Amal Al-Sibai Saudi GazetteYou finished doing your homework for the day, and you want to watch your favorite TV show. You are hungry and tired but dinner will not be served until after an hour. You search the kitchen cupboard for something to munch on. But you should think twice before you grab a bag of potato chips or candy. If you make the right choices, you can make snack time a healthy time. Snacking in itself is not a bad habit, it depends on what you snack on. When you want a salty snack, avoid potato chips which are the villains when it comes to proper nutrition. Any regular sized bag of potato chips or corn chips or cheese puffs contains way too many calories and too much fat. Did you know that by eating a small bag of chips, you consumed an amount of fat equal to drinking a quarter cup of oil?!? Regularly eating chips leads to weight gain, skin problems, and poor health of the heart and blood vessels. Plus, the oils that are re-heated over and over again to cook the chips become loaded with harmful chemicals. Some good salty snacks include pretzels. Pretzels are better because they are baked not fried, and so they contain zero fat. You could also eat breadsticks and whole wheat crackers. To make your snack good for your bones, eat crackers with calcium rich yogurt or cheese or cream cheese. Olives will satisfy your desire for salt, but they also contain the healthy type of fat and vitamin E. Most kids love popcorn and now you can love it even more because it is a healthy snack that is low in fat and high in fiber. For those of you who have a weak spot for sweets like myself, you should eat foods that are naturally sweet without additional sugar and artificial flavors. Studies show that excess sugar can cause tooth decay, hyperactivity, weight gain, and weakened immunity. That does not mean that all tasty treats and cookies are off limits; it only means that you should know which ones to pick. Oatmeal and raisin cookies are healthier than chocolate chip cookies. Fig bars are healthier than brownies. Date filled cookies are healthier than cream filled cookies. Fruit yogurt is a much wiser dessert than custard of pudding. And fruit popsicles are not as fattening as ice cream but are just as refreshing. A bowl of cereal with milk can be an excellent snack any time of the day because you will get the energy, B vitamins, iron, and calcium that your body needs. But do not be tricked into thinking that all breakfast cereals are nutritious. For example, the plain corn flakes are much better than the sugary frosted corn flakes or the chocolate coated corn flakes. The best type of cereal is the bran flakes, plain, or with raisins. Also, avoid any cereal that is colored with artificial dyes. When you want something sweet, bite into a juicy, delicious, sweet fruit. The natural plant kingdom is full of tasty fruits to satisfy your love for sweets: apples, bananas, peaches, apricots, tangerines, watermelon, dates, cantaloupe, and mangoes. Apples contain vitamins C, A, some of the B vitamins, and the minerals potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc; all of which are essential nutrients. It turns out that the old saying: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is actually true!
