Healthy swaps: What to snack on

Smart snack swaps can give you better nutrition, increased energy and more protection against disease.

An easy way to protect your health, keep your weight under control and get more essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients into your diet is to make some simple and tasty snack swaps. You won’t have to sacrifice delicious, but you’ll be doing your body a favour and will find that you feel better and have more energy with the right healthy snack choices.

Fruits

Protect against heart disease and some forms of cancer by eating watermelon instead of honeydew melon. The red colour in watermelon is from lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. Watermelon makes a sweet snack with no guilt — the high water content makes it very low in calories!

Go for black or dark grapes instead of the green grapes. Both are loaded with high levels of vitamin C but the dark varieties have a higher level of antioxidants and offer increased protection against heart disease.

Veggies

Little sandwiches made with lean protein topped with veggies and lettuce makes a filling snack, but substitute watercress for the iceberg lettuce and you’ll get 12 times the amount of vitamin C and three times more iron!

A variety of fresh veggies to dip in hummus or yoghurt is a smart and satisfying afternoon snack for both kids and adults. When choosing fresh peppers, opt for the red instead of green and add more vitamin C to your snack, along with 10 times the amount of beta carotene. Switching from regular to tenderstem broccoli adds the antioxidant known as glucosinolate, which has been shown in lab tests to help fight cancer.

Sweet potato chips

Potato snackers — and who doesn’t sometimes crave chips? — should ditch the white variety in favour of yummy sweet potatoes. Slice them thin and bake them with a light mist of healthy olive oil for a delicious chip that aids your skin with a bigger helping of beta carotene. If you snack on cereal, switch from corn flakes to a healthier bran cereal for 13 times the dietary fibre. It’s filling and a big boost to your digestive system!

Dark chocolate

Sometimes nothing but chocolate will do for a snack! When you have the urge to indulge, switch from milk chocolate to dark chocolate for a bigger dose of flavonoids. Choosing a dark chocolate with 70 percent cocoa solids saves 131 calories and still let’s you enjoy creamy taste with the benefit of heart-healthy antioxidants — and the essential fats help bust wrinkles!

Energy mix

Make your own energy mix as a substitute for packaged brands that can have high levels of sugar and preservatives. Apples, plums, pears and apricots mixed with 170 grams of hazelnuts taste better and give you an afternoon energy boost with protein and an appealing taste combo that’s salty and sweet.

More health tips

Natural sugar swappers
Smarter snack ideas
Using yoghurt as a healthy substitute