Today an entire industry has evolved around a concept of providing convenient, quick, no-preparation snacks. In earlier years snacks were often prepared in your kitchen and usually had some nutritionally sound redeeming qualities. Today most snacks are purchased and presented in a bag, box, bottle or plastic wrapper and they tend to have a lengthy, non-refrigerator shelf life with questionable nutritional value.

Healthy snacks are (not just can be) an integral part of a healthy way of eating.  Experience and science show that to maintain good levels of energy - without sharp peaks and valleys - we should eat every three hours. We should also start the day with a responsible breakfast that helps to set blood sugar levels and hormone patterns for the day. The most common breakfast in America is a cup of coffee and a deep breath or maybe a load of carbohydrates like a bagel, donut or toast and jelly.  This absence of a good breakfast (that should include a reasonable serving of protein - more than a tablespoon of peanut butter or a single glass of milk) creates a spike in the blood sugar that raises insulin sharply and that causes blood sugar to drop quickly (we call it hypoglycemia) and leaves us hungry and can be the physiological explanation for the morning coffee break. These coffee breaks are the worst-case scenarios for poor choice snacks.

As I read and review dozens of articles and web pages on snacks I find that conventional wisdom is directing consumers to choose snacks that, although they contain vitamins & minerals, create insulin disasters. Chronically elevated insulin levels are responsible for chronic or frequent hunger, fat storage, inhibition of fat metabolism and a host of other health problems. I am referring to those conventional choices like dried fruit, muffins, bananas, boxed cereal, pretzels, bagels, dried fruit bars, many energy bars, and popcorn.

Wise, higher protein, higher fiber and essential fatty acid sources would include: