Grocery store shelves are over flowing with snacks, some claim to be healthy and others do not. You can always find a huge selection of cookies, donuts, cheese, cakes, granola bars, protein snacks, and even an entire aisle dedicated to chips. Obviously most of the exhibited foods harm your health but how about the snacks that claim to be healthy? Are there other alternatives? When asked: what is your go to healthy snack? Most women reply granola bars while the athletic ladies tend to prefer protein bars. Healthy choices, right? Granola bars contain granola (a healthy grain), some have nuts and maybe even dried fruits or berries; what a nutritious combination. Protein bars supply essential protein for women who workout. Some have healthy fats from nuts, flax seed and supplementation. Others boast essential amino acids all packed into a little bar. Convenient, healthy, tasty; what more could you ask for? Actually, granola and protein bars are too good to be true when it comes to weight loss and weight maintenance. Mayo Clinic even recommends eating a granola for a snack as a healthy way to gain weight. One serving of Nature Valley Oats and Honey granola bar weighs 42 grams and supplies 190 calories, 12 grams of sugar, 6 grams of fat and not many nutrients to speak of according to the nutrition facts provided by Nature Valley. Marketed as a healthy snack, these granola bars look more like cookies than anything healthy I have seen. Considering women between the age of 19 and 70 should only get 6 teaspoons of added sugar in their diet and one teaspoon is the equivalent 4 grams of sugar, that granola bar has a lot of sugar. Three teaspoons in that little bar! Now let’s look at the nutrition facts of an oatmeal cookies. One 42 gram (same weigh as the granola bar) Quaker Oats Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin cookie supplies 170 calories, 12 grams of sugar, 6 grams of fat and nothing worth noting in the nutrient department. Wow, the resemblance between the granola bar and oatmeal cookie is astonishing. Now lets move on to the protein bar, a 68 gram Chocolate Builders Bar has 270 calories and 19 grams of sugar but here you get more bang for your calorie; it actually has some nutrients in it. Every bar supplies 20 grams of protein, and high amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron. Not bad, but 270 calories is getting out of the snack range and closer to a small meal. That small bar will not keep you full for long, and it does not provide substantial fiber, a nutrient most women do not get enough of. How about trying this Protein Salad for a filling snack or light meal instead. Mix 1/2 a cup of chickpeas, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 diced tomato, juice of 1/2 a lemon, one teaspoon of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper. This recipe makes a big 316 gram salad full of skin illuminating antioxidants, healthy fats, 27% of your daily need of fiber; not to mention numerous vitamins and minerals vitamin C, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate, iron, phosphorous, selenium, potassium, the list goes on; all for only 290 calories. Which is a healthier choice, the protein bar or protein salad? Big companies try to market junk food as healthy snacks so do not be deceived by packaging with claims such as healthy, low fat, all natural and many others. Read the nutrition facts and get the real picture. Do not let companies deprive you of your health. Most people reach for prepackaged snacks for their convenience but you can also find fast, convenient, healthy snack too. A package of berries, a handful of nuts, a clementine, a bunch of grapes, a stick of string cheese, a small apple, and many many more all within reach. The truly health snacks do not need marketing, stick with those.
