Offbeat Originals"

1. Michael S. Lasky, The Complete Junk Food Book (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977), page xvii.
2. Earl Mindell, Earl Mindell's Safe Eating (New York: Warner Books, 1987), page 118.
3. Nan Kathryn Fuchs, The Nutrition Detective (Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1985), page 62.
4. Frances Sheridan Goulart, The Carob Way to Health (New York: Warner Books, 1982), page 3.
5. Goulart, pages 3,7.